The 12 hours of Whipple evidence that made a judge side with detainees again: non-working phones, treatment like ‘animals’

By: Cleo Krejci

Outlets: MinnPost

Published: March 30, 2026

Words: 1,866

Last Updated: 4 months ago

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In January, dozens of detained immigrants crowded into a Whipple building holding cell where a toilet overflowed with feces, urine caked the floor and the phone didn’t work.

That’s according to “J.J.B.,” a 20-year-old refugee from Venezuela who testified before a Minnesota judge this month. He described “begging” to contact an attorney for help getting out of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, where he said guards treated him and other detained immigrants “like …

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