Elected officials protesting conditions at ICE detention site in Manhattan arrested
A federal agent detains New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and other elected officials after they demand access to inspect the detention facility at immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits federal building, Thursday. Credit: AP/Yuki Iwamura
More than a dozen elected officials were arrested on Thursday during protests inside and outside the immigrant detention center at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, officials said, including New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.
"Immigration courts should be places of justice, but in reality, have become abduction traps," Lander said in a statement. "Each week, I witness ICE agents become brownshirts, conducting more abductions and becoming increasingly violent as they detain our immigrant neighbors in deplorable conditions or ship them to far away places. "
The arrests come a day after a U.S. District Court judge ordered federal authorities to improve conditions for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees at the Manhattan center, finding people held there were "likely to suffer irreparable harm" due to the current conditions.
In addition to Lander, those arrested include state Sens. Jabari Brisport (D-Brooklyn), Julia Salazar (D-Brooklyn) and Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) as well as Assembly Members Robert Carroll (D-Brooklyn), Emily Gallagher (D-Brooklyn), Jessica González-Rojas (D-Queens), Marcela Mitaynes (D-Brooklyn), Steven Raga (D-Queens), Tony Simone (D-Manhattan) and Claire Valdez (D-Queens), according to a joint news release. The officials were arrested after ICE denied them entry to the 10th floor of the detention center, where they sought to "ensure compliance with the latest preliminary injunction ruling," the release reads.
"We cannot allow ICE to normalize its brutal attacks against immigrant communities. Trump is dehumanizing our immigrants, abducting New Yorkers from their court hearings, deporting workers without due process, and ripping high school students away from their families," Salazar said in a statement.
Sixty-six others, including New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, city council members Tiffany Cabán (D-Queens) and Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn), as well as Assemb. Phara Souffrant Forrest (D-Brooklyn) and faith leaders were arrested outside the detention center.
During a news conference outside NYPD headquarters Thursday evening, Williams said he was issued two summonses, one for blocking vehicular traffic and the other for failure to disperse. He called conditions on the 10th floor of the detention center “inhumane.”
“This has nothing to do with public safety at all,” Williams said of ICE arrests. “What is happening is fear … an imposing fear and literally kidnapping our neighbors.”
Officials with the General Services Administration, which manages 26 Federal Plaza, could not be reached for comment. Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor ICE representatives could be reached Thursday.
The court decision, rendered on Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, followed the issuance of a temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit filed in August on behalf of detainees. The suit alleges "inhumane and unconstitutional conditions" at the site — and calls for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to improve conditions at the facility.
The lawsuit claims severe overcrowding, unsanitary cells, lack of access to basic hygiene and the failure to allow detainees timely access to free, confidential calls to attorneys.
Kaplan ruled ICE detainees at 26 Federal Plaza may not be held in any cell or other room with a floor area of less than 50 square feet per person. He ordered those areas must be thoroughly cleaned at least three times per day and include clean bedding for sleeping for those held overnight.
The ruling also cited the need for hygiene products, including soap, towels, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste and feminine hygiene products.
Detainees must be allowed "confidential, unmonitored, unrecorded, temporally unrestricted, and free telephone calls" to counsel, calls that include connection to outside interpretation services — all within 24 hours of being detained, the judge ordered.
The decision said detainees also must be allowed at least one additional call for each "subsequent 12 hour period" of detention.
Newsday's John Asbury contributed to this story.
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