MCFARLAND, CA — On behalf of a group of detained immigrants who claim they were attacked by guards that raided the A4 dormitory of the Golden State Annex ICE Detention Center in McFarland, immigrant justice groups have filed a complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Liberties.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area reported in the complaint guards working for the for-profit prison contractor GEO Group physically assaulted the people in their custody.
Additionally, LCCR-SFBA charge guards allegedly destroyed their personal property, used pepper spray, verbally abused them, and carried out additional violations.
The complaint has been filed by the ACLU of Northern California, the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The raid was preceded by members of dorm A4 participating in two peaceful sit-ins to protest overcrowding, inhumane living conditions, and deprivation of basic necessities such as toilet paper, ice, and cold water during extreme heat, just days before, according to the complaint.
ICE contractors violated detention standards, and instead of addressing the concerning conditions, decided to storm the A4 dorm in helmets and masks, holding shields in one hand and tanks of pepper spray in the other, all while most people were still asleep, the complaint alleges.
One survivor, B-, recalled the raid, stating, “I have intense panic when I see officers enter the dorm. I go to my bed and don’t look towards the officers. I begin to tremble…I have nightmares of that incident. This does enter my mind frequently and I wonder why they did it. I wonder to myself Is it going to happen again? When I have to go to my psych visit or to medical, I become panicked because I know I’m going to have to interact with the officers.”
Previous organizers of dorm A4’s sit-ins were held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time, said the plaintiff lawyers, adding they were subjected to physical assault and sexual harassment.
The previous organizers, the complaint adds, were informed that they could be released only if they “stop all the protesting and standing up for people.” They spent a minimum of 22 hours daily in isolation, which according the United Nations Nelson Mandela Rules—a 21st century outline for prison conditions and proper benchmarks for staff to ensure safety—is a practice equivalent to torture.
Michael Cruz Lezama, a survivor of the raid said, “We need to stop ICE and the GEO corporation. They should end the ICE contract with GEO for this facility along with the abuse of force and discrimination.”
Lezama, who is from Nicaragua and resident of California for over a decade, has been detained at Golden State Prison for 15 months now, stating, “I should be given the opportunity to be released to the community to be alongside my family and loved ones.
“I shouldn’t have to suffer from retaliation and physical harm by GEO and the administration for expressing my opinion, my religion, and standing up for my rights. Help me end the abuse.”
Mariel Villarreal, Senior Attorney with CCIJ, stated, “This is not the first time ICE and GEO have chosen to respond with shocking levels of violence to even the most basic calls for humane treatment by the people in their custody.”
Villarreal added, “At Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex, detained people have consistently reported inhumane treatment and retaliation by officers, and the federal government’s insistence on keeping them locked up under terrible conditions is what is driving people to resort to labor and hunger strikes to call for justice. We call on ICE to free them and for immigrant detention to come to an end.”
The inhumane conditions that were the matter of protest for A4 residents in April have continued into the current day, claim advocates, noting dozens of immigrants detained at Golden State and the nearby Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center, which is also operated by GEO, relaunched ongoing labor and hunger strikes in July to call for the termination of the facilities’ contracts and the release of the people detained there.
Part of their requests include free phone calls, improved conditions, and an end to solitary confinement for the time being.
Detained individuals are also protesting the $1-a-day pay for essential work they perform inside the facility, and renewed strikes mirror protests at the two detention centers occurring in 2022 and 2023 over similar working conditions, immigrant advocates maintain.
Members of Congress have also expressed concerns over working conditions, specifically requesting that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE brief Members of Congress, following completion of investigations and on-site inspections at both facilities, said advocates.
As of August 1, according to the complaint, ICE has banned free legal phone calls for individuals detained at these two facilities, which strategically restricts detained individuals’ ability to seek legal assistance and report human rights violations while in detention.
Victoria Petty, a staff attorney with Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, said, “The raid on the A4 dormitory at Golden State Annex is a stark reminder that immigration detention is far from ‘civil.’ This violent response to peaceful protest highlights a deep failure to respect the basic human needs of those in custody.
“We call on the federal government to take immediate action—release the video footage of that day, free the survivors, end ICE’s contract with GEO Group, and ensure that no one else is subjected to such cruelty. The time for accountability is now.”
According to a statement for the ICE detainees, demands to improve prison conditions at Mesa Verde and Golden State also include demands from the federal government.
Demands include, “Releasing those who are still in ICE custody, and arranging for parole into the United States for those whose decisions to accept deportation orders were influenced by the raid, returning or adequately compensating them for their disappeared property, and providing compensation and medical/mental health treatment for the physical and mental injuries caused by the raid.”
Survivors of the A4 raid ask the federal government to consider the complaint as part of DHS’s review of the ICE detention system, prohibit ICE from detaining people at Golden State, and terminate its contract with GEO and Golden State.
The survivors also demand revisions that require, “individualized reasonable suspicion, based on specific, articulable facts, for any bodily search more intrusive than a limited pat down, including any search in which a person is required to undress to any degree,” and a revision to “clarify that an officer must complete a G-1025 (“Record of Search”) for any bodily search more intrusive than a pat down, including any search in which a person is required to undress to any degree.”
Those victimized by the A4 attack petitioned for the federal government to publicize all use of force incidents occurring in all immigration detention facilities and push for ICE to produce all records related to the A4 Raid (including) all audio and video recordings related to the events of the raid.
