26 Federal Plaza is also under scrutiny by liberal lawmakers, who have repeatedly requested access to the facility but have yet to be granted permission by ICE.
Immigrant rights advocates have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that detainees in a New York City facility have been deprived of legal counsel and exposed to unsafe conditions.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union notes that 26 Federal Plaza, a federal building in New York that is currently holding more than 100 migrants, was designed to hold in-transit detainees for short periods of time. It has no beds or showers and contains only rudimentary medical facilities.
However, as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased its arrests of immigrants, 26 Federal Plaza has become increasingly overcrowded.
The plaintiffs, a group of people housed at the facility, are represented by the ACLU, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road NY, and Wang Hecker LLP.
Together, the detainees claim that conditions at 26 Federal Plaza are inhumane; they also allege that limitations on their ability to access legal counsel are unlawful.
“ICE’s aggressive enforcement and detention policies endangers immigrant communities nationwide, including at 26 Federal Plaza. ICE’s detention of people at 26 Federal Plaza — where people are held without access to critical medical care, adequate food, and the ability to speak with their attorneys is unmistakably cruel,” ACLU senior counsel Eunice Cho said in a statement. “ICE is denying people their Constitutional rights to due process and legal representation to further its dehumanizing campaign against our immigrant neighbors and loved ones, many of whom were arrested at immigration court hearing or routine immigration check-ins.”
Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is also representing detainees in the proposed class-action lawsuit, said that some of her clients have reported conditions ranging from food spoilage to extreme overcrowding.
“ICE’s aggressive enforcement and detention policies endangers immigrant communities nationwide, including at 26 Federal Plaza. ICE’s detention of people at 26 Federal Plaza — where people are held without access to critical medical care, adequate food, and the ability to speak with their attorneys is unmistakably cruel,” Cho said. “ICE is denying people their Constitutional rights to due process and legal representation to further its dehumanizing campaign against our immigrant neighbors and loved ones, many of whom were arrested at immigration court hearing or routine immigration check-ins.”
26 Federal Plaza is also under scrutiny by liberal lawmakers, who have repeatedly requested access to the facility but have yet to be granted permission by ICE.
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