The Trump administration must produce documents and video footage from an Illinois immigration detention facility operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal judge ruled this week.
The case stems from a lawsuit filed Oct. 30, 2025, accusing the government of violating detainees’ Fifth Amendment rights through allegedly unlawful confinement conditions at the ICE facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb.
Plaintiffs also allege First Amendment violations involving access to counsel, along with a broader set of claims asserting due process violations, breaches of internal ICE rules, and violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the federal law that governs how administrative agencies operate.
In a bench ruling Thursday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura McNally granted several discovery motions from the plaintiffs aimed at forcing disclosures about how the Broadview facility is being run.
During the digital motion hearing, McNally appeared frustrated with how the U.S. Department of Justice was handling the dispute, according to a courtroom report by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The federal government, represented by Ifeanyi Mogbana, argued that much of what plaintiffs were seeking would be addressed through depositions, and pushed back on an earlier motion to compel.
“These kinds of answers are not helpful,” McNally told the DOJ attorney. “You’ve had notice of this motion for weeks.”
The judge sided with the plaintiffs’ argument that ICE has not followed the discovery process adequately so far.
Earlier this month, the court ruled the plaintiffs are entitled to “records of informal policies and guidance governing attorney access, conditions, and voluntary departures,” according to a minute order filed on the case docket. Those materials are due by Friday.
McNally’s latest ruling expands what the plaintiffs can obtain—covering detention-related data, alleged compliance with a previously issued temporary restraining order, document-retention practices, information about other similar immigration detention facilities in the region, and highly sought video footage from inside Broadview.
The government has until Feb. 16 to produce most of the remaining discovery.
Among the next required disclosures, McNally ordered the government to answer questions about who is in charge at Broadview and what plans are in place if another large group of detainees is transferred to the facility.
The ruling was not a total victory for the plaintiffs. The judge denied one request after finding it was too broad.
The plaintiffs, represented during the hearing by Alexa Van Brunt of the MacArthur Justice Center, accepted the decision. Van Brunt also asked the court to require some form of confirmation that the government is actually conducting a full search for responsive records. She said documents already turned over reference additional materials that have not been produced.
“Right now, I don’t think they are, and we are missing a lot of evidence,” Van Brunt said.
The lawsuit was filed last fall amid protests directed at the facility. The complaint alleges detainees who asked for “basic necessities”—including medicine, toothpaste, and soap—were met by ICE officers “with threats, abuse, or contempt.” The filing further claims detainees reported being belittled or ignored when requesting food and water.
In November, ICE acknowledged that 13 days of video footage from inside the facility had “been irretrievably destroyed and therefore cannot be produced on an expedited basis or at all.”
Plaintiffs say they are “in the process of hiring an IT contractor” who will work with ICE’s discovery liaison and attorneys to address the missing footage, including whether any portion can be recovered.
While that effort continues, the plaintiffs say they are focused on securing the video that still exists and can be produced without delay.
