Judge orders US to provide California ICE detainees with medical care, attorneys and blankets

Source: Guardian/US

Order comes after seven people in California City facility allege they were denied medications, food and sanitation.

The US government must provide detainees at a California immigration detention center with adequate medical care, access to attorneys, and “temperature-appropriate clothing and blankets”, a federal judge has ruled.

The order came on Tuesday in response to a lawsuit filed by seven people detained at the California City detention facility in November, alleging they had been denied essential medications, sufficient food and sanitary housing conditions.

Residents at the facility had previously described the center as a “torture chamber” and “hell on earth” in interviews with the Guardian.

The US district judge Maxine M Chesney ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to ensure that the facility, which is operated by the private prison corporation CoreCivic, provides “adequate health care staffing” and “timely access to prescribed medications” to those held there, as well as access to attorneys through in-person and telephone meetings, temperature-appropriate clothing and access to outdoor spaces at least one hour per day.

The judge also ordered the government “to provide access to a qualified, independent, third-party monitor” to enable “review of medical records and on-site inspection and interviews with patients and staff”.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/11/california-ice-detainees-medical-care-attorneys-blankets