A federal judge condemned the “cruelty” endured by detainees inside the ICE facility at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. In a ruling filed Thursday, Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan permanently limited how many detainees may be held there.

Kaplan described overcrowding, sleep deprivation, insufficient food and water, inadequate medical care, filthy holding cells and restricted access to lawyers. His ruling concluded a class action lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement that began with a man detained inside the building.

The ICE space contains hold rooms intended for custody lasting “twelve hours or less” before arrested people are transferred elsewhere. Kaplan noted that the rooms have no showers, beds, cots or windows and lack many features normally found in prisons and detention facilities.

Kaplan said ICE was misusing the Manhattan facility while carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. “It has overcrowded severely the 26 Fed hold rooms, subjecting detainees for extended periods to inhumane conditions that violate the Constitution, not to mention any decent concern for the Golden Rule or the demands of humanity,” he wrote.

The case originated in August 2025 with Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, an immigrant who said he was detained while attending court hearings connected to his asylum request. Other people held at the facility joined Mercado as plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit.

Kaplan had previously ordered limits on the number of people placed in hold rooms and expanded detainees’ access to attorneys. “The facts show that ICE repeatedly has violated this Court’s orders either by intentionally flouting them or by employing so-called ‘best’ efforts that simply have not been good enough,” he wrote.

The judge described the cells as “anything but sanitary” and repeatedly rejected testimony from ICE officials disputing the conditions. He found statements by Nancy Zanello, the field office’s assistant director between July and October 2025, “not credible” based on the evidence.

Zanello once purchased empty water bottles and baby shampoo, filled the bottles with warm tap water and allowed detainees to wash individually in an empty hold room. Text messages from Zanello and other officials also showed awareness of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, inside the facility.

Kaplan said 26 Federal Plaza essentially operated as a black site before his initial orders. He accused ICE of lying, creating procedural obstacles and failing to update databases with detainees’ locations, preventing people from reaching lawyers.

“Even after that point, ICE continued to prevent detainees from making confidential legal calls,” Kaplan wrote. He said no legitimate government interest could justify denying timely legal advice when alternatives were available that would reduce the burden on detainees’ First and Fifth Amendment rights.

One detainee testified that “one guard . . . would sometimes hold a bottle of water up and people would wait to have him squirt some into our mouths, like we were animals and not people.” Another said detainees “had to drink water from the sinks next to the toilets.”

Several detainees reported ICE staff and contractors beating people held at the facility. Others described scarce food as “slop,” reported losing substantial amounts of weight and said guards ate pizza and hamburgers in front of detainees as though they were “jeering.”

The Department of Homeland Security denied many of Kaplan’s findings without providing evidence. “DHS complies with all lawful court orders. 26 Federal Plaza is not a long-term detention facility; it is a short term-holding facility. Detainees are only at 26 Federal Plaza for a short period while they are being processed and awaiting transfer,” an unnamed spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also argued that detention was a choice because people could leave the country voluntarily. DHS promoted the CBP Home App and said the United States was offering undocumented immigrants $3,000 and a free flight to self deport.

Many people detained during Trump’s second administration are legally seeking asylum and claim they would face danger in their home countries. Others have lived lawfully in the United States for years and have families here.

Kaplan ordered permanent improvements, including sufficient room for each detainee, dimmed lights overnight, sleeping materials and three meals every day. He also certified the class action to cover all current and future detainees, rejecting government arguments that the lawsuit was too broad.

The judge noted that similar litigation had challenged conditions at other ICE facilities around the country. “ICE has detained thousands of individuals at 26 Fed,” Kaplan wrote. “There is little doubt that it will continue to detain thousands more.”