L.A. immigration detention facilities a "ticking time bomb," immigration lawyer says

Los Angeles — Outside the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, a 26-year-old man stood waiting, hoping to deliver blood pressure medicine to his father, who was detained last Thursday by federal immigration officials.

The man, who asked that CBS News not use his name, said his father, Rafael Hurtado, needs to take the medication daily to control his blood pressure. The staff turned Hurtado's son away, but asked him to leave the pills behind.

"My dad told me it's horrible inside and they've kept him standing," he said, adding his father managed to make his first phone call on Sunday. "They're not feeding him and there are no blankets inside."

Hurtado was taken into custody while he was working — picking up trash. His son says he doesn't have a criminal record or a removal order.

Hurtado is a Mexican national and a father of three children, all U.S. citizens, including one with special medical needs.

"My dad suffers from high blood pressure and we haven't heard from him since Sunday," Hurtado's son said. "I only had a few seconds to speak with him on the phone before the call was cut off so I've been coming every day to see if I can get any news of him."

Longtime food vendor and community activist Emma De Paz, 58, is also being held here. She was detained last week when federal officers conducted an operation at a Home Depot in Hollywood where De Paz was selling carne asada. According to her family, De Paz was recently diagnosed with Hepatitis B and needs daily medication to treat her high blood pressure. She was transferred to White Memorial Hospital during her detention to undergo care.

"My sister called us to say they're treating them really bad," said Carlos Barrera De Paz during a Wednesday press conference outside of the Guatemalan consulate in Los Angeles. "They are in a cold room, no food, they're given a pack of cookies and a juice per day."

De Paz added his sister claims agents are pressuring her to sign deportation paperwork and has had to sleep in a chair.

Immigration lawyers in L.A. tell CBS News, they've been receiving more and more calls about medical needs that aren't being addressed at the Metropolitan Detention Center. One lawyer, who chose not to identify herself because she has clients inside the detention center, said there are reports of "inhumane" conditions — food shortages, cramped confinement, freezing temperatures and environments that are a "ticking-time bomb."

"There is limited and very erratic access to food," Kristen Hunsberger, an attorney with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, told CBS News during a phone interview. "I spoke with one individual detained in downtown Los Angeles who reported being woken up at 2 a.m. or 4 a.m., was given food, and they wouldn't have their next meal until 14 hours later."

Hunsberger described similar conditions at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Adelanto, California, where some migrants detained in the latest rounds of raids have been transferred.

Hunsberger says her clients have been denied access to medication, some have been kept in temporary holding areas with no air circulation and have at times been left without communication because of the lack of working phones.

"I would describe it as very chaotic — it's really an emerging crisis," Hunsberger said. "I'm concerned that if left unaddressed, that we will start hearing about, God forbid, people start dying or having health crises in these detention centers because of the delay in access or just complete denial of access."

Government data obtained by CBS News reveals ICE is holding around 59,000 detainees in facilities across the country. On Monday, ICE detention levels reached over 140% capacity, since Congress last allocated 41,500 detainee beds for the agency.

In a statement earlier this week, ICE said its effort to target a "massive backlog of illegal criminal aliens and public safety threats from the United States" has led to "a significant number of arrests, requiring greater detention capacity."

"ICE is implementing various options to meet its current and future detention needs, but more space for apprehended illegal aliens is needed as they await deportation," ICE added, noting the "One Big Beautiful Bill" backed by the president would fund 100,000 more detention beds.

Immigration lawyers also say that as the Trump administration ramps up its deportation efforts, a lack of due process is widespread across the L.A. area, in particular because of the lack of phone access inside detention centers.

On Tuesday, CBS News spoke with a family of four that was deported to Peru last week. The Peruvian family was scheduled for a court hearing on June 25 for their asylum case, but received a notification from ICE to attend a check-in appointment on June 5 instead. It was during that check-in that Ever Cardenas said he was detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center for over 12 hours, along with his wife and two daughters, ages 9 and 14, and forced to sign their deportation paperwork.

"I told them we had rights and didn't have to sign anything," Cardenas told CBS News in Spanish during a phone interview from Peru. "I begged them for hours to let me call a lawyer, but they refused to let us use a phone. Eventually we were left with no options and signed."

According to Cardenas, his family was transferred out of the downtown facility to a nearby hotel and placed in a room with other families overnight. The family was eventually put on a flight, transferred to Texas and has since been deported to Peru.

"I just wanted to talk to a lawyer," Cardenas said. "I kept telling agents that my daughter was going to miss her middle school graduation the following day, but that didn't matter."

CBS News has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE with questions about current conditions and whether detention facilities in Los Angeles are over capacity.

Earlier this month, some members of Congress attempted to visit the Metropolitan Detention Center to conduct oversight of the facility, but they were denied access. Until recently, they were allowed by law to enter any DHS facility "used to detain or otherwise house aliens" for inspection purposes, and no prior notice was necessary.

But DHS issued new guidance last week for lawmakers visiting ICE facilities, requiring 72-hour notice and blocking U.S. lawmakers from visiting field offices, such as the facilities in downtown L.A. As of Wednesday, however, that memo has been removed from ICE's website.

According to Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California, he has been denied entry to the downtown facility three times despite representing that area of L.A..

"DHS has illegally blocked me from entering this facility three times—even though I'm authorized under federal law to conduct oversight. Also egregious is that they've already cancelled a scheduled inspection," Gomez told CBS News in a statement Wednesday evening. "Now they're telling my office I need a week's notice, which sounds more like they're giving themselves time to hide any signs of abuse or move the detainees altogether. If these reports aren't true, then let us in. But this administration continues to operate outside the bounds of the law. That's why I'm going to keep fighting to conduct oversight and hold them accountable."