Challenging the unlawful denial of access to lawyers in immigration detention

This case challenges unlawful immigration detention practices in Minnesota that block detained individuals from accessing lawyers at the most critical moments of detention, in violation of the Constitution, federal law, and basic human rights.

The plaintiffs include The Advocates for Human Rights, a nonprofit legal organization that provides free immigration legal services, and L.H.M., a Minnesota resident with a pending asylum application who was detained by federal officials. They bring this case on behalf of The Advocates of Human Rights and a detained individual.

Beginning in late 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched a large-scale enforcement operation in Minnesota. As part of that operation, individuals were detained, among other facilities, at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, a civilian federal building never designed or authorized for long-term detention. Detainees were held for days in overcrowded conditions without beds, adequate sanitation, or privacy.

The lawsuit alleges that federal officials deliberately blocked access to legal counsel by denying confidential attorney-client meetings, refusing to facilitate phone calls, surveilling communications, and transferring detainees out of Minnesota before lawyers could reach them. In many cases, detainees were shackled and transported out of state without notice, while officials pressured them to sign self-deportation papers before they could consult with an attorney.

The complaint details violent arrests, extreme overcrowding, and intimidation of both detainees and attorneys. Lawyers attempting to meet with clients were denied entry, misled about visitation rules, and, in some instances, threatened by federal security personnel. These practices directly contravene federal statutes, ICE’s own National Detention Standards, and constitutional protections guaranteeing access to counsel and due process.

Democracy Forward and Fredrikson & Byron represent the plaintiffs in seeking immediate court intervention to restore meaningful access to counsel, to require the confidentiality of attorney-client communications, to prevent retaliatory and obstructive practices, and to prevent the continued use of an unauthorized federal building as a detention facility.