Story thread · 3 reports / 3 sources

Judge Slaps Down ICE’s Mass Arrests, Torches Detention Conditions

newrepublic.com · 4h · first reportShare

A federal judge issued a permanent injunction Thursday on conditions at ICE’s New York City office at Federal 26 Plaza , finding that officers had subjected immigrant detainees to overcrowded rooms, unsanitary conditions, insufficient food and water, as well as inadequate sleeping conditions, medical care, and legal counsel. “For want of sufficient appropriate places to put them, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’) has confined many of those arrested in overcrowded, squalid, and degrading rooms for excessive periods of time,” wrote District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in his ruling. Before the summer of 2025, ICE generally held fewer than 10 detainees at a time in a series of “hold rooms” on the 10th floor of the agency’s offices. “Toward the end of May 2025, however, that number increased to the point where ICE typically was holding between forty and seventy detainees in the hold rooms at any given time,” Kaplan wrote. Detainees were kept in these conditions for “far longer tha