Public Justice represented four organizations in their attempt to unseal records related to a use of force incident inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center
Public Justice represented independent local newsroom Los Angeles Public Press, local news cooperative The Southlander, the First Amendment Coalition, and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice in these motions to intervene and to unseal footage, emails, reports and logs of a 2020 use of force incident within the Adelanto facility.
GEO Group is the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) largest contractor
This multi-billion-dollar for-profit company 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, among many others.
Over the years, both people detained at Adelanto 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 alleges violations of constitutional rights and state tort law
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 were over 50 sealed exhibits in this case that were wrongly kept from public view
These exhibits included 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. Public Justice argued to restore the public’s wrongly cut off right of access by requesting the Court to revisit its previous sealing orders.
The public has a right to know what occurred inside Adelanto ICE Processing Center
The Court ultimately unsealed every record Public Justice asked for. These materials provide meaningful insight into the abuses regularly perpetrated by GEO against the growing number of immigrants they detain and how GEO uses excessive force to chill protected activity, both inside and outside of their facilities.
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 peaceful protests with violence, and then claiming that the violence was justified because the protest was more like a riot. Records are often wrongly sealed without consideration of the public’s presumptive right of access and then remain under seal because the cases eventually settle without going to trial. This makes it harder for the public to ever see these documents. Not only does this disappear and silence already marginalized and targeted people, but it makes future litigation more difficult.
This is why Public Justice stepped in to unseal dozens of videos and documents that show how GEO treats the people who dare speak out about the inhumane treatment that our tax dollars pay for.
There can be no accountability without transparency, and our victory is an important step in the right direction.