Minneapolis, Minn. — A federal judge today issued a temporary restraining order requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to immediately restore meaningful access to lawyers for people detained in Minnesota.
The ruling comes after The Advocates for Human Rights and a detained person filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump–Vance administration’s practice of holding people at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building without allowing confidential communication with counsel, while rapidly transferring many out of state before they can speak to an attorney. Plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward and Fredrikson & Byron, P.A.
The court found that DHS’s conduct violates detainees’ constitutional and statutory rights, and that people face irreparable harm when denied access to counsel at the most critical moments of detention. Under the order, the government must allow confidential attorney-client visits, permit private phone calls with counsel, and stop obstructing lawyers from seeing their clients, including by rapidly transferring detainees out of state.
“Today the court recognizes the fundamental importance of access to counsel in ensuring basic due process. When the government deprives people of liberty, it cannot avoid its constitutional responsibilities because it finds them inconvenient,” said Michele Garnett McKenzie, Executive Director of The Advocates for Human Rights. “It’s appalling that we required a court ruling to defend this fundamental right.”
“Today’s ruling is an important win for every single person in this county because it concerns our ability to access legal counsel. The court has made clear that the Trump-Vance administration’s overreaching and inhumane approach to immigration enforcement is unlawful and violates basic constitutional rights,” said Skye Perryman, President & CEO of Democracy Forward. “DHS has been detaining people in a building never meant for long-term custody, shackling them, secretly transferring them out of state, and blocking access to counsel and oversight in a deliberate effort to evade accountability. Access to a lawyer is not optional; it is a fundamental right in America, and we will continue to fight to protect it.”
“This ruling affirms what we’ve long argued—that the right to counsel is not optional, it’s constitutional. When the government systematically blocks people from speaking privately with their attorneys and rushes them out of state before they can mount a defense, it violates the very foundation of due process, said Alethea Huyser, attorney at Fredrikson. Today’s order ensures that no one detained at these facilities will be denied the basic legal protections that are guaranteed under our Constitution. This is a critical victory not just for our clients, but for justice itself.”
The lawsuit documents widespread violations at Whipple, including lawyers being barred from visiting clients or even entering the building, detainees being denied private phone calls to contact counsel, individuals being transferred out of Minnesota before attorneys could reach them, people being pressured to sign self-deportation papers without legal advice, and severe overcrowding, lack of basic facilities, and routine shackling.
The case is The Advocates for Human Rights et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., and the legal team at Democracy Forward includes Elena Goldstein, Jeff Dubner, Aman George, Mark Samburg, and Anashua Dutta.
Learn more about this case here and read the decision here
A Spanish version of this press release is available here.
