A Los Angeles federal judge has just ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials must allow for detainees to have private calls with lawyers at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.
According to Judge Jesus G. Bernal, the facility "must allow free, reasonably private legal calls on unrecorded and unmonitored telephone lines, and must devise a reliable procedure for attorneys as well as detainees to schedule those calls within 24 hours of a request.
The ruling comes as officials argue that changes in policy due to the health crisis led it to be near impossible for detainees to confer with their lawyers in private.
Eva Bitran, staff attorney at the ACLU SoCal, said, "Today the court recognized that ICE and GEO cannot simply shut off visitation for immigration detainees without opening other avenues of communication with the oustide world. This order will protect detained immigrants' constitutional right to speak with their lawyers, enabling them to fight deportation and regain their freedom."
According to NBC Los Angeles, ICE officials could not be reached for comment.
