Reps. Nadler and Goldman barred from inspecting ICE holding area in NYC

U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman, both New York Democrats, were barred Wednesday from entering and inspecting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding areas at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan.

“We are very concerned about what conditions these immigrants are being held in while this mass deportation scheme is underway,” Goldman said at a press conference after the pair were turned away in a hallway of the federal building. “Why can’t we go in? What are they [ICE] hiding?”

ICE Deputy Field Office Director Bill Joyce, with reporters and others looking on, met with the representatives on the building's ground level. He told the officials that some immigrants had slept overnight on the floor and benches on the 10th floor.

Joyce said the site was not a detention center, which members of Congress are legally allowed to inspect, but rather an off-limits “processing center” where migrants facing potential removal are temporarily held.

Nadler and Goldman’s visit to the building came a day after Brad Lander, the city comptroller and a Democratic mayoral candidate, was detained there by federal officers while escorting an immigrant away from an immigration courtroom. There are immigration courtrooms on the building’s 12th and 14th floors.

Nadler said at the press conference that he would consider legal action if further efforts to inspect the holding areas were unsuccessful. Goldman, who is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, was in clear violation of federal law.

“You have no right to say no to us. That’s a matter of law,” Nadler told Joyce, with more than a dozen reporters and aides looking on. He later added, “If people are detained for several days, it is a detention facility, whatever you choose to call it.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin rejected that characterization, saying in a statement that 26 Federal Plaza is "a federal building with an ICE law enforcement office inside of it."

"These congressional members do not have the authority to disrupt ongoing law enforcement activities and to sensitive law enforcement materials," she said.

Across the country, courtrooms and detention facilities tied to immigration law enforcement have become focal points for protests and scrutiny on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. ICE officers in New York and elsewhere in recent weeks have employed a new tactic of arresting immigrants after they exit their immigration court proceedings.

The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act states the agency may not prevent members of Congress from inspecting facilities “used to detain or otherwise house aliens” — and that members of Congress may show up without prior notice.

On June 8, Reps. Nydia Velazquez and Adriano Espaillat, both New York Democrats, were also barred from inspecting the holding facilities at 26 Federal Plaza.

Nadler and Goldman said they gave ICE advance notice of their intent to conduct inspections at 26 Federal Plaza, in the hopes they would have more success than Velazquez and Espaillat. Goldman said they received an email Tuesday denying their request.

Joyce from ICE told Nadler and Goldman that immigrants were rotated out of the holding areas. He said some are sent to the Nassau County Jail in East Meadow, while others are returned to the holding areas — where they are given food and bathroom access — if they are going to be flown to another location.

Joyce said he was instructed by “headquarters” not to allow Nadler and Goldman to inspect the holding areas.

As he left, Goldman thanked Joyce and said, “We understand you’re following orders.”

Moments later, addressing the crowd, Goldman said he will escalate his request to visit the holding areas to higher levels of Department of Homeland Security leadership.

Joyce “did not have the authority to do it, so we will continue to go up the chain,” the congressmember said.

This story has been updated with additional information.