Pixelated video footage shared with L.A. TACO by Carlos Jurado, Parias’ lawyer, showed Parias holding a water bottle with what appears to be pieces of moving, floating contamination in it.
“Son animalitos como tipo gusano, pero color negro y chiquitos que se andan moviendo en el agua . . . ahí andan y están vivos,” Carlitos Ricardo Parias, also known as Richard L.A., a well-known TikToker, told L.A. TACO yesterday evening via phone from inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.
(“They are little animals, like worms, black in color, and small that are moving around in the water . . . swimming and alive.”)
Parias told L.A. TACO that around 7 p.m. Wednesday night, one of his companions got water from one of the two 10-gallon containers where 75 to 80 detainees receive their drinking water. He described the gallons as being yellow in color with a red cap. He said he’s seen these containers in routine use inside the facility for around eight months and that he is unaware of where the facility sources the water that is inside of these containers.
"’Richard, mira lo que encontre,’” Parias told L.A. TACO that his companion said this as he showed him what he described as little worms in the drinking water.
(“‘Richard, look what I found.’”)
When the detainees looked into the container, they saw more worms. Parias said that after finding the worms, detainees collected around seven to ten worms inside a soda bottle so they could preserve them as evidence of the conditions they were experiencing inside the facility. He says he still has the worms inside the soda bottle at the time of this publication.
A family member of another detainee inside of the facility spoke with L.A. TACO on the condition of anonymity and shared that when they talked to their loved one yesterday, they shared that the water they were given also had contamination in it.
“Casi nos están envenenando a todos con ese tipo de animalitos que hay . . . varias personas que se sienten mal del estómago,” Parias told L.A. TACO.
(English translation: “They are almost poisoning us with this type of little animals . . . many people are experiencing stomach issues.”)
Parias said detainees drank the water they found the worms in because they were thirsty.
Jurado told L.A. TACO that last week that another client of his inside of the immigration detention center was diagnosed with having a bacteria called H. Pylori, after complaining of stomach issues. He told L.A. TACO that doctors said that the likely source of the bacteria was from a water source.
On July 16, a federal judge granted, in part, a preliminary injunction to detainees who sued the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement due to alleged inhumane conditions inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, according to reporting by L.A. TACO.
The judge ordered independent monitors assigned to the facility and that detainees be immediately provided with 24-hour access to clean potable drinking water, among other requirements.
Parias also alleged to L.A. TACO that when the containers are emptied, it takes the facility staff up to three hours before they are filled with water again.
L.A. TACO reported earlier this week that Parias has been held inside of the Adelanto facility for nine months without receiving proper medical care after he was shot in the elbow by a federal agent during a targeted immigration enforcement operation.
At least four deaths have been linked to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center under the second Trump administration, according to reporting by L.A. TACO.
Parias told L.A. TACO that many detainees inside are scared to speak up about the conditions they are experiencing inside and, for that reason, the detainees chose not to notify facility staff about the worms when they found them. He said that detainees believed the staff would not do anything about the matter, and that the staff would instead take the worms away, which they saw as crucial evidence of the poor water quality.
Instead, Parias said detainees decided to alert their loved ones of what had occurred, so that people on the outside would know what was going on.
Yesterday morning, he said facility staff became informed about the situation, but staff said the source of the contamination was sinks. He said he and detainees allege that the worms come out of both the sink and drinking water containers.
It has been a few months since detainees have noticed this type of contamination in their water, but detainees feared speaking out about it because they fear retaliation from facility staff, according to Parias.
Parias explained that facility staff were alerted to the water situation yesterday and were looking into where the contamination came from. He said staff changed the water inside after being alerted, but that it appeared that more contamination was found inside the new water brought by staff. Detainees notified the staff of the new discovery.
“Ahorita de los animalitos nadie se había, atrevido a hablar y pues desafortunadamente, me tocó a mí . . . eso es lo que está pasando aquí en Adelanto, California, y espero que nada por esto que estoy diciendo, no se la vayan a agarrar contra mí. Porque ellos quieren ahora sí que callarme para no decir nada. Pero, pues, es injusto lo que están haciendo estas personas con todos nosotros,” Parias told L.A. TACO.
(“Right now, in regards to the little animals, no one had dared speak up about them, unfortunately, and it fell on me . . . this is what is happening here in Adelanto, California, and I hope that nothing is held against me for what I am saying. Because they want to silence me so I don’t say anything. But, it is an injustice what they are doing, these people, with all of us.”)
“ I've never seen anything as wild as that in immigration detention,” Dr. Joseph Nwadiuko, a physician and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who has researched immigration detention for the past seven years, told L.A. TACO.
“[The] issue is not so much about the larva . . . it's about the fact that the water has gotten to be so dirty that something like that could grow . . . and all the other bugs and parasites that we don't see that could be growing along that larva could be more dangerous to people who are detained.”
Dr. Nwadiuko said that the visible contamination could be an indicator that there is something invisible in the water that is capable of harming someone’s health. He added that while the worms may not be infectious themselves, they could carry bacteria that could result in infections.
He warned that this type of contaminant could be particularly harmful for people who are immunocompromised, potentially leading to life-threatening infections as well. He said this is an indicator that the water quality of the facility is beyond poor and that the only time he has ever seen something similar was when he was overseas.
Dr. Greg Pierce is the senior director of the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA and the director of the Human Right to Water Solutions Lab. He studies policy and planning related to water, but is not a water quality expert. He told L.A. TACO that it is not surprising for there to be a drinking water quality issue in a U.S. carceral facility, because they have occurred under past administrations, as well.
“ . . . the video appears to suggest an acute and gross violation of basic drinking water quality standards, which poses an immediate health risk. I have not seen too many settings (including around the world) with such visible contamination with such obvious health ramifications,” Dr. Pierce said.
In a statement to L.A. TACO, an ICE spokesperson said the Adelanto ICE Processing Center receives their water from the City of Adelanto, and that businesses, residents, staff, and detainees drink from the same water source. The agency spokesperson directed L.A. TACO to the Adelanto Water Service Website.
“... before water reaches our facility, samples from wells and 36 individual locations throughout the City of Adelanto have been collected and tested in state-certified, third-party laboratories,” said an ICE Spokesperson.
L.A. TACO reached out to the City of Adelanto for further comment. We will update this story if we hear back.
Dr. Pierce said that an immigration detention center, like any other facility, tends to get its water from a much larger system if it's near populated areas, and that system would be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. He said that contamination can exist in plumbing, or introduced by tanks and faucets, especially if the system is large and poorly maintained.
“AFTER the water goes from the external system (city here) to the facility. Any contamination introduced by premise plumbing is the responsibility of the facility (ICE here), not the system,” said Dr. Pierce.
This story has been updated to include expert testimony from water and medical experts who reviewed video footage and our reporting. Additionally, we updated with a comment from an ICE spokesperson.
