A federal judge on Thursday issued a tentative ruling ordering that the government ensure immigrant detainees held in a downtown Los Angeles processing center have access to legal counsel.<\/p>\n
The preliminary injunction would essentially extend a temporary restraining order that U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued in July<\/a>, requiring federal immigration agencies to allow legal visitation at the B-18 detention facility seven days a week.<\/p>\n Frimpong issued her tentative ruling ahead of the hearing Thursday morning, during which she heard arguments on whether the government was continuing to violate detainees\u2019 Fifth Amendment right to access counsel. <\/p>\n Mark Rosenbaum, of Public Counsel, which helped bring the lawsuit, told the judge that detainees swept up in immigration raids have been held at B-18 \u2014 intended as a processing center \u2014 in inhumane conditions, with \u201cno beds, no showers, no heat, vending machine food at best.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThese are inherently coercive conditions,\u201d Rosenbaum said. \u201cWhich heighten the necessity for access to counsel, unfettered.\u201d<\/p>\n Government attorney Jonathan Ross argued that \u201cevidence shows detainees at B-18 are meeting with attorneys, they have access to counsel\u201d and argued that \u201cconditions of confinement are not an issue before the court.\u201d He also said that exigent circumstances \u2014 protests that sprang up against immigration raids \u2014 shifted conditions at facility, thus impacting clients\u2019 access to attorneys.<\/p>\n \u201cThat circumstance has now changed and conditions at B-18 have now normalized,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cthe government is going to do the right thing\u201d regardless of any order. <\/p>\n \u201cThe court should not be ordering the government to do what it already is,\u201d Ross said, adding that detainees \u201care receiving what the Fifth Amendment requires.\u201d<\/p>\n Frimpong told Ross that there were violations even after the issuance of the temporary restraining order, which she said \u201cgives the court concern.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosenbaum said the right of access to counsel is \u201cbeing denied systemically and intentionally\u201d and said the government \u201cis not coming close to full compliance with the constitution.\u201d <\/p>\n He also asked that if the judge ultimately grants the preliminary injunction that she specify that the doors of rooms where lawyers are meeting with detainees be shut, to provide confidentiality.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big deal to get a preliminary injunction and it\u2019s a big deal to say that the government continues to require an order that these detainees get access to counsel,\u201d Rosenbaum said following the hearing. \u201cIn October 2025, we should not have to go to a federal judge to say that individuals who are detained by this government have access to lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosenbaum said they are confident the tentative ruling will remain and that individuals \u201cwill finally get this right, but we will remain vigilant to make sure.\u201d<\/p>\n The American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel, other groups and private attorneys filed the lawsuit on behalf of several immigrant rights groups, three immigrants picked up at a bus stop and two U.S. citizens, one of whom was held despite showing agents his identification. <\/p>\n Along with access issues, plaintiffs also argued in their complaint that<\/a> immigration agents cornered brown-skinned people in Home Depot parking lots, at carwashes and at bus stops across Southern California in a show of force without establishing reasonable suspicion that they had violated immigration laws. They allege agents didn\u2019t identify themselves, as required under federal law, and made unlawful warrantless arrests.<\/p>\n