Attorney who visited ICE holding facility in Minneapolis says detainees need easier access to legal help
Immigration rights attorneys who were allowed inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Building are requesting urgent aid for the detainees therein in newly filed court documents.
In a sworn declaration filed in federal court on Monday, attorney Kimberly Boche detailed the conditions she found inside the facility and said she believes detainees do not have meaningful access to counsel.
Boche said she visited the facility Sunday morning to observe conditions and speak with some of the detainees. The filing said several men she spoke with said they had been arrested the day before and had not talked to an attorney. Another said he did not even know who to call for legal help.
"It did not appear the detainees received clear, timely guidance about contacting counsel immediately after apprehension," the document said.
In the filing, Boche describes the holding facility as having two dozen desks arranged in an oval, each with a phone. Boche said she tested one of the phones and had to sit through long prompts in several languages, then punch in several numbers before she could dial out.
Boche also said she saw trash, including food wrappers, piled on cell floors.
She also said she did not see any handbooks explaining detainees' rights.
The filing also details one woman's experience inside the facility. The woman, identified only by the initial M, said she was brought there Sunday afternoon.
She described her cell as "freezing" and said she and others did not have blankets nor realize they could ask for them. M said she did not have an attorney or know how to get legal help. She also said she did not have family locally. M said she was told she would be transferred to Texas. Boche, in the filing, said she is not sure how someone in M's position would even know how to connect with legal help.
WCCO showed the filing to Graham Ojala-Barbour, an immigration attorney.
"It used to be the case that when people had detained immigration hearings here, we would be able to talk to clients before the hearings," Ojala-Barbour said. "We're at a disadvantage if we can't have information directly from them. The family may not have been with them when they were arrested."
The inspection stems from a lawsuit filed by the Advocates for Human Rights in late January, which accuses federal agents at Whipple of denying detainees of their right to contact a lawyer. The Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are among those named in the suit.
Over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel granted lawyers "full access to all detention facilities" at the Whipple building by 5 p.m. on Monday.
Brasel in her ruling said that two attorneys and two party representatives could attend the visit, and they could interact with the detainees. However, they were permitted to carry their phones.
The Whipple building, which is the central hub for Operation Metro Surge, has been the site of daily anti-ICE protests.
U.S. citizens who have been taken into custody at the site near Fort Snelling have described agonizing cries coming from other detainees inside the building, including children. Others have said they've spent hours in the building without having their Miranda rights read to them.
Democratic Rep. Kelly Morrison said after seeing the inside of the facility last week that the conditions are "unacceptable." She described people in shackles held without beds, blankets or showers.
The Department of Homeland Security has disputed accusations of unfit conditions.
"Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE facilities are FALSE. All detainees are provided with proper meals, water, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. All detainees receive full due process," a DHS official told WCCO in a statement before Boche's filing.
WCCO has reached out to DHS for an updated statement but has not heard back.
