Original Date Announced

Section 10 of Executive Order (EO) 14159, "Protecting the American People Against Invasion," directs the DHS Secretary to take all appropriate action and allocate all legally available resources or establish contracts to construct, operate, control, or use facilities to detain removable noncitizens.

Trump 2.0 [ID #2217]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.08.08 Complaint - Barco Mercado v. Noem

Sergio Barco Mercado, a Peruvian immigrant and New Jersey resident, filed a class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to challenge the "crowded, squalid, and punitive" conditions of confinement at 26 Federal Plaza, a Manhattan ICE office where ICE detains immigrants arrested at court hearings and check-ins. The complaint alleges that ICE has banned attorneys from accessing clients there, describing "concrete cells" designed to hold people for hours, in which ICE has "packed" people "for a week or more." The complaint states that the holding center has no beds or showers; detainees sleep "on the floor next to the toilet," in cells that are "either freezing or oppressively hot," and receive "at most only two small meals a day." Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to ensure access to counsel and improve conditions of confinement. Barco Mercado v. Noem, 1:25-cv-06568 (S.D.N.Y.).

**Link to case here. Our litigation entries generally report only the initial complaint and any major substantive filings or decisions. For additional information, CourtListener provides access to PACER and all available pleadings. Other sites that track litigation in more detail or organize cases by topic include Civil Rights Clearinghouse, Justice Action Center, National Immigration Litigation Alliance, and Just Security**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.08.12 Temporary Restraining Order - Barco Mercado v. Noem

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York issues a Temporary Restraining Order ("TRO") imposing minimum standards governing physical and sanitary conditions for detainees arrested and held by ICE at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City. The TRO requires ICE to allow detainees held there to obtain and make confidential phone calls to legal counsel and to provide a fact sheet to detainees with their legal rights. It also requires that ICE's Online Detainee Locator System "accurately identifies the location of each Detainee in real time or as close thereto as is reasonably possible." Plaintiffs' request for class certification and a preliminary injunction remain pending. Barco Mercado v. Noem, No. 1:25-cv-06568 (S.D.N.Y.).

**Link to case here. See litigation note above**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.16 Reported: ICE Detentions in New York County Jails Have Exploded - New York Focus

NY Focus reports that from January to July 2025, 2,800 individuals arrested by ICE have been held across seven New York county jails, up from 500 booked in 2024. Because private detention centers are banned in New York, county jails are central for ICE. The increase comes after several New York counties agreed to hold detained immigrants on behalf of federal agencies on a paid per-day basis. The average length of stay ranges from two days to 33 days. Legal advocates report that detainees in county jails are often difficult to locate and many jails are not equipped to facilitate detainees' language and legal needs.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.17 Preliminary Injunction - Barco Mercado v. Noem.pdf

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a preliminary injunction ordering ICE to improve conditions for migrants detained at a Manhattan immigration-holding facility. The court granted provisional class certification for current and future detainees. ICE must provide detainees with adequate space (no less than 50 square feet per person), clean bedding, basic hygiene products, and free, confidential and unmonitored calls with their attorneys within 24 hours of detention. Class plaintiffs are "very likely to succeed" on the merits of their claims that holding-room conditions at 26 Federal Plaza violate the First and Fifth Amendments, and that they have been seriously injured or face a clear threat of irreparable injury absent relief. Barco Mercado v. Noem 1:25-cv-06568 (S.D.N.Y.)

**Link to case here. See litigation note above**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.18 Complaint and Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus - Pablo Sequen v. Albarran

A coalition of immigrant-rights groups and individual plaintiffs filed a class action against the Trump administration in the Northern District of California, challenging the administration's policy of courthouse arrests in Northern California and the prolonged detention of immigrants in "punitive and inhumane" conditions at the ICE field office in San Francisco. The suit contends that detainees are held in unsanitary conditions and deprived of sleep and medical care in violation of the Fifth Amendment; denied access to counsel in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments; and subjected to long waits in "hold rooms" under an agency policy that violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The suit also contests the constitutionality of the named plaintiffs' detention. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief and ask the court to order the detained plaintiffs released. Pablo Sequen v. Albarran, No. 5:25-cv-06487 (N.D. Cal.).

**Link to case here. See litigation note above**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.11.25 Order Provisionally Certifying Classes, Granting Preliminary Injunction, and Denying Stay - Pablo Sequen v. Albarran

U.S. District Judge Casey Pitts granted plaintiffs’ motion to certify two proposed classes and primarily enjoin certain conditions of confinement at 630 Sansome relating to sleep, hygiene, medical care, and access to counsel. The court certified: (1) the courthouse-arrest class, composed of "[a]ll persons who have an immigration court hearing in a proceeding on EOIR’s non-detained docket in an immigration courthouse in ICE’s San Francisco Area of Responsibility;” and (2) the detention class, composed of "[a]ll persons who are now or will be detained in a holding cell" at 630 Sansome. The preliminary injunction requires ICE to provide class members with a bed and bedding, comfortable temperatures, dimmed lights at night, medical screening and care, hygiene products and clean clothes, and translators. The court did not grant a stay of ICE's waiver of the 12-hour detention limit at short-term holding facilities. Pablo Sequen v. Albarran, No. 5:25-cv-06487 (N.D. Cal.).

**Link to case here. See litigation note above**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2026.02.09 Reported: ICE Moved Detainees to Previously Undisclosed Floor of 26 Federal Plaza - THE CITY

THE CITY reports on a recent deposition in the Barco Mercado litigation challenging detention conditions at 26 Federal Plaza. William Joyce, Deputy Field Office Director for ICE New York revealed for the first time that ICE has been holding immigrant detainees in four additional holding rooms on the 9th floor of the facility. ICE is bound by the court's order to provide adequate conditions on the 10th floor but, according to THE CITY, "Joyce admitted that . . . ICE is not abiding by the judge's rules" on the 9th floor. During a hearing, administration lawyers asserted that "many of the provisions" of the judge's order "were in place on that floor, like providing adequate food."