In recent weeks, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, has come under intense scrutiny following the filing of a sweeping federal class action lawsuit. On October 30, 2025, attorneys representing detained immigrants alleged that people held at the suburban Chicago site are suffering under "horrific and inhumane" conditions, while the government systematically blocks outside access to the facility, creating what legal advocates have called a "black box" that shields abuses from public view.
The 76-page lawsuit, filed by the MacArthur Justice Center, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois, and the Chicago office of Eimer Stahl, paints a grim picture of life inside Broadview. According to the complaint and corroborating reports from Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, detainees are routinely denied water, food, medical care, hygiene products, and even basic human dignity. The facility is described as extremely cramped, reeking of feces, urine, and body odor, with people forced to sleep on cold floors or plastic chairs—sometimes for up to six days at a stretch.
"They treated us like animals, or worse than animals, because no one treats their pets like that," one woman said in the lawsuit, as reported by Block Club Chicago. Another detainee recounted witnessing an elderly, disabled man who soiled himself after ICE officers refused to help him to the bathroom. The man was left in soiled clothes for several days, denied a change or even basic assistance.
The Broadview facility was originally designed as a short-term processing center, where individuals picked up by federal immigration agents would be held for just a few hours before being released, deported, or transferred to a longer-term detention site. In 2023, the average hold time was five hours. But as President Donald Trump’s administration ramped up its immigration enforcement "blitz"—dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz"—the facility has morphed into a de facto detention center. During the first seven months of 2025, ICE held 143 people for two or more days at Broadview, with some spending nearly a week there, according to Sun-Times investigations.
Conditions inside have deteriorated in parallel. Detainees describe being denied showers, soap, toothpaste, and menstrual products, and receiving little more than cold bread to eat. Sleep is hard to come by in packed holding cells, where people sometimes lie on top of each other or even in bathroom areas due to overcrowding. The lawsuit alleges that ICE officers are not only neglectful but also physically and verbally abusive, routinely degrading and humiliating those in their custody.
Perhaps just as troubling, the lawsuit alleges that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have gone to great lengths to prevent oversight or intervention. Attorneys, elected officials, journalists, and even religious leaders have been repeatedly denied entry to Broadview. Illinois congressional members Danny Davis, Jesús “Chuy” García, Delia Ramirez, and Jonathan Jackson all sought to tour the facility in October 2025, only to be turned away. Local clergy, including nuns and ministers who once delivered bibles and prayed with detainees, have found their access blocked since Trump took office, despite laws guaranteeing Congressional and religious access to such sites.
"DHS personnel have denied access to counsel, legislators, and journalists so that the harsh and deteriorating conditions at the facility can be shielded from public view," said Kevin Lee, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois, in a statement reported by Block Club Chicago. "These conditions are unconstitutional and threaten to coerce people into sacrificing their rights without the benefit of legal advice and a full airing of their legal defenses."
Legal advocates argue that detainees are being denied confidential calls to their attorneys—a fundamental constitutional right. The lawsuit claims that ICE agents have coerced individuals into signing immigration paperwork they do not understand, sometimes waiving their right to see an immigration judge before being deported. Some detainees are sent to distant detention centers or out of the country altogether before their lawyers can locate or intervene on their behalf. The ICE detainee locator tool, which families and attorneys rely on, is reportedly inaccurate, often failing to provide up-to-date information on detainees' whereabouts.
"Everyone, no matter their legal status, has the right to access counsel and to not be subject to horrific and inhumane conditions," said Alexa Van Brunt, Illinois director of the MacArthur Justice Center, in a statement cited by WBEZ and Sun-Times. She called the situation at Broadview a "vicious abuse of power and gross violation of basic human rights" that "must end now." The legal team is demanding immediate reforms and access to counsel for all detainees.
Federal officials have flatly denied the allegations. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the lawsuit’s claims "garbage," insisting, "All detainees are provided with three meals a day, water, and have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers." McLaughlin added that ICE has "worked diligently" to obtain additional detention space to alleviate overcrowding. She also stated that requests to tour the facility must be made a week in advance to "ensure no intrusion on the President’s constitutional authority," but offered no evidence to counteract the specific claims of mistreatment.
The legal battle is quickly escalating. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman has scheduled a hearing for November 4, 2025, to consider a temporary restraining order that would govern conditions at Broadview. At a preliminary hearing, Gettleman granted a request from attorneys representing two named plaintiffs—Pablo Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona—ordering their return to the Northern District of Illinois after federal authorities transferred them to a Kansas jail just hours after the lawsuit was filed. The judge emphasized the urgency, stating, "The nature of the case and the requested relief obviously requires immediate attention." He also ordered that attorneys must be allowed access to their clients, saying, "No attorney should be kept away from their clients, particularly in a case of this magnitude."
Meanwhile, the crisis has spilled onto the streets outside Broadview. The facility has become a flashpoint for protest, with about 70 demonstrators arrested since early October 2025. Most face charges of resisting arrest, while a handful have been charged with battery to a police officer or disorderly conduct. Protesters allege they have been attacked and silenced by law enforcement while exercising their First Amendment rights, according to Block Club Chicago. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has brought in local law enforcement to manage public safety around the site, but tensions remain high.
While the Broadview lawsuit focuses on one facility, advocates warn that similar problems are pervasive across the country. The complaint argues that "overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, lack of basic hygiene, insufficient food and water, inadequate sleeping conditions, substandard medical care, and extreme restrictions on attorney-client communications are pervasive" at ICE facilities nationwide. The outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications for immigration enforcement and detainee rights across the United States.
As the legal process unfolds and public pressure mounts, all eyes are on Broadview—and on the broader question of how America treats those within its immigration system, regardless of their status or country of origin. The stories emerging from this suburban facility are a stark reminder that, behind closed doors, the fight for basic human rights continues.
