MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge said Friday federal lawyers must reach an agreement by next Thursday with human rights lawyers seeking to ensure the right to counseling for people detained at Minnesota’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Advocates say people being held in facilities on the edge of Minneapolis and facing deportation are being denied full access to attorneys, including in-person meetings. Attorney Jeffrey Dubner said detainees can call, but ICE agents are usually nearby.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel told Justice Department prosecutor Christina Parascandola that there appeared to be a “very broad factual disconnect” between the human rights lawyers’ allegations and the government’s claims of full access to what ICE calls temporary detention facilities.
Parakandola said people detained at the facility have access to counseling and unmonitored phone calls whenever they need them. She admits she has never been there.
Brasseur called her argument “hard to convince,” noting that there is far more evidence in the case record to support the plaintiffs’ claims than the government’s assurances.
“The gap here is so wide, I don’t know how to close it,” the judge said.
Rather than rule on the spot, Brasseur told both sides to continue meeting with a retired judge who is mediating and who has helped narrow some differences. She noted at the start of the hearing that both sides agree “some level of reasonable access” to legal counsel is constitutionally necessary, but they disagree on the details.
The judge said that if the parties failed to reach at least a partial agreement by 5pm on Thursday, February 12, she would issue the order at that time. She did not specify what kind of rule she would take.
An MP denounces detention center conditions
The facility is part of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, an ICE operations center and the site of frequent protests.
Rep. Kelly Morrison, D-Minn., said in a statement Friday that conditions in detention centers remain poor. The doctor said she learned during a visit Thursday night that the facility had no protocols in place to prevent the spread of measles from Texas to Minnesota. This week, at least two cases were reported at a major ICE detention center in Texas.
Some Minnesota detainees, including families with children, have been sent to prisons in Texas, and some have returned to Minnesota after court intervention, including 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father.
“It was clear that Whipple was simply ill-equipped to respond to the Trump administration’s brutal and chaotic ‘Operation Metro Surge,'” Morrison said in a statement. “I was appalled by the inability or unwillingness of federal agents to answer some of the most basic questions about their actions and protocols.”
Although a federal judge ruled Monday that members of Congress had the right to make unannounced visits to ICE facilities, Morrison said in a statement that agents tried to deny her entry for nearly half an hour and asked her to leave before finally letting her in.
Morrison and Minnesota Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig were rejected on their first attempt last month.
After entering the facility last weekend, Morrison said there was no real medical care being provided to those being held there.
Craig and Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum said they were turned away when they tried to visit the facility overnight despite the court order.
“We have heard countless reports that detainees at Whipple are being held in appalling conditions,” the two representatives said in a statement. “We have every reason to believe that this administration is once again lying and trying to hide what we all know is true—that they are ignoring due process and treating immigrants as political pawns, not human beings.”
Man charged with felony for vandalizing anti-ICE sculpture
A supporter of an immigration crackdown who posted a video on social media of kicking down an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement sculpture outside the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul was released from jail on Friday after being charged with felony damage to property.
Capitol security discovered Jake Lang, 30, of Lake Worth, Florida, damaging the display Thursday afternoon, said Lt. Mike Lee, a spokesman for the Minnesota State Patrol. He was arrested a short distance away. The ice sculpture reads “Sue ICE.”
During his first court appearance, Long was released pending trial but ordered to stay at least three blocks from the Capitol. Court records did not list an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
Last month, Long attempted to hold a small rally in Minneapolis in support of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and was overwhelmed by a large crowd. Long was previously charged with assaulting a police officer and other crimes before being granted clemency as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping intervention on behalf of the defendants last Jan. 6.
