Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration to Improve Conditions at Overcrowded, Unsanitary NYC Immigration Detention Facility

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to improve conditions at an immigration detention facility in New York City, following complaints from detainees regarding unsanitary, cramped conditions.

In a lawsuit filed on behalf of the detainees, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued a temporary restraining order mandating ICE to limit capacity, ensure cleanliness, and provide sleeping mats in holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza, a government building in Manhattan.

Footage recorded by a detainee last month showed about two dozen men crammed into one of the building’s hold rooms, many lying on the floor with thermal blankets but no mattresses or padding.

The detainees alleged in court filings that they were provided with insufficient hygiene products, including soap and toothbrushes. They claimed to be served inedible food and subjected to a strong odor of sweat, urine, and feces due to open toilets within the rooms. One woman reportedly could not use menstrual products because women in her room were only given two to share.

Kaplan ordered immigration officials to provide at least 50 square feet per person, reducing the largest hold room’s capacity to approximately 15 people as detainees had reported being crowded with 40 or more individuals.

The building houses an immigration court and the FBI’s New York field office and has become a focal point of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Kaplan ordered the government to thoroughly clean the cells three times a day, ensure an adequate supply of hygiene products, and make accommodations for confidential legal telephone calls. Addressing concerns about detainees’ inability to communicate with lawyers, Kaplan made this order.

“Given the conditions I’ve been informed about, there is a very serious threat of continuing irreparable injury,” Kaplan stated at a hearing on Tuesday, where a government lawyer conceded that some complaints were valid. The government lawyer acknowledged that “inhumane conditions are not appropriate and should not be tolerated.”

The lawsuit was filed by immigrant rights organizations Make the Road New York, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the American Civil Liberties Union, seeking court intervention to end what they described as “inhumane and horrifying conditions.” Some detainees have reportedly been held at 26 Federal Plaza for significantly longer than the standard 72-hour period.

Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, considered Kaplan’s ruling a “step forward,” but emphasized that the facility should be permanently closed. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who was arrested at 26 Federal Plaza in June, said the decision was a “much-needed rebuke of Trump’s cruel immigration policies.”

In a sworn declaration, Nancy Zanello, of ICE’s New York City Field Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, stated that as of Monday, a total of 24 people were held in the building’s four hold rooms, well below the city fire marshal’s 154-person capacity. Each room reportedly has at least one toilet and sink, and hygiene products are available, including soap, teeth cleaning wipes, and feminine products.

The named plaintiff in the lawsuit, Sergio Barco Mercado, was detained at 26 Federal Plaza for two days last week following his arrest there after an immigration court hearing. A native of Peru who sought asylum in the U.S. in 2022, Barco Mercado described his hold room as “extremely crowded,” cold, and smelling of sewage. He also reported that the conditions exacerbated a tooth infection that caused swelling in his face and altered his speech.

Another detainee, Carlos Lopez Benitez, who fled violence in Paraguay in 2023 to seek asylum in the U.S., was arrested in July following an immigration hearing. He reported being told he would remain in detention until a 2029 hearing on his asylum application and alleged that an officer showed him a cellphone photo of his arrest and mocked him for crying. In his holding cell, he said, officers blasted air conditioning and served meals resembling dog food.