ICE Detainees Sue Over Inhumane Conditions at California Center

A group of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees being held in California’s largest detention facility filed a proposed class action against the Trump administration over inhumane conditions there.

The complaint said the California City Detention Facility located in the California’s Mojave Desert has filthy cells, inadequate food and water, and lacks critical medical care, with some detainees describing it as “a torture chamber.”

The detention facility, a former state prison, was reopened this year under a contract with the company CoreCivic in April and has faced intense public scrutiny over conditions for detainees.

Beginning in August, ICE began transferring detainees to the Mojave Dessert from facilities throughout the state, reaching 500 in the first month, despite evidence that the facility was unprepared to house them, the complaint said. It was filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

California City has 2,560 beds and at the time of filing around 800 people were detained at the facility. CoreCivic said it will reach full capacity by early 2026, the complaint said.

The suit pointed to numerous reports of inhumane conditions. Medical requests remain unanswered for weeks, legal counsel have had weeks-long delays in contacting their clients at the facility, and detainees have been subject to excessive solitary confinement.

The lawsuit comes a week after a federal judge in a different California court declined to issue a temporary restraining order blocking California City from receiving any new detainees and stopping the facility from expanding. The judge in that case was unconvinced that the evidence showed a level of harm that would warrant an emergency restraining order.

It follows litigation about detention holding centers in major cities around the country—Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York—alleging similarly inhumane conditions. Judges in those cases have largely issued orders demanding conditions in those smaller, urban centers improve.

Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP, ACLU Foundation, California Collaborative For Immigrant Justice, and Prison Law Office represent the proposed class.

The case is Ruiz v. US Immigration & Customs Enforcement, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-09757, 11/12/25.