U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are denying hygiene products, clean clothing and attorney phone calls to detainees in holding facilities in Lower Manhattan, in violation of a federal judge’s orders, attorneys and detainees allege in new court filings.
Detainees’ attorneys return to federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday to ask U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to hold the federal government in contempt for continued violations of orders requiring improved conditions at 26 Federal Plaza, which houses detained immigrants.
Kaplan in August issued a temporary restraining order — and later a preliminary injunction, indefinitely extending the order — requiring ICE to meet certain minimum living standards for detainees. The order required ICE to reduce the number of people staying in its hold rooms, provide sleeping mats and toiletries, allow detainees to make confidential calls with attorneys, and provide each detainee a handout informing them of their rights, including to request clean clothing.
“Testimony from detained individuals and the attorneys who have tried in vain to speak with them continues to accumulate, showing that more than three months after this Court ordered immediate changes to their practices, defendants continue to ignore these directives,” plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote in a Nov. 25 court filing.
Spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to a request for comment. Detainees’ attorneys are also asking Kaplan to impose monitoring mechanisms to ensure ICE’s compliance with his orders, and to require ICE to pay fines for noncompliance.
An Ecuadorian immigrant named Carlos Chalco Chango, detained at 26 Federal Plaza in early November, said in an affidavit that he was forced to stay in the same clothes during a four-day stay. He said there was no soap, and that the food portion sizes were “very small.” He said he could only make calls while accompanied by a guard, and that no one ever mentioned the possibility of calls to an attorney.
A detainee named Jose Javier Cuy Cumes said in an affidavit he received neither soap nor a toothbrush until another detainee told him to ask for the items. He said he had to wear the same clothes during his two-day stay, and that the meal portions were “ small.”
He said he lost 6 pounds in the period he was held in ICE custody.
Attorneys also allege they were unable to reach clients detained at 26 Federal Plaza. Earlier, Kaplan ordered that detainees be able to have confidential, free telephone calls with their attorneys within 24 hours of being detained and at least once in each following 12-hour period while they're detained.
