Conditions at ICE holding rooms show signs of improvement, Suozzi says

Conditions appear to be improving in the makeshift cells where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have crammed people for extended hours, Rep. Tom Suozzi said Monday after an impromptu visit to the Central Islip facility.

Suozzi’s visit followed a federal judge last month saying ICE was using its "putrid, cramped" holding rooms at the Eastern District courthouse "in a manner that shocks the conscience" — and came after Newsday reported that roughly 100 immigrants had been detained there for more than 12 hours at a time, many of them overnight and some for as many as 72 hours.

Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) is the first known member of Congress to visit the small rooms on Long Island, where the conditions have been harshly criticized by U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown, who was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, as well as immigrants, lawyers and advocates.

“I went to each of the holding facilities. I looked around, I smelled them. They didn’t smell now,” Suozzi told Newsday after his roughly 30-minute visit to four holding cells in the courthouse.

He said he contacted ICE at about 1 p.m. and arrived by 2 p.m., and that there were no detainees present while he was inside. Suozzi added that he reviewed intake logs showing about a dozen people processed at the facility over the last two weeks. 

“I don’t think they cleaned them up in the hour before I got here," he said. "I don’t think they would have had the time to do that. But there was very little activity.”

ICE, which is under the supervision of the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond to requests for comment.

Last month, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that members of Congress are allowed to make unannounced visits to immigration detention facilities, siding with a group of Democrats that sued to gain access to ICE holding areas, including one in Manhattan.

In a Dec. 23 letter, made public last week, Long Island's top federal prosecutor told Brown that ICE would no longer continue to detain people in the holding rooms at the courthouse beyond a 12-hour period or overnight. The letter came shortly after Brown had described the conditions of the makeshift holding rooms used by ICE as "substandard, abhorrent and likely unlawful" and ordered the federal agency to identify an improvement plan.

Under questioning by Brown, Erron Anthony Clarke, a Jamaican native detained by ICE, said he was held overnight alongside eight other men in a cell at the Central Islip courthouse, sleeping around an open toilet. ICE had described the size of rooms as as about "10’ x 7’ or 8,' " Brown said.

Newsday independently conducted interviews and reviewed court records where detainees said they were packed into the small rooms — which Suozzi said measured about 15 feet by 8 feet — that made lying down to sleep difficult.

“They do have some mats, but putting a lot of people into that small space would be difficult, especially over a long period of time. There’s no showers," Suozzi said Monday. "That’s why people are not supposed to be held there for a long period of time."

Last week, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called for an investigation into ICE’s treatment of detainees.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also sent ICE and DHS a letter last week expressing concerns about the conditions in Central Islip. Gillibrand asked the agencies to explain how many holding facilities it’s utilizing in New York, the average length of stay and to provide comprehensive descriptions of each room, according to a copy shared with Newsday.

“My office is monitoring these reports and takes these allegations seriously,” Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), whose district includes the Central Islip federal courthouse, said in a statement that he’s also reached out to ICE and is “awaiting additional information.”