ICE Bars Reps. Goldman And Nadler From Immigrant Detention Area ‘Approaching Capacity'

By Gwynne Hogan, The City

June 18, 2025, 3:22 p.m.

Two members of Congress were refused entry to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention areas inside 26 Federal Plaza Wednesday morning, despite rules laid out by Congress allowing members to conduct unannounced visits for oversight purposes.

ICE’s explanation: Those staying at the facility, some for nights at a time, are “in transit” and not actually in federal detention.

The attempted visit by Reps. Dan Goldman (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) and Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) come after Reps. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn/Queens) and Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan/The Bronx) were rebuffed by ICE earlier this month.

Observed by a gaggle of reporters in the building’s lobby, Bill Joyce, the deputy director of the New York ICE field office, took questions from the representatives — and delivered terse answers that revealed people have been held on the 10th floor of the federal building, sometimes for nights at a time, without anywhere to sleep other than benches or the floor.

Spokespeople for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In the back-and-forth with Joyce, Goldman and Nadler pressed for specifics on how immigrants snatched by masked agents in the hallways of immigration court following routine proceedings were treated in the hours after their arrest.

Bill Joyce, deputy director of the New York ICE field office, intercepts Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Daniel Goldman in the lobby of 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan. Credit: Gwynne Hogan/THE CITY

“Do any of the individuals who are processed here spend the night here?” Goldman asked.

“They have spent the night,” Joyce replied.

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“So they’re held here overnight sometimes, do they have proper nighttime facilities like beds?” Nadler wondered.

“We do not have beds,” Joyce said.

When asked where they stayed Joyce only repeated “on the 10th floor.”

When the representatives asked if that meant on the literal floor, Joyce added, “or benches, we have.”

Joyce added people detained inside 26 Federal Plaza have access to food and bathrooms, but there are no medical services on site.

Concerns have been mounting for weeks about conditions inside the building as ICE has dramatically ramped up its arrests in the New York area in part by staking out immigration courthouses in Lower Manhattan.

People arrested from three courthouses are thought to be consolidated at 26 Federal Plaza before they can be sent out to other detention centers, like the Nassau County jail, where they can be held for up to 72 hours, or the recently opened Delaney Hall in Newark.

As the number of ICE arrests has surged in recent weeks, people have reported spending several days at 26 Federal Plaza before being sent to even further away facilities in Louisiana and Texas.

On Wednesday, Joyce conceded they were having trouble transferring people right away to other locations because of the surge in arrests.

“I’m sure you are well aware we’re approaching capacity,” he said.

Nadler and Goldman had requested a visit in advance via letter but received a denial from a staffer at ICE’s Office of Congressional Relations on Tuesday, saying the agency didn’t have to let them in because ICE, “does not house aliens at field offices; rather these are working offices where ERO personnel process aliens to make custody determinations based on the specific circumstances of each case.”

Federal law allows members of Congress access to any facility used by the Department of Homeland Security to “detain or otherwise house aliens.”

But during his conversation with the congressmembers Wednesday, Joyce at first said ICE was “housing them until they can be detained,” but then said detainees were “in transit until we have a place for them to go. They’re going from here to someplace else because they’re not staying here.”

Nadler pushed back, “If people are detained for several days, it is a detention facility, whatever you choose to call it.”

Miffed by semantics, Nadler pressed Joyce for more specifics.

“Getting away from your absurd misinterpretation of the statute — why won’t you let us see this? Are you ashamed of what’s there? Why won’t you?” Nadler asked.

“Because we were told not to,” Joyce conceded, saying that the orders had come down from ICE headquarters and that the congressmembers should appeal the decision to them.

“Well, thank you for your time, we understand you’re following orders,” Goldman said, leaving the building with Nadler shortly afterward. At a press conference after the visit, Goldman and Nadler said the two are considering their next steps, including potential legal action.

The odd exchange, in which Joyce was wearing a button-down shirt featuring a cartoon toucan drinking a beer, came a day after another chaotic scene inside the building. (Asked about his odd choice in attire, Joyce said he bought the shirt on eBay because he “thought it looked nice.”)

On Tuesday, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was detained for hours while trying to escort a man out of immigration court. He was released after several hours with no charges following an intervention by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Lander was the latest elected official to face arrest during confrontations over President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies.

Goldman and Nadler both slammed Lander’s arrest Wednesday, with Goldman calling it “part of a pattern of overaggressive authoritarian tactics that clearly has been ordered from above.”

“Given [how] these agents have treated elected officials, we’re very concerned about how they are treating immigrants behind closed doors,” Goldman said.

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.