Lawsuit brings better conditions for immigration detainees

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At a short-term processing facility in L.A., immigrants were held in cramped rooms with no access to drinking water, sanitary napkins or toothbrushes for weeks. U.S. officials have agreed to reforms.

Immigrants detained in a short-term processing center in the basement of a Los Angeles federal building can no longer be held for weeks without access to drinking water, clean clothes or items such as sanitary napkins, according to a settlement announced Wednesday.

The settlement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities resulted from a lawsuit filed in April by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the National Immigration Law Center and the Paul Hastings law firm.

The suit described how immigrants were held in crowded, unsanitary conditions in the basement area known as B-18 in the Federal Building at 300 N. Los Angeles St. downtown. Women were often denied access to sanitary napkins, detainees were not allowed to brush their teeth for up two weeks and toilets would regularly overflow, according to the lawsuit.

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Lawsuit brings better conditions for immigration detainees -- latimes.com