Hugo Gonzalez, et al. v. The GEO Group, Inc., et al.
What’s at Stake
The public has a significant interest in learning what occurs and has occurred inside Adelanto ICE Processing Center, one of the largest detention centers in the country run by GEO Group. But, opportunities for the public to learn what happens inside the facility grow increasingly scarce as members of Congress are still being denied access to Adelanto and DHS oversight bodies are functionally eliminated. Public Justice represents independent local newsroom Los Angeles Public Press, local news cooperative The Southlander, the First Amendment Coalition and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice in this motion to intervene and unseal footage, emails, reports and logs of a use of force incident within the Adelanto facility.
Summary
GEO Group is the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) largest contractor and acts as a one-stop-shop for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s mass deportation machine. Since Adelanto was taken over by GEO in 2011, there have been dozens of lawsuits filed against the corporation and its employees alleging violations of civil rights and labor law. Over the years, both incarcerated people and the outside community have staged protests to bring awareness to the deplorable conditions of confinement and demand change. For example, in the spring and summer of 2020, community members repeatedly rallied outside Adelanto to demand humane treatment of those inside and closure of the facility all together. The external protests prompted GEO to issue internal lockdowns, with people detained in their cells for upwards of 23.5 hours a day for multiple days in a row.
The lawsuit at the center of this intervention — Hugo Gonzalez, et al. v. The GEO Group, Inc., et al. — was filed in June 2022, and alleges violations of multiple constitutional rights and state tort law. Plaintiffs allege that on June 12, 2020, a mere 48 hours after having been released from a three-day lockdown, incarcerated people received orders to return to their cells due to another protest outside the facility. A group decided to protest the lockdown order by remaining in place and refusing to return to their cells. GEO immediately responded to their peaceful protest and stormed the units to blanket everyone — protestor or otherwise — with pepper bullets and spray. People detained in the units were then left to sit in their cells for up to three days, with their bodies and surroundings saturated in chemicals meant to cause debilitating pain. They were not given access to showers, fresh air, or cleaning supplies, with many resorting to using toilet water to try to cleanse themselves and provide a modicum of relief.
There are over fifty sealed exhibits in the case, most of them attached to the summary judgment or class certification briefs. They include video footage, staff and executive communications, movement logs showing when people were finally allowed to shower or receive medical treatment, and internal reports following the incident.
If unsealed, these materials will likely provide meaningful insight into the abuses regularly perpetrated by GEO against the growing number of immigrants they detain and how GEO uses excessive punishment to chill protected activity, both inside and outside of their facilities.
Core Legal Problem
These motions to intervene and unseal are about vindicating the public’s First Amendment right of access to court records. GEO Group has a pattern of responding to protests with violence, and then claiming that the violence was justified because the protest was more like a riot. Records often remain under seal and the cases eventually settle, which makes it harder for the public to ever see documents submitted under seal. Not only does this disappear and silence already marginalized and targeted people, but it makes future litigation more difficult. There can be no accountability without transparency.