Attorneys detail grim conditions at Whipple ICE lockup

Court filings from immigration attorneys Kim Boche and Hanne Sandison describe roughly 40 detainees held in seven small rooms at the Whipple Federal Building on Feb. 9, many sleeping on bare floors without blankets, pillows, pads or cots and surrounded by piles of trash and rotten food with no visible garbage cans. The filings say detainees reported having no clear information on how to reach lawyers; one man who has lived in the U.S. for 10 years told Boche he didn’t know who to call, and a phone labeled for legal calls rang to a Kentucky detention center rather than a local number. Instructions posted above phones were described as confusing, and the attorneys say DHS staff cut their visit short, limiting interviews. The inspection was ordered by U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel in a lawsuit alleging Operation Metro Surge has unlawfully restricted detainees’ access to counsel at Whipple, which doubles as ICE’s Twin Cities field office and short‑term jail. These sworn observations add concrete, first‑hand detail to claims from families, advocates and habeas petitions that people arrested in the metro are being held in substandard conditions with little meaningful chance to contact an attorney before they are moved or pressured into decisions.