A federal judge has ordered emergency reforms at a Manhattan immigration detention center after detainees alleged they were crammed into filthy rooms, forced to sleep near toilets, denied basic hygiene and medical care, and blocked from contacting lawyers.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Ocean County resident, Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, who claims Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials at 26 Federal Plaza routinely violated detainees’ rights.
Barco Mercado alleged that detainees were held at that address, which is the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City, in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, and were denied access to legal representation.
In granting the temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the plaintiffs had shown they were likely to suffer “irreparable harm” without immediate relief and were likely to succeed in proving their claims.
“The Court having concluded that plaintiff and members of the alleged class have suffered, and are likely to suffer, irreparable harm absent the temporary relief granted herein,” Kaplan wrote.
The order requires ICE to ensure that detainees are held in rooms with at least 50 square feet of space per person, are provided clean bedding, and have access to hygiene products, nutritious meals and medical services.
Detainees must also be allowed to make confidential legal calls within 24 hours of detention and at least once every 12 hours afterward.
ICE must provide printed notices of detainees’ rights in English and Spanish, with interpreters available for other languages.
The agency is also required to update its online detainee locator system in real time and ensure attorneys can schedule calls with clients promptly.
The restraining order is in effect until Aug. 26 or until the court rules on the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction, whichever comes first.
Barco Mercado’s original complaint, filed earlier this month, alleged that ICE routinely held individuals overnight in overcrowded rooms without proper bedding, food or access to medication.
The complaint also detailed how detainees were forced to sleep near toilets and were denied basic hygiene supplies.
The lawsuit targets Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and senior officials at ICE.
Noem and the others named in the suit were represented in court by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
“This order and this lawsuit are driven by complete fiction about 26 Federal Plaza,” Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
McLaughlin said that the Trump Administration is “carrying out the largest deportation operation in American history and is removing the worst of the worst from American communities.”
“Any claim of subprime conditions at ICE facilities are categorically false,” she added. “ICE enforcement operations will continue at full speed to protect American communities from the worst of the worst, and DHS will appeal this order.”
Barco Mercado is represented by attorneys from the New York Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New York and Manhattan law firm Wang Hecker.
“Today’s order sends a clear message: ICE cannot hold people in abusive conditions and deny them their constitutional rights to due process and legal representation,” Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said in a statement. “We’ll continue to fight to ensure that people’s rights are upheld at 26 Federal Plaza and beyond.”
“The conditions and lack of attorney access at 26 Federal Plaza have been horrifying and unconscionable,” Heather Gregorio of Wang Hecker said in a press release.
A hearing on the preliminary injunction is scheduled for Sept. 12. The court will decide whether to extend the temporary restraining order into a longer-term injunction while the case proceeds.
Colleen Murphy may be reached at cmurphy@njadvancemedia.com.