ICE Detains Asylum Seekers Attending Check-Ins in Los Angeles

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Since Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been detaining asylum seekers who attend check-in appointments at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles, California and holding them in basement rooms there that are inappropriate for such use.

So far up to 200 people have been taken this way, including at least one pregnant woman who was in need of medical care and a child who was a USA citizen. They were almost universally denied contact with lawyers and family members. As of Friday about 60 were believed to still be in the basement. The interview rooms and offices where they are held typically have no beds and little access to food and water. Lighting in the building is turned off outside normal business hours.

An ICE spokesman denied any of this was happening. Two lawyers took photographs and video which they showed the League of United Latin American Citizens. LULAC CEO Juan Proaño said it included “children being walked around the courthouse with flashlights in the dark, and folks screaming and asking for help.”

Proaño said, “These immigrants are following the legal process, they’re following the rule of law, and they should be treated with respect and dignity. They should not be entrapped and held hostage in a federal building.”

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