SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge issued a sweeping preliminary injunction Tuesday requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to immediately remedy what the court found to be unconstitutional conditions inside detention holding rooms at ICE’s San Francisco Field Office at 630 Sansome St.
According to a press release from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF), the ruling provisionally certifies two classes and stems from a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy allowing ICE to arrest immigrants at immigration court and detain them for extended periods in unsafe and ill-equipped holding cells.
In the ruling, Judge P. Casey Pitts wrote that when the federal government detains people, “the Constitution imposes upon it a corresponding duty to assume some responsibility for [their] safety and general well-being” and that duty includes providing “basic human needs—e.g., food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and reasonable safety.”
The court found ICE “routinely” holds individuals at the facility for longer than 12 hours, and in some cases more than 72 hours. The order identified several likely unconstitutional conditions, including ICE’s “denial of beds or mattresses, continuous lighting, and maintenance of frigid temperatures without providing blankets,” along with “unsanitary conditions and denial of basic hygiene resources,” lack of medical intake or prescription medications, and failure “to consider requests for medical attention that are not made in English.”
Pitts wrote that ICE’s failure to provide these basic necessities means the current conditions “impose a substantial risk of serious harm” and violate constitutional protections.
Judge Pitts ordered ICE to provide clean bedding, space to sleep, dimmed lighting between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., hygiene products, prescription medications and medical screenings. The ruling also requires daily cleaning and the provision of legal information and medical request procedures in the detainees’ primary languages, with interpreters available when written translations are not.
In the order, the court added it “merely will require that they conform to the demands of the Constitution” and noted that ICE may either bring conditions into compliance or “alter the rate at which they are funneling arrestees into [630 Sansome] and other facilities.”
The court declined to suspend a June 2025 nationwide ICE policy waiving the agency’s own 12-hour detention limit, but ordered both sides to submit a plan to resolve the challenge quickly, signaling urgency and the likelihood of further legal action.
A senior staff attorney at LCCRSF said in the release, “Our community members have endured unimaginable suffering in these freezing, filthy cells, treated as less than human for the ‘crime’ of seeking safety in this country…This decision is a powerful affirmation of their humanity and a critical check on an administration that has sought to operate outside the rule of law. We will continue to stand with our clients to ensure these reforms are fully implemented.”
Neil Sawhney, director of appellate advocacy at the ACLU of Northern California, said in the release, “Forcing people to sleep on concrete floors under bright lights and denying them access to medical care isn’t just inhumane, it’s unconstitutional. The Court’s order affirms that the government cannot use detention as a tool of punishment and must provide for the basic human dignity of all people in its custody.”
Laura Sanchez, legal director of the Central American Resource Center of Northern California, added, “This ruling is a vital step toward ensuring that no one is subjected to the cruel and degrading conditions we’ve documented at 630 Sansome. The Court has rightly recognized that the Constitution’s protections against punishment without due process apply to everyone, regardless of their immigration status. We will continue to fight until these inhumane practices are ended for good.”
Mark Hejinian, partner at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP, said in the release, “The Court’s opinion, based on a mountain of evidence from those who suffered these conditions, leaves little doubt that ICE’s practices at 630 Sansome are unlawful. We are gratified that the Court has ordered immediate relief to prevent further irreparable harm to the individuals detained there.”
Nisha Kashyap, program director at LCCRSF, said, “Provisional class certification ensures that the Court’s preliminary injunction protects the rights of everyone who is detained at 630 Sansome.”
A hearing on remaining claims challenging ICE’s courthouse arrest policies is scheduled for Dec. 9, 2025.
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