Detainees, LA nonprofit file suit alleging inhumane conditions in Adelanto ICE detention center

Moldy towels, medical neglect, insufficient food and unclean drinking water are what people detained inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center are allegedly subjected to, according to a class-action lawsuit filed against federal officials and agencies on Monday.

The lawsuit claims the government is denying people detained in Adelanto with “basic human needs” such as “food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and reasonable safety” and that this amounts to punishment and violates their constitutional right to due process of law.

“The government’s abuses at Adelanto are a core part of its broader scheme to harass, intimidate, punish, and deport immigrants,” states the lawsuit.

Last year, two people died after being detained at the Adelanto immigration detention center. The deaths of Ismael Ayala-Uribe and Gabriel Garcia-Aviles remain under investigation. Ayala-Uribe’s family say he was denied proper medical care when in ICE’s custody.

At the beginning of 2025, only a handful of people were detained inside the Adelanto immigration detention center, but that population has surged to almost 2,000 people a year later.

A longtime Adelanto detention center employee warned that the population surge was “dangerous” because the facility did not have “experienced staff, was generally understaffed, and was “cutting way too many corners,” the lawsuit alleges.

For years, the detention center has been plagued with alleged and documented cases of abuse and neglect.

Last summer, Disability Rights California conducted their oversight visits into the facility and found that people with disabilities are subjected to abuse and neglect. A detained man told a DRC representative that he only received his diabetes medication twice over the course of 10 days, putting him at risk of diabetic shock – it’s a medication he’s supposed to receive twice a day.

“The lawsuit seeks to improve medical care standards, guarantee adequate nutrition and sanitary conditions, end excessive use of solitary confinement, ensure transparency in detention operations, and establish independent oversight to prevent future human rights violations,” states the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are four detainees, on behalf of themselves and others detained inside Adelanto, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), a nonprofit based in Los Angeles.

They are suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the agency’s acting director Todd Lyons; Jaime Rios, acting director of ICE’s Los Angeles Field Office, Enforcement and Removal Operations, which is responsible for the Adelanto center; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the agency’s secretary Kristi Noem.

The lawsuit was filed by attorneys with Public Counsel, CHIRLA, Immigrant Defenders, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.

ICE and DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.