NYC ICE Detention Overhaul
Federal Judge Permanently Orders Better Detention Conditions at NYC ICE Facility
Anonymous
A federal judge permanently enjoined U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from subjecting detainees at its 26 Federal Plaza facility in Manhattan to unconstitutional conditions. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan found that overcrowding deprived detainees of adequate food, water, sleep, sanitation, medical care and meaningful, confidential access to lawyers; some were held for days in cramped rooms without beds or bedding, despite rooms being intended for stays of 12 hours or less. He said ICE knew or should have known about the conditions, ignored earlier court orders and misled the court about compliance. Kaplan also concluded that the treatment was intended to punish detainees and pressure them to self-deport, and ordered lasting changes to prevent overcrowding and protect detainees’ basic needs and legal access.
Key Points
1
Before the summer of 2025, ICE generally held fewer than 10 people in the 10th-floor hold rooms at a time; by late May, it was typically holding 40 to 70. One detainee said he spent nine and a half days in a room with 70 other men.
2
Detainees described sleeping on hard concrete without cots, pillows or blankets, with lights left on around the clock; accounts also differed on the temperature, with one person calling the room an “icebox” and another saying it was “like being in an oven.”
3
Detainees who could make calls to lawyers were limited to a few minutes at a time, and ICE staff or contractors were usually close enough to overhear their conversations, according to the ruling.
4
The ACLU’s National Prison Project said it would closely monitor compliance with the permanent injunction, citing concerns about the defendants’ prior compliance record.
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