Federal agents arrested several immigrants who attended their mandatory judicial audiences in bass Manhattan, while a filtering video revealed the unhealthy conditions in which ICE keeps these people stopped.
The video – raised, according to the New York Immigration Coalition, on the tenth floor of Federal Plaza – showed the detainees overcrowded, sleeping on the ground with dirty and unwashed clothes. Some covered their face with t -shirts, apparently to protect themselves from intense lights.
The images also captured migrants next to a shared toilet, without any privacy.
These revelations generated more alarm among the defenders of migrants, while the legal processes continued on floors 12 and 14 of the Federal Building.
Congressman Adriano Espaillat condemned the images and denounced that ICE violated human rights and due process.
“I was deeply alarmed to see immigrants forced to sleep in dirty floors, share a single bath between almost 30 people and endure inhuman treatment,” said Espaillat. “These conditions reflect how the Trump administration sees immigrants as disposable. This video proves a moral and legal failure that demands immediate action.”
Despite the public outrage, ICE did not stop its operations. Federal agents occupied floors 12 and 14, many with documents containing the photos of the people who were looking to stop. Parents strongly hugged their children when crossing the armed agents, who again carried their face covered with masks.
Several agents intercepted immigrants – some accompanied by defenders – when leaving their audiences. They pushed them into a nearby staircase and quickly moved them away.
Some detainees showed anguish, with their eyes full of tears. Others were confused, unable to communicate by the language barrier. ICE released some of them shortly after; One explained in Spanish that they released him because they were looking for another person.
According to building workers, many immigrants now try to attend their audiences virtually to avoid agents. Several notices in the halls indicate that some judges will attend cases per video call until September.
Queens councilor, Julie Won, witnessed the hearings on Tuesday. He said that both arrests and conditions on the tenth floor surprised her.
“New York is a sanctuary city. We have no room to stop so many people, and ICE illegally retains them without following due process. This is anarchy,” said Won. “We do not have the infrastructure to fulfill Donald Trump’s orders. It is inconceivable that they are sleeping as sardines on the tenth floor.”
The ICE operation coincided with the visit to New York of the Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, and the border tsar, Tom Homan. Both promised to increase the presence of ICE in the city and defended the arrests within the courts.
“They may not have criminal convictions, but we must stop them and get them out of the streets,” said Homan. “Now being illegally in the country is no longer a crime? Should we commit a murder to be deported?”
