In September 2025, the Trump administration launched a widespread, coordinated immigration enforcement operation in the Chicago area called “Operation Midway Blitz.” Hundreds of people were arrested through this operation, and most were taken to the Broadview ICE Facility outside the city. Broadview is intended to be a “holding” facility, where individuals can be briefly detained for a few hours for processing, but people arrested in Operation Midway Blitz are being detained there for days on end. Plaintiffs, immigrants arrested during the operation who are being jailed at Broadview, filed this class action lawsuit to challenge the inhumane and deteriorating conditions at the facility. Among other things, Plaintiffs state that they and putative class members are detained in overcrowded, filthy holding cells; denied room to sleep, sufficient food and water, and access to showers and hygiene items; subjected to extreme, uncomfortable temperatures; denied access to medical care; surveilled constantly and deprived of their privacy; abused and degraded by officers; coerced into signing documents they do not understand; and denied access to their attorneys. Plaintiffs argue that these detention conditions violate the Administrative Procedure Act and are unconstitutional.
On October 30, 2025, the same day they filed the lawsuit, Plaintiffs moved a temporary restraining order (TRO) and class certification. On October 31, after ICE suddenly transferred Plaintiff Moreno Gonzalez out of Broadview, Plaintiffs filed an emergency motion for an order requiring the government to return him to a facility in the Seventh Circuit and not to transfer Plaintiffs again during the litigation. After a hearing on October 31, the Court granted the emergency motion and ordered that the named plaintiffs be transferred back. After a hearing on November 4, the Court on November 5 granted Plaintiffs’ motion for a TRO and ordered the government to improve conditions for individuals detained at Broadview in over a dozen ways, including clean sleeping areas and toilet facilities; adequate hygiene supplies; three full meals a day and access to water; access to necessary medications; access to private attorney phone calls; and more. The TRO remains in effect until November 19. On November 17, the court granted Plaintiffs’ motion for class certification, certifying a class of all immigration detainees who are detained and who will be detained in the future at the Broadview ICE facility.
The Court also granted Plaintiffs limited discovery and ordered that the government provide Plaintiffs the ability to inspect the Broadview facility.
TECHNICAL SUMMARY
Plaintiffs allege that the conditions at Broadview violate Plaintiffs’ and putative class members’ First Amendment right to hire and consult attorneys, including maintaining confidentiality with their attorneys; the requirement under the Fifth Amendment that Defendants provide for the health, safety, and well-being of individuals in their custody; and the Administrative Procedure Act. Plaintiffs’ APA claim is based on Defendants’ policy and practice of coercing, threatening, and pressuring individuals into signing immigration documents, including Voluntary Departure forms, in English without necessary translation. Plaintiffs allege that this policy and practice violates the Due Process Clause, including under the Accardi doctrine given Defendants’ own regulations that prohibit such threats, coercion, and physical abuse.
Latest Updates
- 11/17/2025
- 11/05/2025
- 10/30/2025
