A federal judge on Wednesday denied the government’s effort to halt a preliminary injunction requiring the Department of Justice to improve conditions inside immigrant holding cells in San Francisco.
The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Casey Pitts means Immigration and Customs Enforcement will have to comply and improve conditions in the holding cells.
The cells are not designed for stays longer than 12 hours, but have increasingly been used to keep immigrants for up to and, sometimes, more than three days.
The preliminary injunction stemmed from a November lawsuit, alleging that detainees at the ICE facility inside 630 Sansome St. were denied prompt medical care, blankets, hygiene materials and other basic necessities. It was filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and partnering law firms.
The government appealed the preliminary injunction, granted by Judge Pitts, on Dec. 23. Three days later, the government sought a stay or pause to the order while Judge Pitts considered the appeal.
In the Wednesday decision, Judge Pitts reaffirmed that the court order applies to the entirety of the building at 630 Sansome St. as well as to the secondary holding location in Sacramento, which ICE has allegedly been using.
Marissa Hatton, a senior staff attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, wrote in an email that “ICE’s motion for a stay was yet another baseless attempt to avoid complying with a valid court order.”
“Class members have suffered too long in cruel detention conditions, and that court has made clear that ICE will be in contempt if it fails to provide humane conditions,” she wrote. “We are pleased to see that ICE’s attempts to delay justice have been denied.”