Judge says government is still blocking immigrants' access to attorneys at LA detention facility

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge on Friday said the Trump administration is still violating detained immigrants' constitutional rights by restricting their access to attorneys at a detention facility in Los Angeles and ordered the government to remedy the matter.

Immigrant advocacy groups filed the lawsuit in July accusing the administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during its ongoing immigration crackdown. Immigrant advocates accused immigration officials of detaining someone based on their race, carrying out warrantless arrests, and denying detainees access to legal counsel at a holding facility in downtown LA.

Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles said the ruling builds on a temporary order in July that required the government to provide detainees with access to free confidential phone calls with their lawyers.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The judge said that the plaintiffs had provided evidence that the government had not fully abided by the July order.

It required the detention facility to be open for attorney visitation seven days per week, for a minimum of eight hours per day on weekdays and a minimum of four hours per day on weekends and holidays. While the government has complied with that, the court also required officials to notify the plaintiffs in the lawsuit within four hours if they needed to close the detention facility for any reason, and that the closure not stretch longer than “reasonably necessary.”

“The Court has examined all of the new evidence presented by both sides and decides once again that the federal government is partially blocking access to lawyers,” Frimpong wrote in her order.

Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with Public Counsel, said in an Oct. 23 hearing that lawyers were still having trouble meeting with their clients.

Attorneys did not begin receiving notice of any facility closures until Sep. 10. They often had to meet with clients with the door open and guards present, preventing the lawyers from having private conversations with clients. There have been instances where the facility was closed due to a peaceful protest that happened miles away in another city, Rosenbaum said.

Detainees have also been moved around frequently and without warning, sometimes from downtown Los Angeles to other locations that don't allow lawyer visits at all.

"By granting this preliminary injunction, the judge made clear that the government cannot lock people up and cut them off from their lawyers,” Rosenbaum said in a statement after the ruling.