Judge orders ICE to improve conditions at Manhattan holding facility

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in New York to improve conditions for illegal migrants it detains in a federal building in downtown Manhattan. 

Civil Rights groups claim the facility is overcrowded and that illegal migrants are being treated inhumanely because they do not have sufficient access to certain medications, hygiene products and legal counsel, per The Hill.

The Justice Department has confirmed that the detainees are not given medication or sleeping bags and are fed two meals a day, but denied the facility was overcrowded.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled ICE needs to provide access to certain items on request, including clean clothing, soap, feminine hygiene products, bedding, medication and access to medical personnel.

“There seems to be quite a gap between the ICE standards, indeed, and what’s really happening,” Kaplan said during Tuesday's hearing. "This is a first step, in my view, and my conclusion here is that there is a very serious threat of continuing irreparable injury, given the conditions that I’ve been told about."

An ICE official testified that detainees do have access to hygiene products, including soap, tooth-cleaning wipes, and feminine products.

Kaplan also ordered ICE to provide the migrants with a third meal if they ask for it and water bottles. They must also have access to their legal counsel within 24 hours of being detained and must be allowed to make more calls every 12 hours.

The five-page order lasts for two weeks, but Kaplan is expected to rule on a longer injunction in the near future.

Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Oestericher confirmed the judge's order but argued that there was not an issue of overcrowding at the facility currently, with just 26 current illegal migrants. Plaintiffs argued there were previously up to 90.

“I think we all agree that conditions at 26 Federal Plaza need to be humane, and we obviously share that belief," Oestericher said. "I think there is some factual disagreement."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.