Adelanto ICE – A class-action settlement provides relief to 2,700 former detainees exposed to hazardous pesticides at a California immigration facility during the pandemic.
Six years after leaving the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, Wilfredo Gonzalez Mena still cannot sleep lying flat. To keep from gasping for air. he props himself up with pillows. an enduring reminder of the ten months he spent in the California facility during the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time. guards routinely sprayed detainees with a concentrated disinfectant. a practice he describes with lingering bitterness: “When you least expected it. you would feel the mist. They would spray us like we were animals.”.
Gonzalez Mena is one of six named plaintiffs in a 2023 class-action lawsuit that has now reached a proposed settlement. On September 25. a federal judge in Riverside granted preliminary approval to the agreement. which will provide a six-figure payout to Gonzalez Mena and covers approximately 2. 700 people held at the facility between March 11 and September 30. 2020.
The settlement forces an admission from the GEO Group. the Florida-based private prison corporation operating the facility. and Spartan Chemical Co. Inc., the manufacturer of the cleaning agent, HDQ Neutral. Both companies acknowledged that the product—classified as a pesticide—is linked to chemical burns. blistering. vomiting. permanent eye damage. and respiratory harm. While GEO Group previously denied allegations of wrongdoing and characterized the lawsuit as a politically motivated campaign. they have since replaced the chemical with a different cleaning product.
Evidence surfaced during the discovery process showing that the internal warnings were ignored. In one instance. a nurse wrote to the acting health services administrator at Adelanto. Wendy Baca. reporting that patients were suffering from rashes and blisters due to the spraying. The nurse warned that officers handling the chemicals were also experiencing burning sensations. Baca’s response was dismissive; she forwarded the email to the chief of security with a note suggesting the staff should also be reminded “not to put metal into light sockets. run with scissors. or anything usually avoided with a little common sense.”.
Former GEO Group cook supervisor Mark Anthony Ferretiz. who worked at the site for 14 years. stated that his team was instructed to spray the red chemical “like Lysol.” He recalled tasting the spray and feeling a heaviness in his lungs. According to Ferretiz. when representatives from the supply company visited the facility and learned how frequently the chemical was used. they cautioned that it was essentially “rat poison” and warned that someone could be killed.
This pattern of misuse was corroborated by federal oversight. In 2021. the Environmental Protection Agency found that the facility had violated federal law. noting that staff and detainees were instructed to apply the pesticide as often as every 30 minutes without proper ventilation. The dilution rate used—two ounces per gallon—was double the amount permitted for disinfectant use. That same year. a federal judge ordered a stop to the spraying. citing a “callous disregard for the safety of Adelanto’s detainees.”.
For those affected, the payout represents a measure of accountability for lasting trauma. Gonzalez Mena. once a long-haul truck driver. says his health deteriorated to the point where he can no longer pass physical assessments required for his former profession. He now relies on online resales to make ends meet. “My wife says that after I was released, I didn’t go back to being the same person,” he said. “I’ve had depression and I often dream that I am there. in that place. and I want to get out.”.
Sara Haji, executive director of the Trial Impact Project, views the settlement as a critical milestone. She noted that the legal findings—including the admission of the chemical’s toxicity—are now available for other class members who may choose to pursue individual litigation. “When a company like GEO settles instead of defending itself at trial. and when it admits that the pesticide it sprayed everywhere can cause serious health problems. it should cause us all to sit up and pay attention to what detained people have been telling us about the everyday cruelty of immigration detention. ” Haji said.
Adelanto ICE GEO Group HDQ Neutral immigrant detention lawsuit settlement