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Judge Imposes Space, Hygiene and Legal-Access Rules at Manhattan ICE Holding Facility

The order enforces court oversight of conditions exposed by detainee affidavits and video recordings, setting fixed standards for space, bedding, hygiene, legal access at 26 Federal Plaza.

FILE - Members of the NYPD Strategic Response Group enter 26 Federal Plaza, where immigration court is located, June 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa, File)
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Federal officers wearing face coverings wait in a hallway outside of a courtroom at New York Federal Plaza Immigration Court inside the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in New York.

Overview

  • On August 12, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued a temporary restraining order through August 26 requiring ICE to provide at least 50 square feet per detainee, clean bedding mats, three daily meals, hygiene supplies, cell cleaning and confidential lawyer calls.
  • The ruling follows detainee-recorded video and sworn affidavits describing dozens packed into 10th-floor cells without mattresses, limited food and water, unsanitary conditions and delayed medical care.
  • Government lawyers conceded some complaints in court even as DHS and ICE publicly denied systemic substandard conditions at the 26 Federal Plaza hold area.
  • Make the Road New York, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit after a surge in courthouse arrests since May strained the facility’s intended short-stay capacity.
  • The government must submit an expedited response by August 18 and compliance will be monitored ahead of a hearing on a potential preliminary injunction.