A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately improve conditions at a New York City immigration holding facility after jailed migrants complained of dirty, overcrowded cells and a lack of basic necessities.
In a ruling Tuesday, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued a temporary restraining order requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to limit capacity, ensure cleanliness, and provide sleeping mats in so-called “hold rooms” at 26 Federal Plaza, a federal building in Manhattan. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed on behalf of detainees by Make the Road New York, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
“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 said during the hearing. He instructed ICE to allocate 50 square feet per person in each holding cell, cutting the largest room’s capacity to about 15 people — down from the 40 or more that detainees said were previously crammed inside.
A cell phone video recorded last month by a detainee showed roughly two dozen men packed into one room, many lying on the floor with only thermal blankets and no mattresses or padding. Detainees described being denied soap, toothbrushes, and other hygiene items, fed inedible “slop,” and enduring what court filings called the “horrific stench” of sweat, urine, and feces from open toilets. One woman, according to the lawsuit, was unable to use menstrual products because only two were provided for all women in her room.
Kaplan’s order requires the government to clean cells three times daily and provide adequate soap, towels, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and feminine products. He also directed officials to ensure detainees can make confidential, unmonitored, and unrecorded legal calls with their attorneys.
Government lawyer Jeffrey S. Oestericher acknowledged some complaints were valid, saying, “I think we all agree that conditions at 26 Federal Plaza need to be humane, and we obviously share that belief… inhumane conditions are not appropriate and should not be tolerated.”
Plaintiffs’ attorney Heather Gregorio called the current situation “inhumane and horrifying,” noting that some detainees have been held for days or even weeks — far beyond the 72-hour standard — before being transferred to other facilities.
In a sworn declaration, ICE official Nancy Zanello said that as of Monday, 24 people were held across the building’s four hold rooms, which have a combined fire marshal capacity of 154. She said each room has at least one toilet and sink, and hygiene products — including soap, tooth-cleaning wipes, and feminine products — are available.
But detainee accounts paint a starkly different picture.
Sergio Barco Mercado, a native of Peru seeking asylum since 2022, said he was arrested last week after leaving an immigration court hearing and held at 26 Federal Plaza for two days. He described his hold room as “extremely crowded,” cold, and smelling of sewage, saying the conditions worsened a tooth infection that swelled his face and altered his speech.
“We did not always get enough water,” Barco Mercado said. “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.”
Another detainee, Carlos Lopez Benitez, said he fled violence in Paraguay in 2023 and was seeking asylum when he was arrested in July after an immigration court hearing. He alleged officers urged him to self-deport and told him he would remain in detention until a 2029 hearing on his asylum application.
Lopez Benitez claimed one officer showed him a photo of his arrest and mocked him for crying. In detention, he said, the air conditioning was kept blasting and meals “looked like dog food.”
Kaplan’s order takes effect immediately as the case proceeds, forcing ICE to overhaul conditions that migrants and their advocates have long denounced as degrading and dangerous.
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
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