‘What Are They Hiding?’: Congressmen Seek Access to ICE Holding Area at Manhattan Federal Building

The congressmen were denied entry to the building’s 10th floor, where they say immigrants detained after their court hearings—part of the federal government’s recent tactic to target undocumented people for deportation—are being held, sometimes for several nights at a time.

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On Wednesday, off the heels of the earlier arrest of mayoral candidate and City Comptroller Brad Lander at 26 Federal Plaza as he attempted to escort migrants without attorneys out of court, Congressmen Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler observed court proceedings and attempted to enter the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) New York Field Office at the same location. 

Despite giving notice to ICE ahead of time that they would be present, the congressmen were denied entry to the building’s 10th floor, where they say immigrants who’ve been detained after their court hearings—part of the Trump administration’s recent tactic to target undocumented people for deportation—are being forced to wait for days.

The lawmakers reiterated that the Appropriations Act of 2024 gives members of Congress the power to conduct oversight visits to facilities “operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens.” 

Nadler said ICE officials claimed that the 10th floor of the federal building is not technically a detention center and so not subject to that same oversight. In a video the lawmakers shared, ICE Deputy Field Director Bill Joyce tells them the location is being used for detained people who are “in transit” and set to move to another location.

But Nadler countered that people are being held there “for one or two nights or three nights,” and forced to sleep on the floor or on benches. 

“Why can’t we go in? What are they hiding? If they’re going to treat comptroller Lander, if they’re going to treat Senator Padilla, if they’re going to treat Congresswoman McIver the way that these agents have been treating them, as if it’s a police state, out in the open, in the public, how are they treating immigrants behind closed doors, who have to sleep on floors for multiple nights?” said Congressman Goldman, referring to politicians both here and in other states who have been barred from entering immigration enforcement facilities. 

Neither ICE or DHS’ press office returned City Limits’ request for comment on the lawmakers’ criticisms.

“It is unacceptable that they denied our access, and we will be continuing to push for access with the executives at the Department of Homeland Security because they are violating the law, and we will not stop until we get to go in and observe what is going on in these detention centers with these non-criminal, non-violent immigrants going through the process the correct way,” Goldman added. 

The congressmen also sat in for two court hearings. Goldman says the government is dismissing cases so that it can expedite people’s deportation.

“We have to streamline the asylum system so that people who have legitimate claims can get them adjudicated,” he said, after observing an asylum hearing be set for 2029. 

Goldman, who is part of the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee, said he plans to ask his Republican colleagues to make a joint request to inspect the facility. 

On Friday, the lawmakers sent a letter to DHS, also signed by several other New York federal elected officials, demanding the agency grant Congress members oversight access to “any facility where people are detained by or for DHS including field offices where immigrants kept overnight.”

“Your cooperation, or lack thereof, will determine whether the Department of Homeland Security is committed to transparency and upholding the law with integrity or to secrecy and obstruction of congressional oversight,” the letter reads.

With additional reporting by Jeanmarie Evelly. To reach the reporter behind this story, contact [email protected]. To reach the editor, contact [email protected]

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