San Francisco, CA – On Monday, The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to demand records regarding harrowing accounts of violence, neglect, and retaliation at Golden Gate Annex ICE, a private detention facility run by The GEO Group, Inc. in California’s Central Valley. In recent months, the facility has been the subject of several federal civil rights complaints.
The case seeks to compel ICE to produce documents related to a violent raid conducted on April 15, 2024. The incident followed a peaceful protest by detainees in the A4 dormitory, who were seeking relief from overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and deprivation of basic necessities. GEO Group guards launched a quasi-militarized operation. Guards, equipped with helmets, shields, and pepper spray, stormed the dormitory at dawn. Reports indicate that detained people were zip-tied, pepper-sprayed, and assaulted during the early-morning raid. “The guards behaved as though they were going to war,” recounted one survivor.
The raid left lasting physical injuries and psychological scars, with survivors now reporting PTSD, insomnia, and paranoia. Some survivors have even refrained from seeking medical care out of fear of further retaliation. ICE has also discontinued free legal phone calls, undermining detained people’s ability to seek legal help or report abuses.
“ICE had a statutory duty to produce the requested records months ago. We are pursuing basic public transparency about what happened during and after the brutal April 15 raid. Access to public information is essential in a democratic society, especially where human rights and dignity are implicated,” said Victoria Petty, Immigrant Justice Attorney at LCCRSF.
The lawsuit follows months of delay from ICE responding to LCCRSF’s request for the documents about the April 15 raid. In June 2024, LCCRSF submitted a FOIA request to obtain video and audio recordings of the raid, among other records. Although ICE has performed a search for relevant records, they have failed to release any. The lack of transparency has hindered efforts to investigate the events that unfolded during the raid.
While survivors of the raid have also filed civil rights complaints with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Liberties, there has been no substantive response to date. This lack of accountability highlights the need for greater public oversight over the treatment of detained immigrants in ICE custody.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote to DHS leadership earlier this month, describing serious failings at ICE detention centers in California. Rep. Zoe Lofgren and Sen. Alex Padilla recently led a letter from California congressional representatives calling for ICE to end its contract with GEO for Golden State and another nearby facility, in light of “disturbing and ongoing reports” of deplorable conditions. The contracts are up for renewal this month.
Attorneys on the case filed today include Victoria Petty and Jordan Wells of LCCRSF and co-counsel Matthew Richards and Brock Seraphin of Nixon Peabody LLP.
The federal complaint is available here.
