Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Migrants at Lower Manhattan facility held in 'crowded, squalid' conditions, suit claims
By
Arun Venugopal
and
Paige Oamek
Published Aug 9, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Ameer Mussard-Afcari / Shutterstock
By
Arun Venugopal
and
Paige Oamek
Published Aug 9, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Immigrants housed at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan face “crowded, squalid and punitive conditions,” and are being deprived of access to attorneys, according to a class-action lawsuit brought by a Peruvian man against Homeland Security officials on Friday.
According to the complaint, “people are detained for extended periods of time, often for a week or more, sleeping on the concrete floor next to the toilet, in cells that are either freezing or oppressively hot.” The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, New York Civil Liberties Union and Make the Road New York on behalf of Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado and others.
The lawsuit names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons and other Trump administration officials as defendants. It claims ICE officers “deny individuals access to basic hygiene items, such as soap, clean clothes, toothbrushes, menstrual products and the opportunity to bathe,” and that as many as 70 to 90 people are being held in rooms measuring just 215 square feet.
“ The conditions of confinement violate not only basic human rights,” the NYCLU’s Executive Director Donna Lieberman told Gothamist, “but they violate ICE's own rules and policies.”
“ This is a practice that has been going on and will continue to go on under this administration,” Lieberman said. “ It’s a practice that cannot be allowed to continue if we call ourselves a civilized society.”
Mercado lives in Ocean County, New Jersey, with his wife and two young children, including an infant, according to the complaint, which stated that ICE agents detained him after a scheduled court appearance on Aug. 8. He is originally from Peru, according to the New York Times.
In one particularly unsettling account from the lawsuit, contained in a footnote, a woman who had her period while in detention was deprived of menstrual products “because the guards only gave the women in her hold room two pads to share among them.”
“As a result, she had no way to prevent her underwear and pants from becoming saturated with blood,” the lawsuit stated. “Because she was never given a change of clothes, she had to thereafter remain in her bloodsoaked clothes for the duration of her detention.”
The alleged conditions within the federal facility have prompted outrage from immigrant rights advocates, leading to protests on Friday where at least 15 people were arrested.
The lawsuit claims that rooms in which detainees were held have a “horrific stench,” and reek of “sweat, urine and feces.” Detainees are often given just two small rations of food a day, or in some cases, just one.
“Meanwhile, the guards have eaten pizza and hamburgers in front of hungry detained immigrants,” the lawsuit states, “which made them feel like they were being taunted.”
In a statement on Saturday, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said “any claims that there is overcrowding or subprime conditions at ICE facilities are categorically false.”
“26 Federal Plaza is not a detention center,” she said. “It is a processing center where illegal aliens are briefly processed to be transferred to an ICE detention facility.”
“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers,” McLaughlin said.
She added that “ICE has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding” and that “Secretary Noem has called on states and local government to help with bed and detention space capacity.”
City Hall has not responded to requests for comment.
The plaintiffs are asking for relief in the form of limits on overcrowding in cells; improved hygiene access; three meals per day; in-person legal visitation and free access to counsel within 12 hours of being detained; written information regarding protocols for attorney-client communication in several languages; and accurate, up-to-date information on their whereabouts in ICE’s Online Detainee Locator.
This story has been updated to include a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
Tagged
manhattan
new york city
Arun Venugopal
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station's "U.S. of Anxiety" program. Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR's "Fresh Air." He lives with his family in Queens.
Read more
Paige Oamek
Paige Oamek is a reporter on Gothamist & WNYC's day-of general assignment desk.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .