A Minnesota nonprofit and a St. Paul resident filed a class-action lawsuit this week saying she and others are being unlawfully held at the Whipple Federal Building. The lawsuit challenges U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal security officials “for deliberately blocking access to counsel for immigrants detained at the most critical moments of detention,” according to a Wednesday statement. “Many are being transferred out of Minnesota or being pressured to abandon their rights before attorneys have any meaningful opportunity to reach them.” The suit was filed by the Advocates for Human Rights, which is based in Minneapolis, and a woman identified in the lawsuit by the initials of L.H.M. She has lived in St. Paul since 2019. She is in removal proceedings and has a pending asylum application, according to the lawsuit. As part of an order of supervision with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, L.H.M. went on Tuesday to the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program offices in Bloomington for a check-in. She was arrested after entering the offices and it’s believed she was detained at the Whipple Building at Fort Snelling. The woman recently had cranial surgery “and has significant medical needs,” the lawsuit said. L.H.M.’s family contacted her attorney in her removal and asylum proceedings, who immediately went to the Whipple Building to consult with her and planned to file a habeas petition to have authorities justify her continued confinement. Officials “refused to allow L.H.M.’s attorney to speak with her,” the lawsuit says. A DHS spokesperson said Wednesday in a statement: “Any allegations people detained by ICE do not have access to attorneys are FALSE. Illegal aliens in the Whipple Federal Building have access to phones they can use to contact their families and lawyers. Additionally, ICE gives all illegal aliens arrested a court-approved list of free or low-cost attorneys. All detainees receive full due process.” Whipple Building said to lack beds, ‘adequate toilets’ People who’ve been detained at the Whipple Building “reveal violent arrests, extreme overcrowding, and constant shackling,” according to Wednesday’s statement about the lawsuit. “DHS is further perpetuating these horrific conditions by blocking detainees from accessing legal counsel to seek their freedom.” Before federal officials started Operation Metro Surge in December, the Whipple Building was used for short-term holding, generally for under 12 hours, according to the lawsuit. It doesn’t have beds, “adequate toilets” or private phones for calls with attorneys, but federal authorities “are now holding some detainees in Whipple for days at a time,” the suit continues. A 19-year-old reported he was thrown to the ground when he tried to show officers his immigration papers, was not offered an attorney, and was put on a bus and plane and transferred out of the state without being told where he was going. A refugee living in Minneapolis said he was surrounded by about 20 officers, pulled from his car, mocked by agents and detained in a room that eventually filled with nearly 100 people. He said detainees were forced to sleep standing up near an overflowing toilet. “He explained that ICE personnel pressured people to sign self-deportation papers and refused to let him speak with a lawyer, even though he believed — correctly — that his refugee status protected him from detention,” the statement said. Since at least Jan. 11, federal officials “have not provided detainees at Whipple with constitutionally adequate or statutorily compliant access to counsel,” the lawsuit said. They’ve informed detainees’ attorneys they need to make an appointment to schedule visits, but no one answers phone numbers associated with Whipple or responds to messages sent to their publicly-available email address. The lawsuit alleges various violations, including of the First Amendment, which “guarantees all persons, including detained immigrants, the right to hire, consult, and communicate with an attorney” and the Fifth Amendment that “guarantees immigration detainees the right to a full and fair hearing in removal cases.”