Protesters rally against 'inhumane' immigrant detainee conditions at Central Islip courthouse after Newsday investigation

More than 100 people stood in dense fog and rain outside the Central Islip federal courthouse Monday to call for action after a Newsday investigation revealed immigrant detainees were being held in what one judge called "a manner that shocks the conscience."

Dozens of detainees have been placed in small cells at the courthouse, some for as much as 72 hours, since the Trump administration launched its immigration crackdown, Newsday has reported. Detainees have described sleeping around an open toilet, having no room to lie down and not having access to showers. 

In an opinion issued earlier this month, the federal judge strongly criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for its treatment of a Jamaican native who, the judge said, was held overnight at the courthouse in a cold, "putrid and cramped" cell.

“It just breaks my heart, my soul, to see that our immigrant brothers and sisters are being kept in such inhumane conditions in the United States of America in the year 2025," Pilar Moya, an advocate with the group Latinos Unidos de Long Island, said in an interview after the rally Monday. “We need to do better, especially when they're holding immigrants with no criminal records, who are mothers and fathers.”

Protesters rallied in the courthouse's parking lot, with some holding umbrellas while others held signs bearing messages such as "Nation of Immigrants” or “Without due process it’s kidnapping.” At one point, a federal government vehicle marked as belonging to the Department of Homeland Security slowly drove near the crowd, prompting angry shouts from the protesters.

Joshua Chan, deputy director of the advocacy organization Islip Forward, told Newsday: “We’re calling on people to talk to their representatives. ...Investigate and speak up about the horrible conditions that are going on. Take a visit, do a walk, speak up about what’s going on. Do something.”

State Assemb. Phil Ramos (D-Brentwood), who has been a critic of the heightened immigration enforcement on Long Island, called the federal policies “a stunning failure of decency and empathy.”

“How many more people are suffering in silence, wondering if the world has forgotten them,” he said to the crowd.

In a statement, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called for an investigation into ICE's treatment of detainees.

“Recent reports of ICE detaining people at Islip courthouse in holding cells that are overcrowded, unheated are disturbing, inappropriate and dubious legally," Schumer said.

He added: “We need a thorough investigation and any inadequacies or transgressions rectified ASAP. I am extremely disturbed by ICE’s intransigence on legal cases and lack of transparency and am pleased to see the federal judges in the Islip courthouse taking steps to hold ICE accountable.”

Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security did not return a request for comment Monday.

Newsday investigation

Monday's rally follows a Newsday review of federal data and court transcripts, as well as interviews with immigrant detainees, that shone a light on conditions at the courthouse. One detainee described in court how he had been held in a windowless room with five men with no bedding and lights that never turned off.

Eastern District Judge Gary R. Brown filed a memorandum on Dec. 17 in the case of another detainee, Erron Anthony Clarke, who was arrested by ICE agents after an appointment in Hauppauge related to his proceedings to become a permanent resident, Newsday reported. While in custody at the courthouse, he shared a cold one-person cell with an open toilet alongside eight other men, court documents showed.

Brown, in his order, threatened to hold ICE in contempt or issue "some other remedy" if the government does not outline by Dec. 30 how it plans to fix conditions at the courthouse.