One advocacy group CEO said he’s heard of up to 200 asylum-seekers detained in the federal building since Tuesday. A representative for ICE denied this claim.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is accused of detaining and holding asylum-seekers overnight in a downtown Los Angeles court building after they appeared for routine check-ins this week, prompting calls for an investigation into possible human rights abuses.
Up to 200 people have been detained since Tuesday at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, with at least one pregnant woman and a 2-year-old child among those held overnight, Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, told HuffPost Friday.
“It’s not a facility that’s designed to hold anyone overnight. So they have folks in interview rooms and offices, up to 30 people. They’ve set up some makeshift tents as well,” Proaño said, citing information obtained by detainees and lawyers who have had access to the building.
Immigration attorney Lizbeth Mateo told CBS News that several of her clients were among those detained and taken to a basement in the building.
An expectant couple and their two children, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, were left to sleep in a room without beds and given limited access to food and water. Eventually, the pregnant mother and her children were released, while the husband remained in custody as of early Friday, Mateo said.
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CBS also reported that it spoke with people waiting outside the building who claimed to have relatives inside the basement who were texting them.
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A spokesperson for ICE denied the reports, however, telling HuffPost in an email Friday that it has not detained “individuals inside the basements or tents etc.”
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Proaño said that LULAC has been told that as many as 60 people remain detained in the building as of Friday, while others have been released or moved to Texas for deportation.
