Detainees at Florida's new immigrant detention camp in the Everglades and several legal aid groups filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday challenging the lack of legal access at the isolated prison.
Four current detainees at the camps—as well as Florida Keys Immigration, Sanctuary of the South (SOS), U.S. Immigration Law Counsel, the Law Offices of Catherine Perez, and attorney Victoria Slatton on behalf of another detainee—allege in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Florida that they can't schedule attorney-client meetings or confidential phone calls, violating their First Amendment and due process rights.
In addition, the lawsuit says that the unclear jurisdictional status of the detention camp has "made it virtually impossible for detainees, or their counsel, to file documents required to contest their detention with the immigration court."
