Congressman Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat were finally permitted entry to the 10th-floor ICE detention center at 26 Federal Plaza on Friday and say they did not find any criminals.
After about six months of attempting to gain access to the makeshift detention center, the pair were finally able to set foot inside following a judge’s decision. amNewYork followed the politicians as they made their way to the 10th floor but were ushered back by armored DHS agents.
When the elected officials were given access, they said ICE was given 24 hours’ notice that the pair would be performing an overnight visit, and staff were swiftly trying to clean up the place.
“When we came, there were a number of Fed cap workers mopping and cleaning,” Goldman said. “It was very clean. It was not very clean in those videos.”
The pair say they observed the holding areas that became famous when a video of the cramped, dirty conditions of people lying on the ground. On Dec. 19 Goldman said that about nine people were being held captive, who did not have access to beds and instead were forced to sleep on thin gym mats. The congressman also shared that those detained are forced to share toilets without seats.
Goldman said he also made contact with some of the detainees, stating that he found what has long been suspected: those inside were not criminals, adding that ICE appears to be targeting low-hanging fruit.
“I took the opportunity to speak to a Pakistani man who has been here since 1995. He had an outstanding order of removal since 2007 according to him, he has no criminal convictions. He went to his annual check-in on the fifth floor and was arrested. He said he was advised not to go because of that possibility, but he wanted to follow the rules, so he went anyway, and now he is in detention, and his wife and four American children are still here,” Goldman said. “These are not violent criminals, and what ICE is very clearly doing is targeting the easiest people to arrest, detain and deport, which are not the criminals, and in fact, even the head of the New York ERO, the New York Field Office, acknowledged that 60% of the people they arrest have no criminal history.”
This vastly contradicts the narrative ICE and broader patrol head honchos have been pushing for months, that they are only pursuing “the worst of the worst.”
Espaillat also weighed in on the conditions, charging that while the environment was cleaned, most likely due to their visit, he railed that the conditions are still concerning.
“It has no showers. It has two toilets. There is a particular smaller cell where there was a woman, one woman, the rest were all males. So, we are concerned that people are being processed and they’re being held for as long as 72 hours without a shower, with only two toilets. And so this is concerning,” Espaillat said.
Espaillat also voiced his concern that masked ICE agents have created a crippling sense of fear around immigrants attending their legally mandated court hearings, spurring many to skip their appointments entirely, thus creating a criminal act and playing right into Trump’s hands.
While amNewYork waited for the elected officials to emerge from their visit, armed officers stood on guard at the doors while masked ICE agents emerged from the doorway and were pushed by members of the press.
When asked why the congress members gave the facility a heads up that they would be coming to inspect the conditions, they said they sent ICE a copy of the court ruling to ensure they would have access to the facility, but pledged in the future they will make unannounced inspections.
“We will keep coming back, and we will come back without any notice, to ensure that those conditions that we saw today,” Goldman said.
