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ICE processing center is all but empty when California Congress members arrive to inspect

For two months, several Democratic members of Congress have been unable to enter a downtown L.A. processing center run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, prompting widespread complaints and a federal lawsuit.

On Monday, the Congress members got their first look at the basement facility known as B-18.

But Reps. Brad Sherman, Judy Chu and Jimmy Gomez said that they were left with more questions than answers — and accused the government of sanitizing the center.

"They wanted to show us nothing,” said Gomez, whose district includes downtown L.A. “It was nothing, it was like no one was there. It was deliberate so members of Congress cannot conduct oversight.”’

Scores of migrants, as well as some U.S. citizens, have been taken from Home Depot parking lots, car washes, and other locations by masked and heavily armed agents and brought to B-18 since early June. Some detainees have complained of overcrowding and being held for multiple days.

The facility can hold up to 335 migrants, but there were just two people in one of the holding rooms on Monday, the members said at a news conference in downtown L.A. after their visit.

The group's previously scheduled visit was canceled by ICE. Monday's visit took days of planning and advance notice, according to the politicians.

They described a sparse scene inside B-18, with nine holding rooms, each with two toilets.

Chu, whose district includes Monterey Park, described the floors as concrete and said that there were no beds. She said ICE detainees are supposed to be held at the facility for only 72 hours, but she has heard stories of people kept there for 12 days.

Some detainees have reported receiving one meal a day, she said. On Monday, she visited the food pantry at B-18, which Chu described as "scanty."

"I am deeply disturbed by what I saw and what I heard," Chu said.

Chu also said she has been told that detainees have no soap or toothbrushes.

A representative for the Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the politicians' complaints.

“It’s alarming that it’s taken so long for congressional members to gain access to this site,” said Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, a nonprofit that seeks to protect the rights of immigrants.

Perez was able to visit Narciso Barranco, a Mexican national whose three sons are U.S. Marines, in June. Perez said he saw Barranco after he’d been held at the facility for three days. Perez said that Barranco, who was punched and pepper-sprayed during his arrest, did not receive medical attention.

The Department of Homeland Security shared video of his arrest on social media and said Barranco attacked an agent with his gardening tool.

Barranco told Perez that each of the rooms held 30 to 70 people at the time and that some had to sleep standing up, Perez said. Food was scarce and they didn’t have access to showers.

The ICE facility was designed as a processing center, not a detention facility, Perez said.

Sherman, who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley and Pacific Palisades, said that one of the two detainees at B-18 on Monday rested with his head on a table.

Sherman said he “illegally” took a picture during his visit and that he shouted out to several people being brought into the facility for processing, asking them if they were U.S. citizens or green card holders. No one replied, he said.

Sherman, Chu, Gomez and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who joined the group after their visit, criticized the ongoing immigration enforcement, and in particular the use of masked, roving agents.

A federal judge last month temporarily barred the government from mass sweeps in Los Angeles and seven nearby counties without first establishing reasonable suspicion that the targets are in the U.S. illegally.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which sued the federal government over the sweeps, described B-18 as “dungeon-like” and accused the administration of failing to “provide basic necessities like food, water, adequate hygiene facilities, and medical care.” Detainees were allegedly subjected to overcrowding and did not have adequate sleeping accommodations.

“Under such conditions, some of those arrested are pressured into accepting voluntary departure,” the lawsuit stated.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin has said that claims of poor conditions at ICE detention centers are “false” and that the agency “has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.”

On Monday, Chu said that she asked ICE representatives during the tour why people were jumping out of vans with masks, and no identification.

She said the representatives replied, "That’s not us, and we go in if there’s probable cause, if there’s a warrant out there.”

Gomez, who has been repeatedly turned away from entering the B-18 facility since the crackdown started earlier this year, is part of a group of Democratic House members suing the federal government over the lack of access.

The lawsuit, filed last month in federal district court in Washington, said the individuals attempted to visit a detention facility, either by showing up in person or by giving Homeland Security Department officials advance notice, and were unlawfully blocked from entering.

ICE recently published new guidelines for members of Congress and their staff, requesting at least 72 hours' notice from lawmakers and requiring at least 24 hours' notice from staff before an oversight visit.

Times staff writer Andrea Castillo contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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