Federal judge orders sweeping changes at Adelanto ICE detention center 39%
By Brittny Mejia70% Ruben Vives56%
7/17/2026, 12:22:52 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Halo Effect, and Quote-first Misdirection, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 23.2% saturation with 172 hits. Analysis detected 1,037 faulty-reasoning hits from 740 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 44.2% and a BS Rank of 39% (10,288 of 16,721 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 61.50% of the article peer group.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the government to immediately overhaul conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, finding that detainees were likely to succeed on claims that the government violated their constitutional and disability rights.
U.S.
District Judge Sunshine S.
Sykes granted a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction in a class-action lawsuit brought by detainees and immigrant advocacy groups, ordering the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make sweeping changes to medical care, sanitation, food, recreation, disability accommodations and visitation while the litigation continues.
In her order, Sykes said the plaintiffs "have demonstrated they are likely to prevail—or at the least, raise serious questions—on the merits of their Fifth Amendment and Rehabilitation Act claims.
Among other things, Sykes ordered the government to ensure detainees were provided 24-hour access to clean potable drinking water, nutritious and sanitary meals that contain a sufficient number of calories and adequate sanitation throughout the facility, to include daily cleaning and mold remediation.
Sykes also ordered that within 14 days, ICE "develop and file a remedial plan to implement comprehensive systems for medical care and disability accommodations."
That plan, she wrote, is meant to ensure a documented health intake screening for all new detainees within eight hours of that person’s arrival at the facility; access to timely treatment; timely diagnostic testing; continued access to ordered medications; and provision of patients' rights materials.
To ensure compliance with the remedial plan, Sykes ordered ICE to provide access to "two qualified, independent, third-party monitors for the duration of this litigation or until terminated by court order."
One monitor will focus on the systems for medical care and disability accommodations and the other on the conditions of confinement, according to the order.
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A government attorney last week argued that the federal government wasn’t responsible for the way detainees were treated inside Adelanto, saying that fell to the GEO Group Inc., owner and operator of the facility, according to the San Bernardino Sun.
“The government chose to detain those individuals and the government is responsible for the constitutional violations happening to them every day,” Belinda Escobosa, an attorney with Public Counsel, told Sykes, according to the news outlet.
A spokesperson for GEO Group could not immediately be reached for comment, but they previously told The Times that services are monitored by ICE and other organizations within the Department of Homeland Security to ensure compliance with federal government detention standards.
“The support services GEO provides include around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access, translation services, dietitian-approved meals, religious and specialty diets, recreational amenities, and opportunities to practice their religious beliefs,” the spokesperson wrote.
The lawsuit, filed in January by Public Counsel, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Immigrant Defenders Law Center and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, alleged that immigration detainees are subjected to mold on walls, contagious diseases, a lack of medical care and a lack of clean water and food at Adelanto.
Sykes in April denied an initial request for a preliminary injunction.
California Atty.
Gen.
Rob Bonta in March filed a brief in support of the plaintiffs’ first preliminary injunction motion.
Last month, Bonta re-filed a brief in support of the renewed motion.
“The decline of detainees’ health and well-being has intensified due to the Trump Administration’s relentless pursuit of immigration enforcement and detention," Bonta said in a statement last month.
"It is cruel and unacceptable, and it is past time for ICE to start following the law."
At least four people detained at the facility have died since September, according to ICE data.
The Adelanto facility has for years faced scrutiny about conditions and the treatment of immigrants inside.
A 2018 federal report found “serious violations,” including overly restrictive detainee segregation, and guards who failed to keep detainees from hanging braided sheet “nooses.”
A report from the California Department of Justice in April also found that the six privately operated immigration detention facilities, including Adelanto, fell short in providing inmates mental health care, needed better suicide prevention strategies, and used disproportionate force against detainees with mental health conditions.
Workers at the facility have previously told The Times the facility was unprepared and understaffed for the surge they were beginning to see under the current immigration policies.
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