| In Case Over 26
Fed Plaza Hold Room Conditions
Contempt Hearing Set for Dec 9I
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Dec 4 – A class action was
filed on August 8 over
immigration enforcement
conditions in 26 Federal
Plaza. (Inner City Press on
that day covered the
courtrooms on the 12th floor
and the ICE activities just
outside).
The case
was assigned to US District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Lewis A. Kaplan, who held an
oral argument on August 12.
Transcript, on DocumentCloud here.
Judge Kaplan mused about 50
square feet per person and
increased and more private
legal calls, with a TRO order
to follow.
And at 4 pm the
TRO issues, on square footage,
legal calls and more, Order here
On September 8
plaintiff's counsel filed full 11 page memo
of law on Patreon here
On September 16
Judge Kaplan issued a
preliminary injunction.
On November 25
plaintiffs' counsel filed a
motion for contempt and
sanctions, saying the
injunction has not been
complied with. They seek a
monitoring mechanism and
attorneys' fees.
On December 4,
"The Court will hold a
conference concerning
plaintiff's contempt motion in
Courtroom 26B on December 9,
2025 at 11:00 a.m. SO
ORDERED."
From Inner City
Press' August 8 report:
There are a
dozen ICE
officers with
masks over
their faces in
front of
Courtroom 1237
in 26 Federal
Plaza. In the
hall outside
the media is
allowed to
stand,
waiting.
On the
morning of August 8, Inner
City Press was there when a
Latino family came out of the
courtroom. A woman was crying,
asking "porque?" as she
was comforted and taken down a
short hallway away from the
click of the
cameras.
"Did they
grab somebody?" a journalist
asked, without
answer.
ICE officer
told journalists and
photographers to stand to the
side as the family passed: a
man pushing a stroller, a
toddler in a blue Oxford cloth
shirt, and the crying
woman.
"Please
get against the wall," one of
the ICE agents told
reporters.
There are
no overflow courtrooms,
allowing the Press to observe
the cases, and little
transparency.
The judges
in the courtrooms in 1237
appear to be named Sponzo,
Harbeck, Sagesse and Nasser -
no first names on the sign.
Instead, a sign
says "A message to illegal
aliens: A warning to
self-deport."
More on X for
Subscribers here
and Substack here
The case
is Barco Mercado v. Noem, et
al., 1:25-cv-6568 (Kaplan)
***
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