Washington’s branch of the American Civil Liberties Unionrties Union announced in a statement Thursday that it will be representing a family of asylum seekers in Washington State, saying they were held in “deplorable conditions” in a small cell in Blaine for roughly four weeks between April and May of 2025 after they were arrested by Border Patrol.
According to the ACLU, the family included four small children.
The case is one of 54 that the ACLU says it is raising across the country on behalf of people it says have been mistreated by the government.
According to the union, the Washington family is seeking damages for the “extreme harm” resulting from Customs and Border Protection’s treatment of them.
In the statement, the ACLU described the challenges the family faced before coming to the United States.
“Josefina, her husband José, and their children came to the U.S. in 2024 seeking asylum. The government in their home country violently persecuted them for José’s membership in an opposition political party. He was imprisoned without cause, tortured, and the entire family was assaulted and terrorized,” the organization said in the statement.
Washington’s ACLU says that upon arriving in the U.S., the family applied for asylum, but in April an immigration judge denied their request and ordered they be deported.
In response, the ACLU says the family attempted to flee to Canada but was arrested in Blaine, Washington, before they reached the border. Josefina was approximately five months pregnant at the time. At the time of detention, the children were ages 13, 10, and 5 years, and 11 months.
The ACLU said Border Patrol detained the family in a small cell with no toilet and no windows for approximately 4 weeks. During this time, the union says, the family was not allowed to change their clothes. When they were eventually allowed to shower, according to the union’s state office, some members of the family were still handcuffed.
According to the ACLU, Joefina, who was pregnant at the time, only received medical attention after she passed out more than once.
“I left my country to escape government persecution. Instead, I found myself jailed with my family and forced to watch my children suffer,” José said.
“This experience was a living nightmare for our clients and something that no one should experience,” said ACLU-WA legal director La Rond Baker. “All people, regardless of their immigration status, deserve dignity and humane treatment from our federal government. We filed this claim on behalf of our clients to help bring this cruelty to an end.”
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