Former Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois denies the allegations made against him and others by ICE detainees in a new federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed on April 4 by six former and current ICE detainees alleges inhumane jail conditions and retaliations against inmates who dared to speak out under DuBois and the current county sheriff, Paul Arteta.
It further claims that the above-alleged acts violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act.
“There have been multiple litigations over the past few years that have been repeatedly unfounded,” DuBois told The Epoch Times. “ICE representatives visit the facility on an almost daily basis, and the multiple, repeated accreditation audits speak for themselves.”
DuBois retired in December 2022 after serving as county sheriff for 20 years.
Under his helm, the sheriff’s office started a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2008 to house immigrant detainees in return for fees—a practice still in place today.
Dubois told The Epoch Times in a previous interview that the ICE contract brought in millions of dollars of revenue for the county every year. It also made it easier for inmates—who might end up in southern states had his office refused to house them—to see family members from New York City.
The county jail is the only local facility working with ICE in the New York Metropolitan Area.
DuBois added in the previous interview that the county jail offers a high-standard condition as an accredited facility.
The facility was accredited by the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare.
Toward the end of DuBois’s last term, the jail held 54 ICE detainees out of 300 inmates.
The sheriff’s office brought in gross revenue of $5.8 million on the contract last year, according to a recent county public safety committee meeting.
However, the lawsuit alleges that due to a mindset of maximizing revenue, DuBois failed to provide adequate care for ICE inmates.
Other defendants in the lawsuit are the Orange County government, Arteta, former Undersheriff Kenneth Jones, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Acting ICE Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo.
County attorney Richard Golden told The Epoch Times that the Orange County government categorically denies that it acted in an unconstitutional or otherwise illegal manner.
“The county jail is a highly credentialed and model facility,” he said. “The plaintiffs’ lack of merit in their allegations will be proven in court.”
The sheriff’s office and Jones didn’t respond by press time to requests for comment.
Arteta said at a January county public safety committee meeting that he is reevaluating the ICE contract from a cost-and-benefit perspective.
“We are crunching the numbers,” he said at the time. “It may be more beneficial to remove all the ICE prisoners due to the costs.”
Associated costs include staff overtime, officer injuries, legal fees resulting from complaints and lawsuits from ICE detainees, and prescription medication expenses.
Lawsuit Allegations
The lawsuit, filed with the help of the New York Civil Liberties Union and Brox Defenders, alleges inhumane jail conditions in three main areas.The first is medical neglect. The plaintiffs allege that they were denied care for mental health issues, severe symptoms of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic diseases, among others.
Based on the ICE contract, the county jail provides inmates with basic food and health care services and is reimbursed on a per person and per diem basis.
The second is that food, allegedly foul-smelling and occasionally rotten, caused gastrointestinal problems for some plaintiffs.
The last is alleged racist harassment by jail staff.
One officer allegedly called a plaintiff “pinche mexicano” and “pinche animal”; several officers allegedly told a plaintiff that they would have killed him if they had encountered him at the border.
In 2021, plaintiffs began speaking out about the jail conditions, including filing grievances and administrative complaints, as well as contacting elected officials, reporters, and advocates.
These efforts were allegedly met with swift attributions by jail staff, including dragging, beating, segregated confinement, and the threat of deportation.
On Feb. 16, 2022, following failed attempts to improve jail conditions, all six plaintiffs and several dozens of inmates resorted to a hunger strike, according to the lawsuit.
The six plaintiffs are Nahum Gilberto Ortiz, Denny Molina Cantor, Lucas Palacios Alvarado, Jeremias Lopez, Elmer Moscoso Guerra, and Luis Gonzalez Carbajal.
The plaintiffs also claimed they faced escalated retaliation, including cell searches, restricted digital access to attorneys and family members, and transfers to facilities far away in Mississippi and Louisiana.
The lawsuit asks for a stop to alleged retaliation and monetary compensation.
Two plaintiffs, Ortiz and Carbajal, are now out of custody and reside in New York.
