A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) yesterday against the Trump administration to immediately overhaul conditions in ICE holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan. The measure was necessary, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan stated, because those being held in the government building “have suffered, and are likely to suffer, irreparable harm” from existing conditions.
The ruling was in response to a class action lawsuit filed just four days prior by the American Civil Liberties Union, New York Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New York and Wang Hecker LLP.
The named plaintiff, an immigrant from Peru named Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, wanted to file it “not just for him but for people who he saw in detention,” said Alexandra Rizio, one of Mercado’s supervising attorneys from Make the Road New York.
“People who are disabled, elderly people. He wants to help speak for them as well,” she explained. Her client was focused on getting back to his wife and their two children, a newborn baby and a toddler, she added. “He lives for his kids. He just wants to see them again.”
(To read Rizio’s full analysis of the ruling, read our full Q&A here.)
Here are four other key things to know.
1. It orders fixes for dire conditions at 26 Federal Plaza — and offers a rare glimpse into ICE detention standards.
The lawsuit outlined abuses at 26 Federal Plaza that included overcrowded cells kept at extreme temperatures; unsanitary conditions creating a “horrific stench” of sweat, urine, and feces; and food described by detainees as “inedible” and “slop.” Such descriptions have been backed up by recent videos and reporting.
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The TRO requires that all “hold rooms” with detainees offer a clean bedding mat for each person, be “cleaned thoroughly” at least three times a day and provide adequate supplies of soap, towels, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste and feminine hygiene products. Necessary medical care, access to prescription medications, additional blankets and bottled water should also be given free of charge, it added.
The TRO also mandates that hold rooms offer at least 50 square feet of floor space per person, a move which the Associated Press noted would shrink the capacity of the building’s largest room to 15 people – far fewer than the 40 or more people that detainees have previously said were being held there.
2. It emphasizes the importance of due process and timely legal access.
Beyond physical conditions, the TRO orders that detainees be allowed to understand and exercise their legal rights in a timely manner.
They should be allowed to conduct “confidential, unmonitored, unrecorded, temporally unrestricted, and free” calls with an attorney — with interpretation for non-English speakers — within 24 hours of being detained and at least once for each subsequent 12 hours in custody. Detainees must also be given a Notice of Rights in English and Spanish, or their native language, within an hour of his or her arrival in a holding room.
3. It signals a shift that even the federal government is now acknowledging some humanitarian problems.
The DHS initially dismissed the lawsuit’s complaints, arguing that 26 Federal Plaza was a “processing center” rather than a detention facility and that the alleged abuses there were “categorically false,” according to CBS News.
But at a hearing on Tuesday, a government lawyer admitted that some complaints were valid. As the AP reported, Jeffrey S. Oestericher agreed with the judge that “inhumane conditions are not appropriate and should not be tolerated.”
“I think we all agree that conditions at 26 Federal Plaza need to be humane, and we obviously share that belief,” the lawyer said.
你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
4. While it’s just temporary, it could be the first step toward positive change.
The order will only remain in place for 14 days unless extended by the court, but advocates hope this stopgap measure can lead toward more permanent, nationwide standards for ICE detention.
“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 peoples’ rights are upheld at 26 Federal Plaza and beyond.”
Heather Gregorio of Wang Hecker LLP called the conditions and lack of attorney access at the building “horrifying and unconscionable,” stating: “Judge Kaplan’s Temporary Restraining Order imposes basic accountability on ICE and requires that it meet constitutional standards, as all human beings deserve.”
