The federal docket in Washington, D.C., is quickly becoming a hotbed for litigation seeking to force officials to protect detained immigrants and inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawsuits challenging actions by the federal government are often filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. As detained individuals and advocacy groups criticize the federal government for not doing enough to protect those in their custody during the pandemic, they're beginning to take legal action to try and force authorities' hands.

Last week, attorneys with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and nonprofit legal groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of undocumented immigrant families held in three Immigration and Customs Enforcement residential facilities, alleging the conditions would contribute to the spread of the virus and the government was not taking action to protect the families.

"If even one detainee were to contract COVID-19, a spread throughout the facility would be impossible to contain and would threaten the lives and general welfare of the detained family population and the public at large," the complaint reads.

The lawsuit requests the immediate release of the immigrant families named in the case as well as all other detainees in the residential centers pending the completion of the lawsuits. Morgan Lewis is representing the plaintiffs pro bono, and their senior pro bono trial lawyer, Susan Baker Manning, is leading the firm's representation.

The attorneys sought a temporary restraining order that, in part, demanded enforcement of the conditions set in the Flores Settlement Agreement, the 1990s era agreement that lays out how the federal government should treat detained immigrant children. The lawyers argue that officials are violating the terms of the condition due to the lack of response over the coronavirus.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg heard phone arguments in chambers Monday on the temporary restraining order. Afterward, he partially granted the motion, ordering the government to apply the standards laid out in the Flores settlement to adults held in the residential centers and to provide the detainees with "CDC-compliant protocols and protections for congregate settings in civil-detention facilities."

He further ordered the government attorneys to provide to him by next Monday a report about the capacity of the facilities, how the CDC guidelines have been implemented, how many detainees have been released and a videotape showing the living conditions at the facilities. Boasberg said he would hold another phone hearing after he receives those materials.

A coalition of immigration lawyer groups and detained immigrants also filed a lawsuit in the D.C. federal court Monday evening, requesting a judge order immigration courts to stop holding in-person hearings during the pandemic. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols was assigned the case Tuesday.

Immigration courts are housed in the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, and have continued to hold proceedings during the pandemic. Groups, including the National Association of Immigration Judges, and attorneys have called for the courts to shut down during the pandemic.

Monday's complaint, which also targets ICE, EOIR director James McHenry and acting ICE director Matthew Albence, alleges that continuing to hold the proceedings while simultaneously preventing immigration attorneys from meeting with their clients violates their First Amendment rights to legal counsel and their Fifth Amendment due process rights, as well as administrative and immigration law.

"EOIR is effectively forcing attorneys to choose between adequately representing their clients and jeopardizing their health; EOIR is also forcing detained immigrants to choose between their health and safety and their statutory, regulatory, and due process rights," the lawsuit reads.

Also on Monday, the ACLU and public defenders filed a class action lawsuit in the D.C. federal court on behalf of inmates held in D.C.'s correctional facilities over conditions that are likely to facilitate the spread of the virus. Prisoners in several other states, including Texas, have filed similar actions.

The lawsuit, which U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is presiding over, features a lists of the requests that stretches for more than two pages, including the release of "as many prisoners as possible" in the D.C. correctional facilities under local law, demands for medical equipment for inmates and staff, and the appointment of an independent monitor with medical expertise to make sure the conditions are met.

"Although they are fully aware of the risks of COVID-19 and the precautions that need to be taken to prevent those risks, plaintiffs are systematically denied the opportunity to take the same preventative care that others are required or urged to take by local and federal officials," the complaint reads. 

"That is because, despite knowledge of these directives, the DOC has failed to implement many basic procedures—steps as simple as distributing sufficient hygienic products and providing prompt medical attention and testing to those with COVID-19 symptoms—and has waited far too long to implement others. Consequently, experts predict that COVID-19 will 'spread like wildfire' in DOC facilities."

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