红杏视频

ICE and CBP are smashing their way not only through car windows but also through any constraints on the use of face recognition

SAN FRANCISCO 鈥� Seven people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sued the Trump administration over inhumane conditions at California鈥檚 largest immigration detention center, the privately owned California City Detention Facility located in Kern County. The plaintiffs, who seek to represent a class of all people held at California City, describe in their complaint: Punishing conditions including dirty housing units, inadequate food and water, very cold temperatures, and restrictions on family visits Enforced isolation caused by frequent lockdowns, no access to programming, and excessive solitary confinement Terrifyingly inadequate medical care that deprives people of critical treatment for cancer, life-threatening heart conditions, diabetes and other serious medical needs Neglect of people with disabilities including failing to provide sign language interpreters, wheelchairs, and other necessities people need to live safely Encroachment on freedom of religion, including confiscation of prayer mats, head coverings and even holy texts Denial of access to counsel, with weeks-long delays for legal calls and long waits for in-person visits California City previously operated as a state prison managed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. ICE contracted with the for-profit company CoreCivic to re-open the prison as an immigration detention center this year. Since its re-opening, it has come under intense criticism, with people detained at California City describing the facility as a 鈥渢orture chamber,鈥� and community members expressing outrage over its deplorable conditions. Detained people also have engaged in numerous sit-ins and hunger strikes, including in mid-September, when over 100 people across several housing pods engaged in collective action to demand an end to many of the abuses the lawsuit challenges. Sokhean Keo, a named plaintiff in the lawsuit, said, 鈥淚'm bringing this lawsuit to try to help end the suffering and pain that I see in here. ICE is playing with people's lives, and they treat people like they're trash, like they're nothing. Some of the people I'm detained with don't even have soap 鈥� they take showers without soap 鈥� and they're losing weight because they don't have enough to eat. This is bigger than me, but filing this lawsuit feels like something I can do to call for help for myself and everyone else here.鈥� The lawsuit, Gomez Ruiz, et al. v. ICE, was filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California and seeks to redress violations of the First Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and the Rehabilitation Act. The plaintiffs are represented by the Prison Law Office, Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP, the 红杏视频, and the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. Gustavo Guevara, also a named plaintiff, added, 鈥淣o human being, immigrant or not, should be subjected to these horrendous conditions. I hope society becomes aware of the abuse, neglect, indifference, and the overall unjust treatment we are being subjected to, and does not turn a blind eye. It鈥檚 not right that because we鈥檙e immigrants they feel they can treat us this way.鈥� ICE began quietly transferring people to the facility in late August. Just four weeks after its opening, Disability Rights California conducted a monitoring visit and found that California City 鈥渇ails to meet people鈥檚 basic needs,鈥� fails to 鈥減rovide access to critical medical鈥� care, and 鈥渆mploys staff who harass鈥� detained people. With 2,560 beds, the facility is the largest immigration detention center in California. At the time of filing, more than 800 people were detained in the facility. CoreCivic projects it will reach full capacity by early 2026 as ICE continues to admit new arrivals on a daily basis as part of the Trump administration鈥檚 unprecedented mass arrests of community members and expansion of ICE detention. Additional quotes from co-counsel are as follows: 鈥淭he treatment of the people held in the California City facility is yet another example of ICE鈥檚 utter disregard for the rights and dignity of people in its custody,鈥� said Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the 红杏视频鈥檚 National Prison Project. 鈥淎ccess to necessities like food, basic medical care, and counsel aren鈥檛 mere suggestions 鈥� they are constitutionally protected rights that all people in detention are entitled to.鈥� 鈥淓ight hundred people are currently locked up in the Mojave Desert in conditions no society should tolerate, and by all accounts, that number is about to triple,鈥� said Tess Borden, supervising staff attorney at the Prison Law Office. 鈥淥ur clients are bringing this lawsuit to seek constitutionally adequate conditions of confinement for the hundreds of people at California City and the hundreds more to come, and to shine a light onto the abuses occurring within the ever-expanding immigration detention system in our country.鈥� 鈥淲hat is happening at California City is punitive and unconstitutional,鈥� emphasized Steven P. Ragland, partner at Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP. 鈥淧eople held there are being denied basic human rights, dignity and due process, and we are committed to fixing these horrendous conditions and holding the government accountable.鈥� 鈥淎s our phones are flooded with videos of federal agents arresting our neighbors with extreme violence and cruelty, the brave plaintiffs in this suit remind us through their constant struggle for justice that the abuse does not end there, but continues out of view of the cameras, behind the walls of places like California City Detention Facility,鈥� said Priya Patel, Supervising Attorney at the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. The complaint is available here: https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2025/11/11.12.25-Calcity-Complaint-filed.pdf

GENEVA 鈥� The United Nations Human Rights Council today called on the United States to resume its cooperation with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a mechanism that calls for each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights record every five years. In its decision, the Human Rights Council also announced that it would reschedule the UPR of the U.S. for 2026, while leaving open the possibility for it to be scheduled sooner. In August, the Trump administration announced that it would boycott the UPR, breaking longstanding participation in the UPR in an attempt to evade accountability for its human rights record. The UN Human Rights Council had given the U.S. government until Friday afternoon to appear in person before the council before issuing its decision. In response to the failure of the U.S. to appear and the adoption of the resolution on non-cooperation, civil society organizations and state and local officials, who are attending the UN meeting in Geneva this week, echoed the Human Rights Council鈥檚 calls on the Trump administration to resume its cooperation with the UPR. Statements from partners are as follows: 鈥淭he Human Rights Council鈥檚 decision makes clear that the Trump administration cannot evade accountability,鈥� said Jamil Dakwar, director of the Human Rights Program at the 红杏视频. 鈥淲e condemn the Trump administration for undermining the UPR and setting a dangerous example that will further weaken universal human rights at home and abroad.鈥� 鈥淭he Trump administration is abandoning its obligations to human rights protections domestically and internationally,鈥� said Robert Saleem Holbrook, executive director of the Abolitionist Law Center. 鈥淚n yet another instance of the authoritarian path this administration is embarking on, the refusal to participate in the UPR鈥檚 international convening will only harm its own interests. The decision reflects a reckless act devoid of leadership and deserves to be condemned and rebuked in the strongest possible terms.鈥� 鈥淭he Trump administration's unprecedented decision not to participate in the UPR human rights review is shameful and reflective of the fact that they are either unwilling or unable to defend their abhorrent human rights record,鈥� said Chandra Bhatnagar, executive director of the 红杏视频 of Southern California. 鈥淔rom the discrimination and violence inflicted in the ICE raids, to the attacks on free speech of protesters and journalists, to the deployment of the national guard in American cities when no crisis exists, the world is watching the United States government attacking the constitutional and human rights of its own people. " Siya Hegde, Staff Attorney at the National Homelessness Law Center, remarked that 鈥渢he Trump Administration鈥檚 failure to show up for its own review and pretend it is above the law has again made it clear that it does not care about basic human rights. To maintain any sense of legitimacy for the international human rights system that has provided protections for billions of people for the past 80 years, the UN Human Rights Council must call this out in the strongest possible terms. Without this international accountability, the risk of harms to people both in the U.S. and abroad, including to the millions of unhoused people in the U.S. who are being criminalized simply for not being able to afford the rent, will go up even more than it already has.鈥� 鈥淭his is unprecedented: the United States risks becoming the first country in the history of the UN鈥檚 Universal Periodic Review process to fully evade this important human rights-related review,鈥� said Carolyn Nash, Advocacy Director with Amnesty International USA. 鈥淭he Trump administration has doubled down on its disregard for international accountability and human rights at home and around the world. This failure to participate is a further abandonment of the U.S. government鈥檚 human rights commitments 鈥� it must not stand. The Trump administration can, and must, reverse course, submit its national report for the review, even belatedly, and attend its review in 2026.鈥� 鈥淭he international community must act now with the courage demonstrated by all sectors of civil society and people鈥檚 movements fighting back against the U.S. government鈥檚 cruelty and belligerence,鈥� said Nadia Ben-Youssef, Advocacy Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights. 鈥淲hile successive U.S. administrations have enjoyed impunity for grave violations of human rights and thus eroded the international legal system, Trump鈥檚 latest moves are so egregious they threaten the possibility of a world order premised on values of equality, justice, and repair. We must resist with everything we have.鈥�  

NEW YORK 鈥� Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York rejected a discovery request by an individual sanctioned for violence against Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank that would have undermined established protections for civil society groups and threatened their ability to continue their advocacy work without fear of irreparable harm. The court adopted arguments advanced by the organization targeted by the request, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), and an amicus brief filed by the 红杏视频 (红杏视频), the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), and Human Rights First. 鈥淭he court鈥檚 decision affirms DAWN鈥檚 right to engage in research, reporting, and advocacy without coercive interference by people who disagree with its speech. NGOs should never be forced to comply with this kind of abusive request, and this decision will allow human rights organizations鈥� work to continue providing accountability for human rights abuses,鈥� said Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the 红杏视频 Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. The court found that DAWN did not have to comply with a discovery request filed by Isaac Levi Pilant, dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who was previously sanctioned under the West Bank sanctions program. DAWN had publicly recommended that the U.S. government impose sanctions on him and others for documented violence against Palestinians. After President Trump effectively terminated the program, Pilant filed an application against DAWN and its executive director, Sarah Leah Whitson, pursuant to a U.S. law that provides a mechanism for foreign litigants to obtain discovery from people and entities in the United States. He sought a court order for an extremely wide set of information related to DAWN鈥檚 investigation of Pilant and its sanctions advocacy efforts for use in a possible future defamation case in Israel against Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization. 鈥淭his ruling confirms that foreign litigants cannot exploit our courts to silence NGOs that report on human rights abuses and advocate for accountability,鈥� said Bobby Hodgson, assistant legal director at the NYCLU. 鈥淭he Constitution protects organizations like DAWN from being forced to reveal confidential aspects of their work. The discovery process cannot sidestep the First Amendment 鈥� and we鈥檙e glad the court agrees.鈥� The court鈥檚 decision reflected the arguments put forth in the supporting amicus brief. The court found that various protections, including the reporter鈥檚 privilege and statutory provisions, barred it from granting the discovery requested. It further found that Pilant had failed to demonstrate how the requested information was relevant to contemplated litigation against a different organization in Israeli court. As explained in the 红杏视频 and HRF amicus brief, the U.S. government has established frameworks and processes to encourage nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to share sensitive information that can assist it in more effectively implementing various human rights and corruption sanctions and visa restriction programs. Undermining the protections for NGOs to securely and confidentially share this information would not only impact the ability of the U.S. government to use such tools to hold human rights abusers and corrupt actors accountable, but it would also put NGOs, victims of abuse, and others in civil society in jeopardy by opening them up to retaliation and harassment from people they accuse of human rights violations. The brief further argued that Pilant鈥檚 broad discovery request implicates information protected under the First Amendment and the reporter鈥檚 privilege, which provide grounds to reject his request under the relevant discovery statute.