Civil rights groups are suing the Trump administration for detaining immigrants in a Manhattan federal courthouse where they are deprived of beds, showers, sufficient food, hygiene products, and medication.
“In recent months, New York City has, almost daily, seen masked ICE agents separate people from their families and confine them in crowded, inhumane conditions within a makeshift detention facility inside 26 Federal Plaza in the middle of Manhattan,” Harold Solis, co-legal director of Make the Road New York, said in a statement. Make the Road New York filed the suit, along with the ACLU and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU.)
People are detained at 26 Federal Plaza for a week or more in cells “designed to hold people only temporarily for a matter of hours,” and are denied access to their attorneys, according to the complaint.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU, called 26 Federal Plaza “an inhumane disaster.”
“These cruel, unlawful practices violate immigrants’ rights to due process and basic human dignity — and ICE must be held accountable,” she said in a statement.
Those locked up at the courthouse are provided “small rations of food only twice a day, such as military ‘meals ready to eat,’” according to the complaint. One person reported that he was only given “small, processed meals in plastic bags” twice a day, and lost 24 pounds during his detention.
“Meanwhile, the guards have eaten pizza and hamburgers in front of hungry detained immigrants, which made them feel like they were being taunted,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit details several instances of guards humiliating and abusing people detained at the courthouse. One woman reported that guards only gave the women in her holding cell a total of two menstrual pads to share among them, causing her to bleed through her clothes, which she was forced to wear throughout her detention.
“People are being deprived of their basic rights, facing medical neglect, and they lack access to adequate food and hygiene,” Solis said. “This cruel detention policy is immoral and inhumane. Our north star here is simple: this must stop.”
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