"A federal judge on Wednesday ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials overhaul its processing facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview in order to make it more humane. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman’s ruling followed hours of testimony the previous day from undocumented immigrants who testified they were pressured to sign voluntary deportation forms in order to escape the facility’s overcrowded and filthy conditions. 'People shouldn’t be sleeping next to overflowing toilets,' the judge said during a brief hearing late Wednesday afternoon before issuing his temporary restraining order. 'They shouldn’t be sleeping on top of each other. They shouldn’t be sleeping in plastic chairs. They shouldn’t be sleeping on concrete floors.' In fact, sleeping was never an activity associated with ICE’s Broadview outpost for most of its 19-year history; the building in the small suburb is officially classified as a processing facility where detainees aren’t supposed to spend more than 12 hours at a time before being transferred to detention facilities. But as federal immigration enforcement activity has ramped up under the second Trump administration, ICE changed its policy in June to allow for stays up to 72 hours. And since the launch of Operation Midway Blitz in early September, some detainees have been held for far longer — including a three-week stay mentioned in the Oct. 30 lawsuit that spurred this week’s legal action." [Capitol News Illinois, 6 November 2025]

"A Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) on-site audit of the U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) operated Broadview Service Staging Area
(BSSA) was conducted on September 10-11, 2018 by Joseph W. Ehrhardt, certified PREA Auditor contracted through Creative Corrections, LLC of
Beaumont, Texas. This was the first PREA audit for BSSA. BSSA is a very short-term staging facility (Subpart B) operated by the ICE – Chicago
Field Office in Broadview, Illinois. The facility has a designed capacity of 236 detainees and accepts both male and female adults. No juveniles are
held at the facility. The purpose of the facility is to receive, process, and prepare detainees for transport to other detention facilities, release, or
re-patriotization. The purpose of the audit was to determine compliance with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) PREA standards. ... There is a receiving/processing/detention area that is adjacent to the sally port which encompasses one-half of the building. Only sworn ICE
Deportation and Detention Officers (DDO) work in this area. In this area are three male holding areas (two large and one medium-sized) and a
medium-sized female holding cell. The medium cells have one toilet and sink, several institutional cushion chairs and a telephone. The one large
male cell has three toilets and the other has two toilets and two showers. Currently, no detainees are held beyond 12 hours and showering is not
occurring at BSSA. Both large cells have the large cushion chairs and telephones. At the Auditor’s request, the telephone in the male medium
holding cell was operated by the SDDO and DHS OIG was contacted anonymously and without need for payment. There are also two isolation
cells, each with a sink and toilet. Only one is currently in use. The other is being used for storage as it is currently not needed. Outside the
detention cells which ring the exterior half of the building is an open frisk search area and 21 partitioned booths where ICE processing staff can
interview detainees. These interviews follow a quick intake performed adjacent to the processing area and the frisk search. No detainee is placed
in a holding cell without being pat frisked. The intake (R & D) area is adjacent to a locked property room. There is also a medical office and a
private interview room with windows where private interviews and mental health examinations may take place as ordered by the Immigration
Judge and are performed by clinicians who travel to BSSA. ... During the Exit Briefing, the Auditor discussed the observations regarding the operation of BSSA in accordance with the DHS PREA regulations.
The Auditor observed a positive atmosphere where detainees were treated with appropriate care and respect and where the safet y of al persons in
the facility was paramount. Administrative and management staff work side-by side with the DDOs and detainees and often engaged in
conversation with detainees. Detainees are physically escorted at all times by at leaste DDO and within eyesight of at le ast eother DDO.
There was no instance when the Auditor witnessed unescorted detainees.
Al pat frisk searches are performed outside the detainees clothing and in full sight of all officers in the processing area. Cross-gender pat-frisk
searches are conducted only in exigent circumstances and always with o me staff member present. Al of ten detainees interviewed reported that
the pat frisk search that they received upon admission to the facility was appropriately performed. This Auditor observed more than a dozen pat
frisk searches performed by multiple personnel during the two-day period and had no concerns with what was witnessed." (Department of Homeland Security, PREA Audit: Subpart B: Broadview Service Staging Area, 19 October 2017)