(NEW YORK CITY) Federal lawmakers, immigrant advocates, and families are sounding alarms over conditions inside the federal building at 26 Federal Plaza, where immigrants are being held for days on the 10th floor in crowded rooms with no beds or sleeping mats, limited food, and no overnight medical staff. Detainees and advocates describe the site as the epicentre of deportations in New York City, saying people are being kept in spaces originally meant for brief processing, not prolonged confinement. State and federal officials have pressed for answers, but access has been restricted. A federal judge has ordered improvements, yet accounts from inside suggest little relief for those still stuck in limbo while deportations continue.
Immigrants who went to 26 Federal Plaza for routine check-ins or hearings say they never made it home. Many were arrested during scheduled appointments and taken upstairs to small holding rooms where they say they were kept for multiple days. Videos and advocacy reports show people lying on thin thermal blankets, sitting shoulder to shoulder on benches, and using toilets partly shielded by a waist-high wall.
Parents said they were separated from their children without warning; some families later learned that kids might enter foster care if relatives could not be reached quickly. One detained father described the experience simply: “They treated us like animals.” Others echoed the same words.
Conditions on the 10th floor
ICE guidelines have historically treated field office holding rooms as short-term spaces—places to fingerprint, process, and transfer people quickly. But since June 2025, after a sharp rise in enforcement across the United States, detained immigrants in New York City began spending days in these rooms, far beyond the old 12-hour protocols.
Advocates say this shift reflects both expanded arrests and clogged transfer pipelines. With county jails and contract facilities full, the fallback has been to hold people at 26 Federal Plaza. Detainees report:
- Two meals per day
- Irregular access to drinking water
- No chance to lie down on anything other than the floor
On the 10th floor, the largest rooms now serve as de facto dorms at night, according to several accounts. There is no overnight doctor or nurse, and people with chronic conditions say they have struggled to get medication on schedule. One woman said she watched another detainee faint before staff responded.
Others said they were told to “wait their turn” to use a phone, but even when lines formed, calls to lawyers sometimes cut off after just a few minutes. Some reported no meaningful privacy to speak with counsel about urgent options that could stop deportations, such as emergency motions in immigration court.
“They treated us like animals.” — Quote from a detained father describing conditions
Oversight, access, and the “processing” vs. “detention” dispute
Lawmakers have tried to see for themselves. Congressmen Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman went to 26 Federal Plaza seeking entry and were denied, their offices said, raising questions about oversight at one of the most important immigration buildings in New York City.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has insisted the 10th floor is a processing site, not a detention center, and says people receive care and leave quickly. Detainees, lawyers, and community groups say that is not what they witness each day.
According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the clash over access and language—“processing” versus “detention”—has become central in court filings, press briefings, and emergency petitions.
A federal judge has ordered ICE to:
- Improve conditions at 26 Federal Plaza
- Set practical limits on capacity
- Ensure cleanliness
- Guarantee access to legal phone calls, including timely and private communication with counsel
The court action followed affidavits describing overflowing rooms, scarce hygiene supplies, and people sleeping under overhead lights that never dimmed. One detainee, a longtime New York City worker, said he tried to rest on the floor while staff moved people in and out around the clock. He said the noise, the lights, and the constant fear made sleep “a few minutes at a time.”
Legal responses and arguments
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed an amicus brief supporting detainees, arguing the government cannot hold people for extended periods in spaces that lack basic health and safety protections. Her office pointed to reports of hunger, medical neglect, and blocked access to counsel as potential violations of federal law and constitutional guarantees.
Legal aid groups have launched litigation arguing:
- Prolonged confinement at 26 Federal Plaza harms due process
- Risk of wrongful deportations increases if people cannot reach lawyers or gather documents in time
Broader national context
The debate at 26 Federal Plaza fits into a national shift. Since January 2025, under President Trump, ICE detention numbers rose sharply, with nearly 60,000 people held nationwide by September 2025—about a 50% increase from late 2024. Oversight cuts have fueled concern among advocates, who report increased complaints about overcrowding, food, and medical care across multiple jurisdictions.
Examples reported elsewhere include:
- People eating while shackled
- Days-long waits in freezing intake rooms
- Detainees held on buses for hours before placement in temporary spaces without beds
These accounts mirror reported conditions in New York City and highlight a broader story about enforcement and standards.
Local impacts: courts, families, and communities
Inside New York immigration court, the ripple effects are evident. Hearings have been delayed as lawyers scramble to locate clients who vanished into federal custody after routine check-ins. Families arrive at court only to learn a loved one is upstairs or already on a transfer list.
Community effects:
- Teachers report children returning quieter after a parent fails to return home
- A Queens small business owner lost a manager arrested at an appointment and had to close early
- Families experience economic instability—bills unpaid, caregivers absent, jobs lost
DHS and ICE maintain they follow policy, process people quickly, and provide food, medical attention, and phone access. Yet detainees and lawyers describe conditions that suggest the practice differs from written standards.
Advocates’ demands and proposed fixes
Advocates and legal groups want immediate and practical reforms at 26 Federal Plaza, including:
- Clear caps on how many people can be held at once
- Strict time limits reflecting the building’s intended capacity
- Guaranteed private phone access for legal calls
- Written posting of detainees’ rights in multiple languages
- Provision of basic supplies: beds or cots, clean sheets, regular medical checks, more meals, and consistent hygiene supplies
- On-site, enforceable monitoring with routine in-person inspections (not email summaries)
Lawyers emphasize that reliable, private phone access is a lifeline—not a luxury—because missed calls or cut lines can lead to missed hearings and deportations.
Legal timeline: immediate vs. structural questions
Two legal tracks are now prominent:
- Immediate: enforcement of the judge’s order to improve conditions, limit capacity, keep spaces clean, and ensure private legal calls.
- Structural: whether days-long stays in field office holding rooms are lawful at all. AG Letitia James’s brief supports a stricter reading that could render prolonged detentions in short-term rooms unlawful.
If higher courts take up the question, 26 Federal Plaza could become a national test case for how far agency practice can stretch the definition of “processing.”
Human stories and tangible harms
Personal accounts illustrate the stakes:
- A Brooklyn mother who left her child with a cousin to avoid missed school pickup never returned that night.
- A detainee lost access to insulin for several hours and spent the night lightheaded on a bench.
- A college student arrested after asking about options left in plastic handcuffs, worried about missing midterms after his first lawyer call dropped.
These stories show how quickly routine appointments can become life-altering events when phone access and legal counsel are constrained.
Oversight, costs, and practical benefits of reform
Advocates argue that better oversight and modest fixes would reduce harm and cost:
- Poor conditions increase health issues and delays, which raise public spending on emergency aid and health care.
- Employers face lost productivity when employees disappear.
- Predictable, safe processing reduces costs and helps cases move faster.
Practical, low-cost proposals from the legal community include:
- Publish daily capacity numbers
- Post detainee rights in common languages
- Schedule regular attorney blocks for private calls
- Ensure on-site medical staff after hours
- Allow routine access for neutral monitors and elected officials
These measures can mitigate harm while broader policy debates continue in Washington.
Current status and continuing consequences
Deportations continue. Enforcement teams move between lobby and elevators while families wait outside. Some detainees are transferred to distant facilities; others may be removed within days. Missing a single court hearing can be fatal to a case.
For many detained, the first sign of change would be: a working phone line, a private call with counsel, a clean pillow, a quieter night.
Those modest improvements matter immediately even as the larger debate over deportations and policy continues.
What families can do and official resources
For official information about roles and responsibilities during arrest and removal, see ICE’s page on Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
Advocates also urge families to:
- Keep a written list of emergency contacts
- Store an immigration attorney’s number
- Keep copies of key records in a safe place
- If a loved one is detained during an appointment at 26 Federal Plaza:
- Ask for the person’s “A-number”
- Request proof of transfer
- Seek immediate help from a qualified lawyer or legal aid group
In a system where minutes matter, a quick call may be the only thing that stands between a floor on the 10th and a final order of removal.
This Article in a Nutshell
Reports and testimonies describe troubling conditions at 26 Federal Plaza’s 10th floor, where immigrants attending check-ins or hearings have been detained for multiple days in overcrowded rooms lacking beds, sufficient food, and overnight medical staff. Videos and affidavits show people on thin blankets, limited privacy, and interrupted legal phone calls. Congress members were denied access while DHS calls the site a processing center. A federal judge ordered ICE to improve conditions, limit capacity, ensure cleanliness, and guarantee private legal phone access. Advocates and New York’s attorney general argue prolonged stays may violate due process and federal protections. The situation mirrors a national rise in detentions since January 2025, with nearly 60,000 held by September 2025, prompting calls for oversight, clear caps, better medical care, and enforceable monitoring to prevent wrongful deportations and minimize harm to families and communities.
