Winnipeg-born Canadian released from U.S. immigration detention after 8 months in 'hellhole'

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Winnipeg-born Clayton Herman walked free from what he called a "vile, wretched hellhole" Monday after nearly 250 days in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.

On the drive to his home in Ojai, Calif., from the Adelanto ICE Detention Centre after his release, Herman told CBC he's most looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed and being able to eat fruits and vegetables.

"I'm thinking the first three days is every healthiest food, all the green hippie slop imaginable … just so my body can heal from the damage I took from the vile, garbage excuse of what they call food in that place," he said.

Nutritious food, medical attention and showers were hard to get at Adelanto, Herman said. The facility is facing a federal lawsuit for alleged "inhumane" conditions, including mould, insufficient food, lack of proper medical care and "rampant" illness.

A U.S. federal trial court judge ordered Herman's immediate release on Friday. Judge Michael Kaufman ruled that detaining him without giving him a chance to contest the reasons for his detention violated his right to due process.

The 54-year-old was detained at the Southern California processing centre in October after a routine check-in with ICE. This came after ICE forced Herman to wear a VeriWatch — a device that monitors his location — in May of last year.

Herman told the courts the VeriWatch device "was glitchy from the start."

Herman said walking out of the ICE centre after being detained for over eight months felt surreal. (Robert Shepyer/Ojai Valley News)

It connects through cellular towers, but the reception in the Ojai area is poor, and it often dropped connections.

"[Herman] also received multiple troubleshooting calls from the contractor operating the VeriWatch device late at night," the judgment said.

At an immigration check-in in October, ICE officers accused Herman of violating his VeriWatch supervision conditions. They arrested him and took him to Adelanto.

The private, for-profit 1,940-bed facility is owned by the Geo Group, a U.S. company that, according to its latest annual report , received nearly half its revenue from ICE last year.

An officer outside the Adelanto ICE Processing Centre in May. (Jill Connelly/The Associated Press)

Herman says he crossed into the U.S. legally 20 years ago through a U.S. port of entry and then overstayed his visa, which makes him an illegal immigrant.

Kaufman found the previous immigration judge "abused its discretion" in deeming Herman a flight risk based on allegations that he violated his supervision. Herman denies this, and the only evidence submitted wasn't "clear and convincing," Kaufman said in his decision.

The evidence accepted by the immigration judge was a U.S. Department of Homeland Security form that noted Herman had accrued 18 violations, "but it does not list the type or date of the violations, or provide any other information about how petitioner allegedly violated his conditions," read the order.

Herman repeatedly tried while detained to get information about the violations he was accused of, but was unsuccessful. After multiple rounds of immigration court hearings, he represented himself in filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus — a legal mechanism that allows people who have been detained to challenge their imprisonment in court — in April 2026.

The court appointed him a lawyer, and the case went to trial court. The government eventually provided more information on the alleged violations in their answer to the habeas proceeding.

WATCH | Man released after 8 months at ICE facility: Winnipeg-born man freed after months in ICE detention centre | Duration 2:57 A man born in Winnipeg is free after having to spend eight months in an ICE detention centre in California. A U.S. judge ruled Clayton Herman's rights were violated, but the saga about whether he can legally stay in that country continues.

"It thus appears that ICE had this information readily available and simply declined to produce it for petitioner's bond hearing, forcing petitioner to speculate about what violations he might have committed and depriving him of a meaningful opportunity to contest the allegations against him," the order read.

Craig Durham, Herman's lawyer, said many immigrants like Herman are unlawfully detained without due process.

"This is someone who should never be in detention regardless of whether, ultimately, his immigration case is successful or not. He doesn't need to be housed like a common criminal in horrible conditions while that process is going on," Durham said.

'Glitchy' monitoring device blamed for alleged violations

The device and monitoring are provided by BI Electronic Monitoring and Supervision Services, a subsidiary of the Geo Group — the company that owns the Adelanto detention centre.

"That's just a horrible way to run an imprisonment system because there's incentives, obviously, to have more people detained," Durham said.

Herman has volunteered to wear a GPS ankle monitor or have other release conditions instead of the VeriWatch.

While the court left the Department of Homeland Security to decide on Herman's release conditions, it ordered that a VeriWatch can't be one of them.

"Given the evidence presented here, it is clear that the VeriWatch technology is not an appropriate condition of supervision for [Herman]," read the decision.

While detained, Herman said he used his experience representing himself in immigration court to help other detainees contest their detention orders. He wants to continue this.

"We have some people's habeas corpus applications and have gone through, and some people are now free," Herman said.

Now that he's won his release, he said he hopes his case sets a precedent others detained after alleged monitoring device issues can cite in their legal fights.

Representing yourself from within a detention centre is challenging as there's limited access to legal materials, Herman said. But he said he's shared his phone number with friends still detained, so he can be a link to any information they need on the outside.

Herman teared up when describing seeing his cats — Poquito, left, and Butters — for the first time in eight months. (Robert Shepyer/Ojai Valley News)

Herman returned to his home in Ojai and reunited with his two orange cats, Butters and Poquito, Monday. They are one of his last connections with his late partner, who died in 2021, he says.

He doesn't know how long this homecoming will last. While Herman's detention hearings are over, his immigration case is before the courts to decide whether he will ultimately be allowed to stay in the U.S.

Herman still has to check in with ICE frequently and worries he could be detained again. But he feels he has unfinished business in the U.S. — helping other detainees.

"I'm kind of committed to a battle, and morally I have to see it to its end, or however far my end will be in it," he said.

"Witnessing an enduring injustice just burns fire in you."