A Trump-appointed federal judge has accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement of brazenly lying in court filings and defying court orders in a lawsuit over conditions in a federal detention facility.
U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown, who was commissioned to the Eastern District of New York in December 2019 during Donald Trump’s first term, is threatening the federal agency with contempt after ICE refused to provide photographs of a holding cell used for unlawful, days-long detention—and made claims to the court he said were “evasive and demonstrably false.”
Brown issued a 24-page order on Dec. 18 describing the hold-room at the federal courthouse in Central Islip as “putrid and cramped.”
Brown wrote that nine men were confined in a small space with an open toilet, without bunks, bedding, soap, showers, toothbrushes, or clean clothes, as outside temperatures dropped as low as 21 degrees and “the lights blared 24 hours a day.”
The habeas case was brought by Erron Anthony Clarke, a Jamaican national who entered the U.S. legally on an H-2B visa in 2018 and later married a U.S. citizen. Brown noted Clarke has “no record of violence, drug use or criminal history,” and stressed that overstaying a visa is not a criminal offense.
Brown said Clarke was arrested by ICE on Dec. 5 and moved between the courthouse holding room and the Nassau County Correctional Center. On Dec. 11, after a hearing where Clarke had to participate by telephone, Brown ordered his immediate release on bail.
Brown then demanded a precise timeline for Clarke’s custody and ordered the government to provide photographs of the holding room. The response, he wrote, did not comply.
ICE “blatantly refused” to turn over photos, and the government filed a declaration that was “evasive and demonstrably false.”
Among examples cited by Brown were how ICE swore that Clarke was booked out of the county jail at 3:45 p.m. and into the courthouse hold room at 3:53 p.m., even though the facilities are more than 20 miles apart and require “a drive of 35 minutes or more.” Brown said it was “physically impossible” to complete the transfer in eight minutes.
He also flagged a sworn claim that Clarke was transported from Central Islip to Newark and booked in 30 minutes, calling it “objectively impossible.”
Brown said the misstatements “serve to undermine the information presented and the reliability of the records maintained by ICE,” adding that the photo refusal “raises—or perhaps answers—other questions” about the agency’s oversight.
The order also highlighted ICE’s broader policy changes. Brown cited ICE’s National Detention Standards, which generally bar holding detainees in hold rooms for more than 12 hours, and a June 24 memo waiving that limit and extending routine hold-room confinement to 72 hours, citing an “average daily population” above 54,000.
Brown ordered federal lawyers to submit a letter by Dec. 30 identifying steps to ensure future compliance and to “SHOW CAUSE” why the court should not consider contempt against ICE’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), or other remedies. Clarke’s side may respond by Jan. 12, with replies due Jan. 20.
The Daily Beast has approached DHS for comment.
The post Trump Judge Gives ICE an Ultimatum Over ‘Demonstrably False’ Claims appeared first on The Daily Beast.
