The officials, including Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, State Senator Julia Salazar and Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, were among dozens of people detained during protests at 26 Federal Plaza. The government building, home to immigration court, the FBI's New York field office and other federal offices, has become a hotbed of arrests and detention amid President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.
Several officials were arrested inside the building while attempting to inspect holding rooms on the 10th floor that are the subject of ongoing litigation alleging squalid conditions and overcrowding, according to a coalition of politicians, advocates and faith leaders involved in the protest.
They were given summonses and released. The building was later locked down because of a telephoned bomb threat, authorities said.
The officials had gone to the holding facility to see if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was complying with a preliminary injunction issued Wednesday that requires the agency to limit capacity, ensure cleanliness and provide sleeping mats, among other remedies, the coalition said.
But federal agents barred them from entering the holding rooms and arrested them as news reporters and photographers documented the scene. The arrests happened as the officials were conducting a sit-in in the hallway, encircled around a sign showing a slash through the word "ICE." Agents bound their hands with plastic ties, lined them up against a wall and paraded them down a hall.
In a statement, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin singled out Lander. She accused the Democrat of showing up "unannounced with agitators and media" and yelling that he wouldn't leave until detainees were released. Lander was previously arrested at the building in June after he linked arms with a person authorities were attempting to detain outside immigration court.
Outside, police arrested dozens of people, including politicians, advocates and religious leaders, who were protesting in front of a garage entrance used by vans transporting immigrants to and from the detention facility.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued a preliminary injunction keeping in place requirements that the agency give detainees adequate space; thoroughly clean the cells three times a day; provide soap, towels, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste and feminine products; and make accommodations for confidential, unmonitored and unrecorded legal telephone calls.
The injunction followed a temporary restraining order last month in the wake of a lawsuit that immigration and civil rights organizations filed on behalf of people held at the Manhattan facility. In court filings, detainees complained they were fed inedible "slop" and endured the "horrific stench" of sweat, urine and feces, in part because the rooms have open toilets.
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