Lawyers Can Photograph ICE Detainee Holding Room, NY Judge Says

Immigration and Customs Enforcement must let attorneys representing noncitizens detained in Manhattan’s immigration courthouse take photos of the facilities and talk to detainees, a judge ordered Friday.

The order signed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York sides with the attorneys who are visiting the 26 Federal Plaza building on Monday after months of negotiations with ICE.

Attorneys want to ensure the agency is complying with a September preliminary injunction requiring improved conditions at the building where the agency processes and temporarily detains immigrants before moving them to longer term detention facilities.

Lawmakers have been trying for months to get into the holding space on the building’s 10th floor to no avail.

ICE on Tuesday told attorneys representing plaintiffs in the class action that they would be limited to only inspecting the ninth and 10th floors and that they wouldn’t be allowed to take any pictures or speak with ICE office staff or detainees, according to a letter plaintiffs’ attorneys sent Kaplan on Thursday.

ICE’s proposed parameters for the inspection “were extreme and far beyond limitations that Plaintiffs’ counsel has encountered in other cases,” Heather Gregorio of Wang Hecker LLP told the judge.

Marked as Confidential

Kaplan’s order says attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the class action must be allowed to speak with detainees who are comfortable with questions and photograph the facility, as long as the photos are marked as confidential and only available for viewing by attorneys and experts.

The lawyers will also be allowed to expand their inspection to include the fifth floor, where they say they believe children and families are being detained.

The detainees’ counsel aren’t allowed to speak to ICE staff, unless agency attorneys allow it. “The Court does not contemplate substantive interviews of ICE staff, but anticipates that some questions about the facilities and related matters are likely to prove unobjectionable,” Kaplan said.

Earlier this week, ICE signed an agreement promising to inform detainees of their right to legal counsel and allow them to make confidential calls to their attorneys.

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation, and Make the Road NY also represent the plaintiffs.

The case is Barco Mercado v. Noem, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:25-cv-06568, order 3/6/26.