This week, a federal judge delivered a pointed rebuke to the Trump administration, criticizing the “inhumane” and “unconstitutional” conditions found at a federal facility in Minnesota.

In a comprehensive 69-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel, who was appointed by President Trump during his first term, admonished the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for their handling of detainees’ rights. Her decision underscored the importance of constitutional protections, even for noncitizens.

Judge Brasel emphasized, “The Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause applies to all persons within the United States, including noncitizens, whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful, temporary, or permanent.” She cited precedents affirming that the Fifth Amendment guarantees due process rights to aliens in deportation proceedings, stressing that access to legal counsel is essential to these rights.

The lawsuit was initiated by The Advocates for Human Rights, a nonprofit based in Minneapolis, in late January. The suit accuses the government of numerous violations of the First and Fifth Amendments, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) during immigration sweeps conducted under “Operation Metro Surge.”

In February, Judge Brasel issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) when the evidence overwhelmingly favored the detainees. Despite some improvements in detainee conditions since then, the judge concluded that the government has not done enough to address the previous misconduct.

Now, despite some positive changes for detainees, not enough has been done by the government to rectify past abuses, the judge found.

“Defendants have made improvements, but Defendants’ past violations were not minor infringements incidental to confinement,” the order goes on. “They devastated detainees’ right to due process—a right upon which all others rest. The Court reiterates its prior concern: It appears that in planning for Operation Metro Surge, the government failed to plan for the constitutional rights of its civil detainees. At this preliminary stage, Plaintiffs have made a clear showing of likelihood of success on their Fifth Amendment claim.”

The judge also takes the opportunity to cast doubt on why, exactly, the Trump administration has made any progress at all.

From the order, at length:

Plaintiffs have shown a cognizable danger of recurrent Fifth Amendment violations. And the Court cannot discern the motive behind Defendants’ compliance efforts. It is unclear whether Defendants have updated their practices because of (1) the Court’s TRO; (2) the drawdown of ICE officers; or (3) a genuine belief that Defendants’ practices should comply with the Constitution. Defendants do not represent that they would have implemented changes without judicial intervention. Prior to the Court’s TRO, Defendants asserted that they were honoring detainees’ Fifth Amendment right, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary.

“And, as explained in the TRO, the nature of the past violations are grave,” the judge muses.

In the case, attorneys for a class of detainees highlighted a pattern and practice of ICE agents “isolating” what the court termed “thousands of people.” Most of these people were being held at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building without access to attorneys.

Such isolation, the court found, is entirely new – and a direct product of the government’s immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota.

“Whipple has the mechanisms to provide detainees access to counsel,” Brasel explains. “Before Operation Metro Surge, agents at Whipple worked with attorneys and detainees to facilitate attorney-client communication. Defendants maintain that Whipple continues to respect and facilitate detainees’ access to counsel. But this assertion is belied entirely by the record now before the Court.”

The judge has now transformed the original TRO in the case – which originally had a limited duration and was once extended – into a preliminary injunction, which will remain in effect unless the court changes its mind or it is stayed by an appellate court.

The judge also certified the case as a class action that covers “noncitizens taken into custody by Defendants under the Immigration and Nationality Act and detained at the [Enforcement and Removal Operation] Holding Facility at the Whipple Federal Building.”

Additional relief for the plaintiffs includes formalizing a ban on “rapid transfers” out of state. Now, ICE agents are prohibited from moving detainees out of Whipple within 72 hours of their detention.

“Before the TRO, Defendants moved detainees frequently, quickly, and often blindly,” the judge explains. “Attorneys often had no way to know where or how long their client would be detained at a given facility.”

In an earlier opposing brief, the government complained that the judge’s TRO made detainees’ access to telephone calls – within a certain timeline – too onerous on the government. The court replied that the prior order did not actually mandate what the government complained about. But now the new order mandates exactly that.

Now, every person “taken into custody” for immigration violations at Whipple must be provided with a suite of legal aid contacts and materials in five different languages “within one hour of their detention and prior to being transferred out of state.” The court also mandates that ICE provide detainees with an interpreter, if needed.

And, also within one hour of their detention, detainees are to be provided “free, private, and unmonitored access to the telephone.”

Detainees can make additional calls without restriction.

“Defendants shall permit Detainees to make a reasonable number of calls necessary to reach counsel or family,” the order goes on. “Thereafter, Defendants shall provide Detainees with access to confidential telephone calls with their legal representation at no charge to the Detainee.”