The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has admitted that two weeks of surveillance footage from within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Broadview detention center, critical to a case of alleged abuse, was never recorded.

Case Details

Previously, the government stated that the footage had been lost due to a "system crash." Now, however, it claims that the footage, relating to the period between October 20 and October 31, 2025, never existed. This footage had been requested by the plaintiffs' lawyers in a class action lawsuit against the U.S. government, filed by detainees at the Broadview center in the Chicago area. The detainees claim they were held in illegal and subhuman conditions, with insufficient food and water, extreme temperatures, poor sanitation, and abuse by officers.

DHS Response

The DHS also argues that, even if the footage had been recorded, it would be irrelevant because prisoner living conditions have improved since the time it was supposed to be recorded. Previously, the government had attributed the loss of the footage to an unspecified "system crash" and stated that it was working with its vendor, a one-person company called Five by Five, to try to recover it.