Gutierrez v. Hassel

On September 10, 2018, a federal judge in Alabama granted an emergency temporary restraining order in a class-action lawsuit filed by immigrant detainees held at the Etowah County Detention Center. The lead plaintiff, Jose Gutierrez, and other detainees alleged that officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the county sheriff systematically failed to provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care. Evidence showed that detainees endured prolonged suffering, life-threatening misdiagnoses, and a pattern of deliberate indifference to their serious medical needs. The court determined that these conditions likely violated the detainees' rights under the Fifth Amendment. The order required immediate provision of competent medical and mental health services and barred the facility from accepting new ICE detainees until the deficiencies were remedied.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama granted the plaintiffs' motion for a temporary restraining order, ordering immediate improvements to medical and mental health care and halting new detainee admissions until conditions became constitutionally adequate.

Whether the defendants' deliberate indifference to the serious medical and mental health needs of civil immigration detainees violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The ruling exposed systemic medical neglect inside ICE-contracted local jails, triggered nationwide scrutiny of immigration detention healthcare standards, and fueled advocacy for stronger oversight and independent monitoring of detention facility conditions.