NYC lawmakers say they were denied access to ICE facility at Federal Plaza
United States Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velazquez are condemning U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's practices in New York City and nationwide.
The New York Democratic lawmakers said Sunday they were denied access to the 10th floor at 26 Federal Plaza, where they say the agency is detaining people. They warned that's just one of many concerning actions in the Trump administration's deportation program.
Their attempt to get inside the building came after the NYPD clashed with protesters outside the facility on Saturday over recent ICE arrests. Police say 13 people were issued court summonses and nine were arrested and charged.
"Today, ICE violated our rights"
Immigration advocates say they have reason to believe that hundreds of immigrants are being held on the 10th floor in inhumane conditions. Espaillat and Velazquez said they attempted to tour the facility after waiting over an hour in the lobby, only to be denied access.
They walked out of Federal Plaza frustrated.
"Today, ICE violated all of our rights because, as an extension, we are here to defend your rights, the rights of the American people, to have access and oversight to the federal buildings to ensure that everything is done correctly and in accordance to the law. We were denied that right today, a basic civil right, a constitutional right that we as members of Congress are here to uphold," Espaillat said.
The two members of Congress said a deputy denied them access to an immigration holding facility.
"She said that it's an ICE facility and a sensitive facility," Espaillat said.
"We turn around, they disappear, and then they're in Texas"
The representatives, along with immigration advocates, condemned recent ICE arrests at immigration hearings. They say advocates captured images which they say show federal agents taking migrants into custody at court proceedings and ICE check-ins. They added that they're worried about the conditions migrants are facing, following reports of overcrowding, unbearable heat, and people being forced to sleep on the floor.
"Traditionally have been detained for by some hours, but not overnight or not today or not three days," Velazquez said.
Immigration advocates are demanding answers following the ramped-up ICE arrests.
"What we are seeing is that high school students, college students, fathers, mothers, children, coming in and following the process that they are told to follow, if it's a check-in or a court hearing, and being snatched and disappeared," said Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition.
Rachel Levinson, an attorney with the group Make the Road New York, represents and supports immigrants inside Federal Plaza. She says federal agents in plain clothes and masks are ambushing immigrants, and it's tough to track their whereabouts.
"I've watched people be pushed into freight elevators, shoved against walls," Levinson said. "We turn around, they disappear, and then they're in Texas. They're in Louisiana. It is so really hard to speak with people and help them assert their rights."
A spokesperson for Assemblymember Claire Valdez confirmed on Sunday that an 11th grader from Grover Cleveland High School in Queens who was detained by federal agents after an immigration court hearing last week is now in Texas.
CBS News New York reached out to ICE and it said it is actively investigating immigration crimes throughout the five boroughs, and Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley.
However, many that showed up at Federal Plaza on Sunday argued that immigrants showing up to court are simply doing what they are told, and taking a necessary step needed to apply for asylum.
