Status: In 2020, the court issued a permanent injunction, barring CBP from holding individuals for more than 48 hours without providing conditions to meet detainees’ basic human needs, including access to a bed and blanket, showers, adequate food and water, and medical assessments by a medical professional.
Case Overview
In June 2015, the National Immigration Law Center, along with co-counsel, filed a class action lawsuit challenging CBP’s practices of subjecting adults and children to deplorable conditions within its Tucson Sector facilities.
The Tucson Sector is the second largest CBP sector on the southern border. CBP regularly detains people in what are supposed to be short-term detention facilities for longer than the 12 hours for which the cells were designed.
CBP held our plaintiffs in overcrowded cells set to unacceptably cold temperatures without blankets or mattresses, access to potable water or adequate nutrition, adequate hygiene and sanitation, and medical screenings.
In November 2016, we obtained a preliminary injunction, requiring minimum standards to be met for people detained in the Tucson Sector facilities for more than 48 hours.
In 2020, we went to trial and ultimately secured a victory in the case, with the court finding that the conditions in CBP holding cells were punitive and in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The court issued a permanent injunction, ordering CBP to follow the standards set out in the preliminary injunction going forward. The permanent injunction bars CBP from holding individuals for more than 48 hours unless CBP provides conditions of confinement to meet Detainees’ basic human needs, including access to a bed and blanket, showers, adequate food and water, and medical assessments by a medical professional.
NILC continues to monitor conditions in the Tucson Sector facilities to ensure the government’s compliance with the court’s order.
Legal Documents
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U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
- Order for Permanent Injunction (PDF) – April 17, 2020
- Judgment (PDF) – February 19, 2020
- Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (PDF) – February 19, 2020
- Order granting in part and denying in part the motion for civil contempt (PDF) – March 13, 2017
- Order: Preliminary Injunction (PDF)– November 18, 2016
- Brief in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (PDF)– August 17, 2016
- Declarations in Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction – August 17, 2016
- Order granting plaintiffs’ motion for expedited discovery (PDF) – August 14, 2015
- Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (PDF) – June 8, 2015
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Alvaro Huerta
Former NILC staff attorney