Judge Orders Changes to 'Inhumane' NYC ICE Facility

A federal judge on Wednesday issued an injunction against the "unconstitutional and inhumane treatment" of detainees at an immigration detention facility in New York, ordering the Trump administration to "conform" the site to constitutional standards.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York, a Clinton appointee, issued the injunction against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility at 26 Federal Plaza.

Kaplan did not order the facility closed. 

"The Court's preliminary injunction will not prevent defendants from pursuing the policies they have set. It merely will require that they conform to the demands of the Constitution in doing so," Kaplan wrote. "It is up to defendants to choose whether they wish to expend resources to conform 26 Fed to those requirements, or to alter the rate at which they are funneling arrestees into 26 Fed and other facilities, or to select or obtain facilities where detainees can be held in a humane and constitutional manner."

Attorneys for detainees argued short-term ICE detention facilities were being used for "lengthier detentions," leading to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions in "hold rooms."

The cells on the 10th floor of the Federal Plaza building hold illegal immigrants arrested at the city's immigration courts, one of which is just two floors above the cells. Detainees are typically processed and shuttled to detention centers elsewhere in the city or to other states.

Kaplan first issued a temporary restraining order last month requiring ICE to immediately improve conditions at the facility, including maintaining at least 50 square feet per detainee and providing clean bedding and safe sleeping space.

Attorneys argued detainees were held for multiple days and weeks, in some cases.

"Detainees were forced to try to sleep, if sleep were possible, in illuminated rooms on concrete floors with no bedding and only a thin aluminum blanket. Many were unable to lie down due to the crowded conditions and sought sleep while sitting up. Some had to sleep near open toilets because there was no other space," Kaplan wrote in the order.

"The Court will grant in substantial part the preliminary injunction plaintiff seeks to protect those swept up in the administration's program and sent to the 26 Fed Hold Rooms from unconstitutional and inhumane treatment while this case proceeds to a final determination," Kaplan wrote.

The ruling was the result of a class-action lawsuit filed by Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, a Peruvian national who entered the U.S. illegally in July 2022. Barco Mercado was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New York, and the law firm Wang Hecker.