Homeland Security Authorities Locked Up a [non-White] Family with 4 Small Kids and Pregnant Mom in Hot, Filthy Cell for a Month because They Sought Asylum, Food, Shelter in US- ACLU Files $15M Suit

The ACLU of Washington filed its intent to sue the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, July 28, on behalf of a family held for nearly a month at the Blaine Border Patrol Station in 2025.

The civil rights organization claims U.S. Customs and Border Protection violated its own policies when it held the family of six asylum seekers, one of whom was five months pregnant with a high-risk pregnancy, in a single “unbearably hot and filthy” cell, according to the legal filing.

The family, which includes mother Josefina, father Jose, and four children, ages 13, 10, 5 and 11 months, arrived in the United States in 2024, seeking asylum after Jose was persecuted for being a member of an opposition political party.

A year later, in April 2025, an immigration judge denied the family’s request for more time to prove their asylum claim and found the family to be deportable, according to the ACLU.

With few options, the family fled to Canada to request asylum there. However, they were detained at the border by immigration agents. 

Typically, immigrants who are deemed to be deportable and are detained are transferred to a detainment facility, such as the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, within hours and for up to 72 hours. But in the case of Josefina and Jose, they were made to stay inside a single windowless cell at the Blaine border station for a month, according to the ACLU.

“My children were confused and scared about why they were trapped in this cell, why they could not go outside and why they had no toys to play with,” Josefina said in a news release. “They cried all the time. I wanted to comfort them but had no answers to give them.”

While detained in Blaine, Josefina experienced multiple medical episodes related to her pregnancy and diabetes diagnosis, two of which required hospitalization. Doctors told Customs and Border Protection staff the conditions Josefina was being held in were unsafe. 

After the second hospitalization, federal agents allowed the family out of the cell once a week to sanitize the cell. The family was released from custody after four weeks and continues to reside within Washington state.

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“Months after their cruel incarceration, our clients’ mental and emotional scars remain,” said David Montes, an ACLU Washington staff attorney, in a news release.

Recently, the 13-year-old said he didn’t want to go to an upcoming immigration hearing out of fear the family would be arrested and returned to the Blaine cell, according to the legal claim.

The ACLU alleges the agency knew holding the family, including a pregnant woman and children, would be harmful to their health and well-being. The group also alleges the agency should not have held the family in Blaine for four weeks, rather that the family should have been transferred to a separate facility within 72 hours.

The ACLU intends to seek $15 million in damages for the family. The intent to sue over the Blaine incident is just one of 54 claims brought by the ACLU in recent days against federal law enforcement in July.

The Department of Homeland Security has six months to respond to the claims. It did not immediately respond to comment from Cascadia Daily News. [MORE]