New York Democratic Politicians Arrested During Protest At Immigration Jail

New York Democratic Politicians Detained While Protesting at Immigration Facility

Approximately a dozen New York elected officials were detained Thursday during demonstrations at a Manhattan federal building where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) maintains detention cells that a federal judge recently condemned for deplorable conditions.

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander and 10 state legislators were apprehended inside 26 Federal Plaza after being refused permission to inspect the 10th-floor detention facility. According to organizers, they had arrived to "ensure compliance" with a court directive issued Thursday mandating ICE to improve conditions within the facility.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams led another contingent of roughly 40 anti-ICE protesters who obstructed the building's garage entrance, conducting a sit-in while displaying signs and chanting, "Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here."

Protest coordinators reported that more than 75 individuals in total were detained by NYPD officers and federal agents at both demonstration sites.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for ICE's governing agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, stated that 71 arrests occurred overall.

This confrontation represents the latest in a series of conflicts between federal authorities and Democratic politicians opposing President Trump's immigration policies. Lander had previously been detained in June within the same building, which also houses an immigration court, while accompanying a man targeted for arrest by ICE.

In May, New Jersey Democratic Representative LaMonica McIver and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka were arrested during a confrontation outside an immigration detention facility in Newark.

According to McLaughlin's description of Thursday's incident, Lander arrived "with agitators and media and proceeded to obstruct law enforcement and cause a scene."

"He yelled inside the building that he was 'not leaving' until detainees were 'released,'" McLaughlin noted in her statement. "As a result of the chaos caused by Lander, officers of the New York Police Department and federal law enforcement arrested members of the group.

She added that the building was subsequently placed under lockdown because "someone called in a bomb threat."

Organizers explained that the comptroller, three state senators and seven assembly members had visited the building seeking to "conduct oversight" of conditions at the detention facility, just one day after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring operational changes.

The comprehensive 84-page court order referenced allegations of unsanitary and overcrowded conditions, with up to 90 detainees confined within a 20-square-meter (215 square feet) room, forced to sleep on concrete floors if they could find space at all.

The ruling also documented that detainees lacked access to bathing facilities and basic hygiene necessities such as soap, sanitary napkins, toothbrushes, clean clothing and toilet paper.

"The cruel policy of subjecting individuals to degrading treatment and inhumane conditions is deeply disturbing. And now the court has made it abundantly clear that it is also illegal," stated Harold Solis, co-legal director of Make the Road New York.

McLaughlin countered that detainees held at 26 Federal Plaza included immigrants facing deportation for criminal convictions, including weapons charges, drug trafficking, and one individual arrested multiple times for flying drones near the White House.

An NYPD spokesperson confirmed multiple arrests at 26 Federal Plaza. However, neither the police department, DHS officials, nor protest organizers mentioned specific charges being filed.