Elected officials among dozens arrested during Manhattan immigration holding facility protest

More than a dozen elected officials were arrested Thursday during protests at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, where a federal judge had extended a court order requiring the government to improve the treatment of detainees at the city’s immigration holding facility.

The demonstrations drew 77 people detained in total, and the government building—home to an immigration court, the FBI’s New York field office and other federal offices—has become a focal point in debates over how detainees are held during the federal crackdown on illegal immigration. Eleven officials were arrested inside the building while attempting to inspect the holding rooms on the 10th floor that are the subject of ongoing litigation alleging squalid conditions and overcrowding, according to a coalition of politicians, advocates and faith leaders involved in the protest. They were given summonses and released. The building was later locked down because of a telephoned bomb threat. The officials had gone to the holding facility to see if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was complying with a preliminary injunction issued Wednesday that requires the agency to limit capacity, ensure cleanliness and provide sleeping mats, among other remedies.

But federal agents barred them from entering the holding rooms and arrested them as news reporters and photographers documented the scene. The arrests happened as the officials were conducting a sit-in in the hallway, encircled around a sign showing a slash through the word “ICE.” Agents bound their hands with plastic ties, lined them up against a wall and paraded them down a hall.

In a statement, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin singled out the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander. She accused the Democrat of showing up “unannounced with agitators and media” and yelling that he wouldn't leave until detainees were released. Lander was previously arrested at the building in June after he linked arms with a person authorities were attempting to detain outside immigration court. “Another day, another sanctuary politician pulling a stunt in attempt to get their 15 minutes of fame while endangering DHS personnel and detainees,” McLaughlin said, adding that “Lander’s obsession with attacking the brave men and women of law enforcement, physically and rhetorically, must stop NOW."

Another arrested politician, state Sen. Jabari Brisport, said immigration officials used zip ties to lock the doors to the holding areas and put duct tape over cracks to prevent them from seeing inside. “What I saw on the 10th floor today was both disgusting and cowardly,” the Brooklyn Democrat said. After the immigration officials were finished, “they laughed, and I heard them laugh about what they were doing, and they should absolutely be ashamed of themselves.”

Popular officials detained included the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams; Democratic state Sen. Julia Salazar; and City Council Member Tiffany Caban. “A federal judge has indicated that the federal law is not being followed — the conditions are cruel and inhumane, that ICE is not respecting their rights,” Lander told reporters after his release. “And no elected official or other oversight agency has been allowed in to see it.”

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued a preliminary injunction keeping in place requirements that the agency give detainees adequate space; thoroughly clean the cells three times a day; provide soap, towels, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste and feminine products; and make accommodations for confidential, unmonitored and unrecorded legal telephone calls. The injunction followed a temporary restraining order last month in the wake of a lawsuit that immigration and civil rights organizations filed on behalf of people held at the Manhattan facility. In court filings, detainees complained they were fed inedible “slop” and endured the “horrific stench” of sweat, urine and feces, in part because the rooms have open toilets.