MIAMI — Advocates for immigrants detained at the newly-constructed Everglades detention center in Ochopee, Florida, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging violations of immigrants’ constitutional rights, according to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union.
The center, built hastily on an abandoned airstrip, has come under fire for its conditions and policies. The 19th News Network reported that Trump’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, had already threatened legal retaliation against those who defy Trump, effectively stifling efforts to file traditional lawsuits.
The ACLU stated that lawyers are being barred from confidential communication with detainees. They are unable to meet clients in person under standard legal visitation laws and are also blocked from sending or receiving confidential written, phone, or video communications—violating both the First and Fifth Amendments.
The First Amendment protects attorney-client confidentiality, which is essential to uphold the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process, preventing government overreach.
Reason Magazine reported that lawyers representing detainees cannot even reach facility administrators to seek approval for visitation. There is no direct phone number or functioning email, making it nearly impossible for legal counsel to communicate with clients.
According to Reason, the detention center lacks any staff authorized to process paperwork necessary for detainees to obtain legal representation. The ACLU said that neither detainees nor attorneys are able to report inhumane conditions, including makeshift tents, trailers, chain-link fences with barbed wire, inadequate food rations, and a hazardous environment with extreme heat, flooding, and wildlife such as alligators, pythons, and mosquitoes.
The ACLU press release noted that the facility houses around 700 immigrants and lacks adequate water and toilet facilities. Toilets frequently overflow, and detainees are reportedly forced to unclog them by hand.
Eunice Cho, senior counsel with the ACLU’s National Prison Project and the lead attorney on the case, stated, “The U.S. Constitution does not allow the government to simply lock people away without any ability to communicate with counsel or to petition the court for release from custody.”
She called the situation “unchecked governmental authority when combined with unbridled hate.”
Yale University has classified the conditions as inhumane under international law. However, Trump has shielded himself from prosecution by the International Criminal Court, according to the State Department. Executive Order 14203, signed by Trump, imposes sanctions on the ICC for attempting to investigate, arrest, or prosecute U.S. or Israeli nationals without consent.
While the current lawsuit continues, additional legal avenues—such as Alien Tort Claims—remain available. As CBS News reported, California Governor Gavin Newsom has suggested pursuing such legal action in response to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to round up immigrants in the state.
