Federal Judge Likely to Intervene at Broadview ICE Facility

(BROADVIEW, ILLINOIS) A federal judge said he is likely to issue a temporary restraining order against the Broadview ICE facility near Chicago after days of testimony detailing overcrowding, filthy conditions, and barriers to lawyers, warning from the bench that he had seen “a disturbing record” and adding, “It has really become a prison.” U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman signaled that a formal decision is expected Wednesday afternoon, and said the Broadview center is “no longer just a temporary holding facility,” but rather “a prison,” following hours of witness accounts from detainees, lawyers, and advocates.

At an emergency hearing on Friday, Gettleman told the packed courtroom that

“the nature of the case and the request for relief requires immediate attention,”
and ordered the government to return the lawsuit’s lead plaintiffs—Mexican nationals Pablo Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona—to Chicago so they could testify in person. Both men were detained at Broadview in October 2025, according to filings, and their accounts have become central to a class action that advocates say could reshape how immigration arrests are handled in the region.

The case focuses on what detainees and attorneys describe as a conversion of a short-term processing site into a makeshift lockup. Former detainees told the court they were kept in cells for multiple days without showers, regular access to water, or enough food, and with little to no contact with legal counsel. A 56-year-old father of two, who had been detained recently, broke down as he described the first night.

“It was too much,”
he testified, explaining that there were no beds—only chairs—and not enough for everyone. He and others said officers packed people shoulder-to-shoulder for hours. In one account, a man said there were between 120 and 150 people in a single area and
“it was not possible to lay down.”

Those accounts painted a consistent picture of a facility buckling under the weight of a surge. Witnesses described toilets that were

“very dirty, seemed like they had never been clean,”
and a
“smell [that] was sweat stale, and it was really bad.”
Several said they were denied soap or hygiene items for days. Women said they could not get menstrual products. People reported being held up to five days in a building designed for 12-hour processing, with no showers and sporadic access to bottled water. Lawyers told the judge that detainees sometimes signed forms they did not understand, including documents that waived rights or sped deportations, because they could not speak to counsel and feared punishment if they refused.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and the MacArthur Justice Center brought the class action, calling the situation a

“human rights emergency.”
In court and in filings, they argue the Broadview ICE facility has quietly shifted from intake to detention, without the legal safeguards or basic standards required in longer-term centers. The complaint urges the judge to halt the use of Broadview as a holding site and to order immediate access to counsel, medical screening, and hygiene. It also asks the court to block deportations for people who have not seen a lawyer or a judge.

Advocates say families are flooding hotlines with pleas for help. Erendira Rendón of The Resurrection Project told the court that her organization received nearly 250 requests for legal aid from people held or processed at the site, many of them relatives trying to locate loved ones.

“It’s a black hole. You can’t call the center. You can’t talk to anybody,”
she said, describing frantic nights trying to find out whether a husband had been moved, or a son had been sent to a county jail. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the lack of transparency risks wrongful deportation and makes it impossible to prepare asylum claims, bond requests, or defenses against removal.

Government lawyers pushed back. Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, denied claims of

“subprime conditions,”
and said the Broadview building is not used for detention. Federal attorneys told the judge the facility has six temporary holding cells, each with at least one window and a toilet, bench-style seating with hard foam for sleeping, daily professional cleaning, three meals a day, bottled water, and access to phones for personal and legal calls. Homeland Security officials said they have seen a rise in death threats directed at immigration officers as public criticism of the site has grown.

The courtroom debate capped a tense month outside the facility, where protests have swelled and sometimes turned chaotic. Advocates and local clergy began holding vigils after people reported that relatives vanished into the Broadview ICE facility for days without updates. Demonstrators said federal agents used chemical agents and physical force to disperse crowds during several confrontations this fall. Mayor Katrina Thompson of Broadview faced jeers at a village meeting, where protesters spoke out about conditions and then were told to leave. In September 2025, authorities installed a wire riot fence to push demonstrators farther from the entrance; a federal judge ordered it removed in October 2025.

The Broadview ICE Processing Center sits in a boarded-up building in this near-west suburb and has drawn protests, lawsuits, and formal inquiries from members of Congress since the start of Operation Midway Blitz in late 2025, a federal push that brought more arrests to the Chicago area. People who passed through the facility in recent weeks described

“poor ventilation,”
“cramped cells,”
and a windowless waiting area where no one knew whether they would be taken to county jail, transferred out of state, or placed on a plane. On October 12, 2025, a Catholic eucharist procession sought permission to enter the grounds to pray for detainees and was turned away.

Gettleman’s remarks put the government on notice that core practices may change within days. He suggested that detaining people for days in a space meant for hours, and cutting off consistent access to lawyers, could violate constitutional protections and federal detention standards. If he finds the conditions unlawful, the judge could order sweeping changes, including a halt to holding people overnight at Broadview. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have asked him to restrict enforcement operations in the Chicago area until the government can guarantee access to counsel and humane conditions. The court also could impose reporting requirements and on-site monitoring.

The judge ordered Moreno Gonzalez and Zamacona brought back to Chicago so they could testify about their time at the center. Lawyers said their clients were detained in October 2025 and moved without notice, one to a county jail and the other out of state. The defense did not dispute their transfer histories but said moves are common because of bed space and security needs. Plaintiffs’ counsel countered that the transfers undercut due process, arguing that reassigning detainees before hearings blocks attorney visits and discourages people from pursuing valid claims for relief.

Former detainees who took the stand described a system that felt arbitrary. Some said officers woke them in the middle of the night for fingerprinting or interviews without interpreters. Others said they were given new paperwork several times, told to sign quickly, and warned that refusing would slow their cases. One man testified that an officer told him he could

“go home sooner”
if he signed, only to learn later that he had agreed to expedited removal. Plaintiffs’ attorneys say these accounts show how quickly a processing center can become coercive when overcrowded, especially for people who do not speak English and have no lawyer present.

Conditions inside were a recurring theme. Witnesses described water coolers that ran dry for hours and meals that came late or not at all. People asked for soap and were told none was available. Several said they were not allowed to shower for the entire time they were there. Women described bleeding through clothing because they could not get menstrual products. For many, the worst part was the waiting: hours sitting upright in chairs with bright lights and little room to move. One man said officers told him to sleep sitting up because the floor was too crowded.

The government emphasized that Broadview is a transit point where people are supposed to be processed and moved quickly, not a detention center. Officials said overflow happens when local jails and longer-term facilities cannot accept transfers, and argued that staff have been working around the clock to move people within the intended 12-hour window. Attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security also pointed to facility features such as windows, toilets in every holding cell, and daily professional cleaning, arguing that Broadview compares favorably to other short-term holding sites. They acknowledged the uproar outside the building and linked rising officer safety concerns to threats they say have spiked in the past month.

Advocacy groups rejected those arguments and said the record shows a pattern that cannot be explained by a temporary surge. They cited affidavits from more than a dozen people who said they were held for two to five days, with only sporadic access to phones. Public defenders and private lawyers alike described making repeated calls to find clients and getting no answer. Several said they sent faxes and emails that went unanswered for days, only to learn later that their clients had been deported or moved to county jails without notice. For families, that meant frantic drives to courthouses and detention centers across the region, only to be told to try another facility.

The lawsuit asks the court to impose specific remedies, including a requirement that detainees be allowed to call counsel within hours of arrival, that they have access to soap, showers, and menstrual products, and that no one be asked to sign legal documents without a lawyer or interpreter. It also seeks an order limiting how long people can be held at Broadview without transfer to a licensed detention facility, and a bar on moving detainees without notifying their attorneys and family. Plaintiffs argue that these steps are necessary to stop what they call a cycle of confusion that denies due process during the first days after arrest.

Beyond the courtroom, the fight over Broadview has become a flashpoint in the Chicago area’s broader debate over immigration enforcement. Faith leaders have held nightly vigils and weekend prayer services outside the gates. Local officials have urged calm while saying they have limited authority over federal operations. Protest organizers say they plan to return this week as the court decision nears, worried that the facility could continue to operate as a de facto jail. Their focus on the word “prison” echoes Gettleman’s own description, a rare moment when a federal judge’s language aligns directly with advocates’ claims.

A ruling on the requested temporary restraining order is expected Wednesday afternoon. If granted, the order could immediately force changes at Broadview, potentially limiting how many people can be held there and for how long. It could also mandate on-site access for lawyers and require the government to provide hygiene items and regular meals and water. Depending on the scope, the order may ripple outward, affecting how arrests are processed across the Chicago area and whether agents can rely on Broadview during peak operations. A broader injunction could follow after fuller briefing and witness testimony.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, through its ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations arm, has long used short-term facilities to intake and transport people arrested in the field. The question now is whether those practices can continue at the Broadview ICE facility amid credible reports of prolonged confinement, crowded rooms where

“it was not possible to lay down,”
and testimony that
“It has really become a prison.”
For families waiting on the sidewalk outside, the judge’s next order will determine whether the doors open sooner, the phones work better, and the first hours after an arrest look less like detention and more like the brief processing the government says it intends.