Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Chu Joins Federal Announcement on Medical Care for Immigrants in ICE Custody

The announcement comes 13 days after a U.S. district judge ordered an overhaul of conditions at the Adelanto detention center

A federal judge ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to overhaul medical care at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center 13 days ago. On Wednesday afternoon, four Southern California Democrats will hold a news conference and announce legislation on the same subject.

One of them is Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, whose 28th Congressional District takes in both Pasadena and Altadena. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, is convening it. A media advisory describes the measure as legislation intended to improve access to medical care for immigrants detained in ICE detention centers. Reps. Gil Cisneros, D-Covina, and Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, will also take part.

In Chu’s district, the issue already has a case attached to it. Masuma Khan, a 64-year-old Altadena resident and Eaton Fire survivor, was detained at a routine immigration check-in on October 6, 2025, and held at the California City Detention Facility in Kern County, a site operated by CoreCivic. Khan said she was denied medications she takes for asthma, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions.

“While I was detained at Core Civic’s California City facility, I experienced fear and lasting trauma that no one should have to experience,” Khan said in a March press release from the office of state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena.

A federal judge ordered her release in the fall of 2025. Pérez, whose 25th Senate District also covers Pasadena and Altadena, authored Senate Bill 995, the Masuma Khan Justice Act, which passed the California Senate 39-0 and moved to the Assembly, where it stood as of a May 28 release from her office.

The federal announcement follows a July 16 ruling by U.S. District Judge Sunshine S. Sykes. According to a July 17 press release from Chu’s office, Sykes ordered the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to immediately overhaul conditions at Adelanto, gave the agency 14 days to submit a remedial plan for medical care, and installed two independent, court-appointed monitors.

“Today’s ruling affirms what we have known all along,” Chu said in that release. “Detainees held at Adelanto have been suffering and dying in unacceptably cruel and inhumane conditions.”

Adelanto, in San Bernardino County, is run by the private contractor GEO Group. Chu’s release states that, as of July 17, five people have died in ICE custody there or shortly after transfer since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Kamlager-Dove visited Adelanto in late May and spoke on the House floor July 23 about a constituent, Carlitos Ricardo Parias, who was shot during an immigration enforcement operation last October. “His hand was purple. His fingers were atrophied,” she said, in remarks posted by her office.

Federal officials have defended the agency’s care. DHS acting chief medical officer Sean Conley has said it is both policy and longstanding practice for detained immigrants to receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody, according to KFF Health News.

The National Immigration Project reports that ICE recorded 33 deaths in custody during calendar year 2025 — which the group describes as the highest annual total in more than two decades — and counted at least 22 more through July 15.