NEW YORK, CMC – New York Attorney General, Letitia James, on Tuesday, moved to stop the illegal treatment of Caribbean and other immigrants arrested in New York, including those detained after attending immigration court proceedings and routine check-in appointments at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In an amicus brief filed in a case brought by detainees held at the ICE building on 26 Federal Plaza, James argues that ICE has violated the law by holding immigrants at the field office for days in inhumane conditions.
She said until June, ICE guidelines limited the use of field office holding rooms for detentions to a maximum of 12 hours, “but now, recent reporting has revealed that hundreds of people have been held there for days at a time in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.”
James is asking the court to grant the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the inhumane conditions.
“The abhorrent treatment of immigrants at 26 Federal Plaza is illegal, and it must stop,” James told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), adding, “no one should be held in horrendous conditions for days in unfit and unsafe facilities.
“I am urging the court to order the federal government to follow the law and improve conditions for anyone detained there,” she said, noting that, in May 2025, ICE began making mass arrests of immigrants in New York City, including those who came to the building for immigration court and routine check-in appointments.
She said recent detainees include a seven-year-old child who was arrested with her mother and brother.
The New York Attorney General said those arrested have been held in several small holding rooms that are intended only for short-term use of a few hours, typically for those who are being transferred to or from a court or detention facility.
But she said following a change in ICE guidelines in June, these holding rooms have held hundreds of people for days at a time.
The lawsuit filed by the detainees alleges that the federal government is holding dozens of people in small rooms for days in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
According to the lawsuit, detainees are crowded into rooms with only a single toilet and sink, are not provided with beds or sleeping mats, and receive only two meals per day.
The lawsuit states medical personnel are not available overnight, and family and attorneys are not permitted to visit.
James said recent arrests of students, small business owners, and workers have upended communities and significantly disrupted the lives of detainees.
“These detentions threaten the livelihoods and well-being of families across the city. Families that lose a wage-earning parent or relative to immigration detention are at substantially greater risk of losing their housing and being unable to pay for basic needs such as groceries, electricity, and medical care.
“Children whose parents are detained may be forced into foster care. Unnecessary detention of immigrants also threatens New York City’s economy, where undocumented immigrants account for nearly one in 20 workers and pay approximately US$6.7 billion in federal and state taxes.”
The New York Attorney General said that the federal government cannot detain individuals in unsafe and inhumane conditions.
She is also asking the court to grant the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and order the federal government to take concrete action to make conditions at 26 Federal Plaza safer and more humane.
Caribbean immigration advocates have been demanding that ICE immediately close its detention center, particularly after Senior Judge of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York Lewis Kaplan issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) last Tuesday, requiring that ICE meet baseline conditions for holding people on the 10th floor of the building.
“No New Yorker should fear being abducted because they went to immigration court to follow our country’s legal immigration process,” Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), a leading umbrella Caribbean immigration advocacy group, told CMC.
and then 