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New court filings give an inside look at the conditions inside the Whipple Federal Building, where many people being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are being held in Minnesota. 

Lawyers from the nonprofit organization Advocates for Human Rights visited the facility early Monday after a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to let them inside. In a lawsuit, the attorneys allege that DHS is not allowing detainees access to legal counsel.  

Following their 90-minute visit, the lawyers 

 Wednesday night about what they observed. 

Hanne Sandison is the immigration and legal services director with The Advocates for Human Rights. She said she observed that phones couldn’t be used to contact legal counsel and phone numbers were incorrectly listed for legal services, including their organization. Sandison said there was no privacy near the phones, and they were located within two to three feet from an ICE agent.

Kimberly Boche, also a lawyer with The Advocates for Human Rights, said she tested the phone by calling her cell phone. When she later looked at her missed calls, the call from Whipple was listed as a call from the Marion County Detention Center in Kentucky. 

A government lawyer said in court Friday that detainees are able to make free, unlimited, and unmonitored phone calls.

Sandison also described dirty conditions at the facility and said there was a lack of privacy. She was shown an area with showers that did not have doors that ran from the ground to the ceiling. There were two changing rooms but one was “blocked by a bunch of junk.”

Sandison says their tour was then cut short by DHS, when an employee became “agitated” and told them they were “interfering with operations.”

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Lawyers from the nonprofit organization Advocates for Human Rights visited the facility early Monday after a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to let them inside. 

Live, down to earth, unscripted interviews that aim to connect, inform and entertain. Real people share real stories with Nina Moini. It’s journalism that doesn’t take itself too seriously and puts people first.

Lawyers gain access to Whipple Federal Building after lawsuit, find lack of access to counsel

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