A federal judge issued a blunt ruling to the Trump administration, making it clear that if they plan to carry out mass arrests of undocumented immigrants in Chicago, they must provide detainees with proper meals. Now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is scrambling to comply.
At the Broadview, Illinois detention facility—a flashpoint in protests against the White House’s deportation campaign—ICE is urgently seeking meals for as many as 70 detainees, three times a day. A notice posted on a government contracting website calls for a “food service contractor” to handle “the preparation, packaging, and delivery of 70 full box meals three times per day to a detention facility.”
The agency’s notice makes clear that the meals must meet USDA Recommended Daily Allowance guidelines to “ensure detainees receive nutritionally balanced meals.” Breakfast should include “a source of protein, whole grains, fruit, and dairy,” while lunch and dinner must consist of “protein entrée, whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and a beverage.”
The contractor is also expected to provide meals that “accommodate dietary restrictions, including vegetarian, low-sodium, and allergen-free options.” All box meals must be “individually packaged in disposable, eco-friendly containers suitable for single-use” that maintain food temperature and quality, with labels indicating the meal and date of preparation for delivery at 6:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 6:00 pm.
The rush to provide proper meals comes after U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman issued a temporary restraining order against ICE, part of a lawsuit filed by detainees at Broadview. The plaintiffs alleged that ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents had packed as many as 100 detainees into small rooms “like a pile of fish,” forcing them to sleep on top of each other, sit upright, or even lie near urine-soaked floors and clogged toilets.
They also claimed that meals consisted of only “two to three small, cold sandwiches per day,” even for pregnant detainees who require extra nutrition.
These allegations echo those in a similar case in New York City, where a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to improve conditions in a holding area where detainees reported little access to food or water, sleeping on cement floors near toilets, and going days or weeks without a place to bathe.
In Chicago, the court’s ruling has put ICE on the defensive. The agency now faces the challenge of transforming a “take it or leave it” approach to detainee meals into a structured, nutritionally balanced system—essentially, three square meals a day, served on time, and accommodating dietary needs. For detainees and advocates, it’s a basic standard of human decency that should never have required a court order.
