Barco Mercado v. Noem

The New York Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road NY, and Wang Hecker LLPs sued the Trump administration over lack of access to legal counsel and unsafe conditions at 26 Federal Plaza, a federal building in New York where more than 100 people have been confined, sometimes for weeks, to a temporary holding facility operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The class action lawsuit comes just weeks after media reports revealed unsanitary and inhumane detention conditions, as well as overcrowding.  

The facility is only meant to temporarily hold people who are immigrants for a matter of hours as they are processed before release or transported to a longer-term detention facility. It has no beds, showers, or adequate medical support. However, as ICE has increased its arrests of immigrants, it has packed people into the holding units at 26 Federal Plaza, where they are detained for extended periods of time, often for a week or more. Detained individuals have estimated that ICE has packed between 70 to 90 people into a room of approximately 215 square feet.

This case is brought by people detained at the facility, on behalf of a class.