Several protesters were arrested on Friday for disorderly conduct outside the federal immigration courthouse at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, according to multiple reports. Demonstrators accused US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) of operating a covert detention facility at the site.
The protest, organised by the grassroots movement 50501, saw activists march to the courthouse chanting “No fear, no hate, no Ice in our state!” They demanded access to the building, which was denied, and later held a sit-in. Police moved in within minutes, arresting about 15 people, said Hunter Dunn, 50501 press coordinator.
“They were entirely peaceful,” Dunn told the Guardian. “It is not wrong to demonstrate against illegal, unconstitutional and immoral actions by the federal government.” Protesters allege detainees are held in overcrowded conditions without basic amenities or legal access on the building’s 10th floor, a claim Ice denies, insisting it is only a processing centre.
Footage from inside the building shared last month by the New York Immigration Coalition showed two dozen men in bare rooms, some lying on the floor with emergency blankets. Lawmakers have been denied access; in June, city comptroller Brad Lander was arrested while escorting an immigrant from a hearing.
Courthouse detentions have become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which aims to arrest 3,000 people daily. Similar reports have emerged from Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago and El Paso. A class-action lawsuit has been filed seeking to ban Ice arrests at immigration courthouses.
