ICE detainees were sprayed with a cleaner during COVID crisis. Now they have a settlement

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Set us as preferred WASHINGTON — Six years after he was released from a California immigrant detention facility, Wilfredo Gonzalez Mena has to sleep with his back propped up by pillows, nearly in a seated position, to avoid gasping for air.He blames his lasting medical issues on the 10 months he spent in custody until September 2020 at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, about 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles, during which guards sprayed him and fellow detainees nearly around the clock with a concentrated disinfectant meant to guard against COVID-19.

Now Gonzalez Mena, who is one of six named plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed in 2023 over the use of the cleaning solution, is expected to get a six-figure payout as part of a proposed settlement in the case, which was given preliminary approval on Sept.25 by a federal judge in Riverside.

The settlement applies to around 2,700 people detained at the Adelanto facility between March 11 and Sept.30, 2020, who were exposed to the disinfectant called HDQ Neutral.

“When you least expected it, you would feel the mist,” Gonzalez Mena said.“They would spray us like we were animals.” The Adelanto facility is operated by the GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison corporation that has faced criticism for years over conditions at its immigrant detention facilities.

The company has also pushed back against California laws seeking to increase oversight of its facilities and inform the public about health and safety shortcomings.Under the settlement, GEO Group and Spartan Chemical Co.

Inc., the company that manufactures HDQ Neutral, acknowledged that HDQ Neutral — which is classified as a pesticide — can cause symptoms including blistering, chemical burns, vomiting, permanent eye damage, and damage to the respiratory tract, throat and stomach.Those findings can n...