In a 125-page verbal lashing, U.S. District Judge Luis A. Kaplan on Thursday granted a permanent injunction requiring the Department of Homeland Security to thoroughly improve conditions of the immigration detention rooms at 26 Federal Plaza.
The order declared that, through rampant overcrowding and unsanitary hold rooms, ICE had not only violated the constitutional rights of the immigrant New Yorkers, but that they had willfully “sanitized the record” and only complied with preliminary court orders “when convenient for them.” Kaplan went on to say that the government’s noncompliance and use of alternative floors for detention that weren’t named in the initial suit was a “willful or reckless misreading of [the court’s] previous orders.”.
“[ICE] has overcrowded severely the 26 Fed hold rooms, subjecting detainees for extended periods to inhumane conditions that violate the Constitution, not to mention any decent concern for the Golden Rule or the demands of humanity,” wrote Kaplan.
Harold Solis, a lawyer from Make the Road and one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, welcomed the decision.
“We brought this case precisely because many of the individuals that we worked with and saw and met last year were were facing some pretty terrible and degrading conditions inside of 26 Federal Plaza,” Solis said. “In his decision today, Judge Kaplan, I think he referred to it as a as a ‘black site’ … the record that ultimately developed from this case really proved that to be true.”
Carmen Iguina González, deputy director of immigration detention for the ACLU’s National Prison Project, also applauded the court’s decision.
“As our legal teams have argued before, the conditions at this facility were entirely a crisis of ICE’s own making,” she said in a statement shared with Documented. “We will continue to hold ICE accountable and ensure that people’s rights are upheld.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision.
The original complaint was filed in August of last year by Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, who was detained during the height of violent arrests on the 12th and 14th floors of Federal Plaza, a centerpiece of Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy in New York City.
Documented reported on the explosive trial in May, which unveiled disturbing details of the crammed rooms and callous text messages exchanged by guards. During the trial, statements by immigrant witnesses also recounted the horrors of detention, including sleeping upright for days, being blasted with frigid air conditioning and eating “slop,” all while being urged to self deport by posters on the walls.
At the time, Kaplan had only imposed temporary limitations on ICE’s ability to confine immigrant New Yorkers at what he called a “black site.” However, the permanent order, released on Thursday, serves as an expansion, requiring DHS to give every immigrant New Yorker who is detained on any floor at 26 Federal Plaza sufficient clean space and bedding, comfortable lighting and temperature, as well as proper hygiene supplies and clean clothing. The order will also require access to confidential attorney calls, medical screenings, as well as proper meals, among other requirements.
The decision brings to a close a case in which immigration advocates accused ICE of creating a “crisis of its own making” by arresting and detaining more people than could be humanely held in the building’s detention rooms.
As part of his order, Kaplan is allowing lawyers to continue inspecting logbooks to ensure ICE stays in compliance with his order.
“Should plaintiff have good cause to believe defendants are failing to comply with the permanent injunction and that more extensive discovery therefore is necessary, the Court promptly could address a request to that effect,” he wrote.
