Federal judge orders ICE to improve conditions for immigration detainees at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan

A U.S. district judge on Thursday ordered federal officials to provide immigration detainees sufficient space, food, hygiene and access to legal and medical assistance while they’re in custody at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a permanent injunction, instructing the Department of Homeland Security to prevent overcrowding at 26 Federal Plaza, where most New York City asylum and removal proceedings are held.

The order came as a result of a lawsuit brought by several immigrant rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of immigrants who were crowded into cramped rooms in the federal building’s holding areas.

According to the complaint, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials packed people into the rooms as arrests swelled under the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policy. The advocates said there was a nationwide quota of 3,000 immigration arrests per day.

The flood of new detainees overwhelmed the agency and strained its ability to keep all the people in humane conditions, advocates said in court papers.

"At 26 Fed, people are detained for extended periods of time, often for a week or more, sleeping on the concrete floor next to the toilet, in cells that are either freezing or oppressively hot, without medication, an opportunity to bathe, brush their teeth, or change their clothes," according to the complaint. "The detained individuals receive at most only two small meals a day. Many have fallen ill under these egregious conditions."

At 26 Federal Plaza, according to the immigration advocates, authorities kept 100 detainees in the holding areas for weeks at a time.

In addition, advocates said immigration enforcement officials monitored confidential conversations between attorneys and detainees.

"Today’s order rightly affirms that ICE cannot continue subjecting people to dehumanizing, abusive conditions at 26 Federal Plaza," Molly Biklen, legal director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. "We’ll continue to hold the Trump administration accountable and fight to end ICE’s cruel, unconstitutional detention conditions across New York."

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Newsday previously reported that immigration detainees also had been held in the Central Islip federal courthouse holding area for extended periods of time. They too, according to court records, had been denied medical care and kept in cramped conditions, sometimes sleeping around toilets because of overcrowding.