A United States federal judge has mandated immediate reforms at a Manhattan immigration facility following troubling reports about overcrowding, poor food quality, and unsanitary conditions.
On Tuesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a temporary restraining order requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enhance conditions at 26 Federal Plaza, a government building housing holding cells for migrants and asylum seekers.
Judge Kaplan expressed concerns about the potential for “continuing irreparable injury” due to the current state of the facility.
As part of the restraining order, ICE is required to limit the number of detainees, maintain cleanliness, and provide sleeping mats for those held at the facility.
“My conclusion here is that there is a very serious threat of continuing irreparable injury, given the conditions that I’ve been told about,” Kaplan stated.
The order demands that the government conduct thorough cleaning of the holding cells three times daily and ensure that detainees receive adequate hygiene supplies, including soap, towels, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and feminine products.
To improve living conditions, Kaplan has dictated that detainees must have 4.6 square meters (50 square feet) of space each, reducing the capacity of the largest holding room from more than 40 detainees down to just 15.
Kaplan has also made provisions to facilitate legal representation by ensuring that detainees can make confidential, unmonitored, and unrecorded legal phone calls.
This court ruling comes in response to a complaint from lawyers representing Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, a Peruvian asylum-seeker who was taken into custody after attending a scheduled court date on August 8.
Barco Mercado was held at 26 Federal Plaza, where his attorneys alleged that he and other detainees were subjected to “crowded, squalid, and punitive conditions.” They further reported that access to their client was denied post-arrest.
In his sworn declaration, Barco Mercado described the holding room as “extremely crowded” and noted that it had a “smell of sewage.” He claimed that the dire conditions worsened a tooth infection, causing significant facial swelling and speech difficulties.
He recounted, “We did not always get enough water. There was one guard who would sometimes hold a bottle of water up, and people would wait to have him squirt some into our mouths, like we were animals.”
Barco Mercado has since been transferred to a facility in upstate New York.
Court filings submitted by other detainees echoed his testimony, revealing that many had been deprived of hygiene products such as soap and toothbrushes while confined at 26 Federal Plaza.
Some detainees reported receiving inedible food described as “slop” and contended with the pervasive “horrific stench” of sweat, urine, and feces in part because the holding rooms contained open toilets. One woman testified that she was unable to use menstrual products as only two had been issued to the women in her room.
Video footage taken last month depicted around two dozen men crowded in one of the facility’s holding rooms, many lying on the floor covered with thermal blankets but lacking mattresses or any padding.
In response to these serious allegations, ICE representatives conceded that such “inhumane conditions are not appropriate and should not be tolerated.”
During the court hearing, government lawyer Jeffrey S Oestericher accepted that conditions at 26 Federal Plaza require significant improvement to ensure treatment that aligns with humane standards.
However, the government sought to downplay the claims of overcrowding and poor conditions.
In a sworn statement, Nancy Zanello, the assistant director of ICE’s New York City Field Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, reported that only 24 individuals were in the facility’s four holding rooms, a number well below the city’s fire marshal-set limit of 154.
Zanello also indicated that each holding room was equipped with at least one toilet and sink, claiming that hygiene products such as soap, teeth cleaning wipes, and feminine products were available.
The situation at 26 Federal Plaza has become a focal point in New York as the city grapples with President Donald Trump’s stringent measures against undocumented immigration.
The holding cells are situated on the 10th floor, directly beneath an immigration court. The building also accommodates the New York field office for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and various other government offices.
While ICE has executed well-publicized raids at workplaces elsewhere in the nation, arrests in New York City predominantly occur in and around court buildings as migrants exit their civil immigration hearings.
Critics argue that such arrests infringe on individuals’ right to due process, warning that apprehensions within courthouses could deter immigrants from pursuing legitimate immigration processes.
However, the Trump administration revoked previous guidelines that sought to limit immigration arrests in sensitive locations, including courthouses, which were commonly regarded as off-limits for such actions.
image source from：aljazeera
