Kim Luu-Ng recently returned to LAist’s AirTalk segment, where she provided a legal perspective on the recent detainments and conditions at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s largest holding facility, and how the immigration processes differ compared to previous years.
Kim was first asked about the speed at which individuals are being processed, which she notes is “very quickly,” as she had a client who was “detained in the morning and by the evening she was at Adelanto.” Kim’s client was detained at a routine check-in and was luckily able to file for a habeas corpus and an emergency TRO for her to be released. However, Kim highlights that her clients’ rights were not being upheld as both the 5th and 8th amendments were violated.
On the segment, Kim continues to communicate the horrific conditions in the holding center in Adelanto. Kim shares an example of how her client was “retaliated against by security and medical personnel because she had been communicating with her family, and through her family with me,” then reporting to Senator Schiff. This ultimately got back to the center, where Kim says her client was verbally abused and not allowed to use the bathroom or shower. Kim also notes that detainees were given spoiled food, and the temperatures at the center were freezing, and notes in the segment that there are laws in place to protect individuals from this type of cruel punishment.
While the current administration denies the conditions of the holding centers, Kim says, “What is actually happening does not fit the narrative of what the administration is trying to convey.”
Kim also explains how the current administration’s approach differs from previous administrations, sharing, “We have seen and experienced a very heightened standard of litigation and processing for claims, even basic asylum claims, where we have very compelling evidence of torture, or persecution, decisions are being issued in a way that almost lacks any sense and sensibility.”
