A federal judge has ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to immediately overhaul conditions in its short-term detention rooms at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, where migrants are held after court appearances or routine check-ins. In a temporary restraining order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said detainees face a “very serious threat of continuing irreparable injury” from overcrowding, unsanitary cells and lack of access to lawyers. Kaplan’s order limits occupancy to 50 square feet per person—cutting the largest room’s capacity to about 15—and requires officials to provide sleeping mats, soap, toothbrushes, feminine hygiene products and potable water. ICE must clean the rooms at least three times a day and allow free, confidential attorney calls within 24 hours of detention and every 12 hours thereafter. The mandate takes effect immediately while the underlying lawsuit proceeds. The class action, filed by Make the Road New York, the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union, documents detainees sleeping on concrete floors, receiving only two meals a day and being held well beyond the 72-hour limit ICE sets for such facilities. Government lawyer Jeffrey S. Oestericher acknowledged some deficiencies but disputed persistent overcrowding. The order adds judicial oversight to a facility that has become a focal point of the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement in New York.
Federal Judge Orders ICE to Improve Conditions at Notorious Manhattan Detention Site https://t.co/iIREUOKnwn
✍🏾ENFO | Daprè sa ki di nan plent lan, sant detansyon sa ki twouvel nan Federal Plaza, yon batiman gouvènmantal ki nan Manhattan, NYC, gen selil ki debòde a migran, espas la pa pwòp, tanperati a cho anpil, manke savon, bwòs dan ak lòt pwodui esansyèl ankò. Jij federal Lewis A. https://t.co/EL8AKz0w9O
The @OfficialFBOP is now actively colluding with @DHSgov to unlawfully prevent me from inspecting the immigration wing of MDC Brooklyn. A federal court has now confirmed that DHS has been blatantly lying about the horrific conditions of immigration detention. BOP is breaking https://t.co/W0Z21Fzskd