A video shared by the family of ICE detainee Carlitos Ricardo Parias, 44, appears to show worm-like creatures swimming in a bottle of drinking water supplied at the Adelanto Immigration Detention Center in California. Parias remains in federal custody pending his deportation to Mexico.
The out-of-focus footage shows small, thin, dark-colored shapes floating at the bottom of a water bottle held up to the camera by a man wearing orange. Parias's son, Ulises, recorded the video during a call with his father on Thursday in an attempt to document conditions at the facility.
"He decided to show us how bad it was and that's when he video called me and that's when we saw worms inside the water," Ulises told KTLA 5. He said the water came from jugs provided for drinking at the facility, and that his father described it as having a "metallic smell." Parias had complained of stomach pain when his family visited on Saturday, according to the outlet.
"It horrifies me knowing that's the water my dad has to drink, wash his hands and take a shower in," Ulises said.
Arrest and dismissed charge
Parias, a TikTok live streamer, was arrested in October for allegedly assaulting a federal officer with his vehicle during an ICE operation. A judge later dismissed the charge, but Parias remains in federal custody.
Margaret Hellerstein, Parias's immigration attorney, said conditions at the facility are deplorable and that many detainees have complained of foul odors and debris in the water. "There had been many, many complaints for months about the water having a foul smell, that it tastes wrong, that it's got garbage floating in it," she told KTLA 5. "It should not be difficult to get clean water from an outside source."
Hellerstein urged the public to "believe the evidence in front of their eyes and not believe the statements that ICE is making because these are living creatures swimming in a bottle of water."
ICE responds
A spokesperson for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement told KTLA 5 that the Adelanto facility receives its water from the City of Adelanto and uses the same supply provided to local businesses and restaurants. The agency cited the city's water service website, which states that samples from wells and 36 locations across the city are tested by third-party, state-certified laboratories before reaching the facility.
Earlier court order
The video surfaced weeks after a federal judge ordered ICE to provide detainees at the facility "clean, potable drinking water" within 24 hours, The Guardian reported. The ruling followed a class-action lawsuit accusing the facility of forcing detainees to endure "dangerous conditions," including allegedly denying sufficient food, clean drinking water and adequate medical care.
In a statement to The Guardian, Parias said: "This is what they give us: contaminated water, water with larvae, water with little black worms, which is slowly killing each one of us who are detained here." He said he preserved the water in the bottle as evidence, adding: "We need proper drinking water, better treatment."
Hellerstein said she was "horrified and disgusted" by the video. "I felt sick to my stomach," she told The Guardian. "This is video evidence. They can't just sweep it under the rug."
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