ICE detainees held in 'inhumane' conditions in holding rooms off Manhattan immigration court, lawsuit alleges

A New Jersey resident detained by immigration officials has filed a lawsuit, alleging crammed and unhealthy conditions at holding areas in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Manhattan.

Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado’s complaint, which was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, described dire conditions within ICE’s holding cells at 26 Federal Plaza, off the New York-Federal Plaza Immigration Court.

Barco Mercado, the lead plaintiff, who had lived with his wife, infant and another young child in Ocean County, has been detained there since Friday, said the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status.

Detainees are often held "a week or more" in holding facilities, which were originally meant for people to be in for up to 12 hours. The facilities now have a 72-hour limit, the lawsuit states.

Many of those being held have had to sleep on concrete floors because the rooms have no beds, court records show. At times, they are also not given shower access, clean clothes, their prescribed medications or proper meals, the lawsuit says, which adds there is a "horrific stench" coming from holding rooms.

"People are being deprived of their basic rights, facing medical neglect, and they lack access to adequate food and hygiene," said Harold Solis, co-legal director at Make the Road New York, one of the groups providing legal representation for the plaintiff in court records.

Fifty to 90 detainees are sometimes placed into a room of about 20 square meters, the lawsuit said, citing estimates from people who were detained. Holding rooms have just two toilets, which are not closed off, according to court documents.

"This cruel detention policy is immoral and inhumane," Solis added in a statement. "Our north star here is simple: this must stop."

Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement emailed to Newsday that 26 Federal Plaza is a processing center "where illegal aliens are briefly processed to be transferred to an ICE detention facility."

"Any claims that there is overcrowding or subprime conditions at ICE facilities are categorically false," she said. "All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers."

The claims raised in the lawsuit come as President Donald Trump has instituted his mass deportation agenda, which has included immigration sweeps at workplaces and other areas. 

Those raids have also included "systematically arresting individuals who appear at immigration court hearings in New York City and at regularly scheduled check-in appointments at the ICE office at 26 Federal Plaza," the lawsuit said.

People who are detained often also have difficulty getting access to their attorney, the lawsuit states.

That was the case for Barco Mercado, who was detained after having a court date, the lawsuit said. His attorney had tried to reach him shortly after he was taken into custody, but was blocked from seeing him in person and unable to get his client on the phone.

The lawsuit is seeking several changes, including a halt to overcrowding, an increased supply of bedding mats, on-site legal visitation at the facility, and bathrooms in a distinct area from where people sleep.

"Subjecting human beings to such abusive and degrading conditions and preventing them from speaking with their attorneys is as shocking as it is avoidable,” Heather Gregorio, a partner at Wang Hecker LLP who is listed as one of the plaintiff’s attorneys in court documents, said in a statement.

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.