The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, on Tuesday heightened its call for an end to all arrests of Caribbean and other immigrants at United States immigration courts by officers from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

NYIC echoed the call after a South Korean student at Purdue University, Yeonsoo Go, was released from ICE custody on Monday, five days after she was detained at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan at a routine court hearing.

Go was abruptly detained at her visa hearing by ICE agents, NYIC said.

Despite following the proper legal process, NYIC said Go was sent to a US federal detention facility in Louisiana after being detained on the 10th Floor of 26 Federal Plaza.

“All families belong together. We are pleased to know that Yeonsoo is now home, reunited with her family and community where she belongs,” NYIC President and CEO Murad Awawdeh told Caribbean Life. “Yeonsoo’s release comes after a traumatic and unjust detention that should never have happened.

“She was taken by ICE simply for doing what the law requires—attending her immigration court hearing to move forward with her immigration application,” Awawdeh added. “Yeonsoo’s unjust detention is another example of the Trump administration supercharging its mass deportation machine to criminalize, kidnap, and tear apart immigrant families.

“The Trump administration’s aggressive and inhumane enforcement operations inside New York’s immigration courthouses undermine the country’s commitment to due process and the rule of law,” he continued. “ICE must immediately end courthouse enforcement operations and shut down the detention center on the 10th Floor of 26 Federal Plaza.

“Every person still detained inside 26 Federal Plaza and beyond must be released now,” Awawdeh demanded.

Late last month, he said a newly-released video shows what immigrant New Yorkers have been telling their families and attorneys for months: “The 10th Floor of 26 Federal Plaza is an ICE detention facility.

“ICE has repeatedly claimed that the 10th Floor is not subject to Congressional oversight because it is classified as a holding center,” he said.

Awawdeh said US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin insisted that “26 Federal Plaza is not a detention center. It is a Federal building with an ICE law enforcement office inside.”

But Awawdeh said the video backs up what has been widely communicated by people inside: “They are detained there for days and weeks at a time without showers, medication or a change of clothes, sleeping on the floor, and with minimal food and outside contact.”

He noted that Assistant Secretary McLaughlin has also said that “any claim that there is overcrowding or subprime conditions is categorically false.”

However, Awawdeh said the video shows that Caribbean and other immigrants detained on the 10th Floor are being held in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

He said that “on May 20, federal agents began making arrests and disappearing people after they left their immigration court cases at 26 Federal Plaza, 290 Broadway, and 201 Varick St.”

On June 8, Awawdah said US Congressmembers Nydia Velazquez, Adriano Espaillat, Dan Goldman, and Jerry Nadler have been “categorically denied their legal authority to view the detention facility on multiple attempted visits.”

Awawdeh said all members of Congress have the authority to “conduct unannounced inspections of detention facilities holding individuals in federal immigration custody,” under 2019’s Congressional Public Law 116-93, Sec. 405 (this was further codified by 2025’s Congressional Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, Sec. 527.a).

“All New Yorkers should be able to attend their immigration court cases without being separated from their families simply because they followed the process,” Awawdeh said. “ICE is kidnapping so many people from New York’s immigration courts that they had to create a new detention facility on the 10th Floor of 26 Federal Plaza.

“But instead of sharing the truth with the public, ICE has skirted accountability by consistently lying about what’s happening on the 10th floor, and breaking the law by not allowing Congress members to view the conditions,” he added. “New Yorkers deserve accountability and justice at 26 Federal Plaza and must be able to safely attend their court proceedings without fear of being detained and disappeared.

“The 10th Floor detention facility must be shut down immediately, and regularly inspected to ensure that ICE adheres to federal guidelines as mandated by law,” Awawdeh demanded.

Velázquez said the 10th Floor at 26 Federal Plaza has become “the epicenter of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign in New York City.

“Since May, ICE has been snatching New Yorkers off the streets and out of immigration court and taking them to this floor,” she said. “They’ve claimed it’s not a detention facility, just a ‘processing center,’ to block Members of Congress from exercising our legal right to conduct oversight.

“They’ve also dismissed repeated reports of overcrowding and inhumane conditions,” Velázquez added. “This video confirms what we’ve feared all along: ICE has been lying and locking us out to hide what’s happening inside.

“There is no more excuse. ICE must grant Members of Congress immediate access to the 10th Floor and shut this facility down,” the U.S. Rep. continued.

U.S. Rep. Espaillat, who was born in the Dominican Republic, said the conditions on the 10th Floor of 26 Federal Plaza are “a blatant violation of human rights and due process, and I was deeply alarmed by recently uncovered video footage showing immigrants detained by ICE forced to sleep on filthy floors, share a single bathroom among nearly 30 people, and endure inhumane treatment.

“The environment in which these individuals are being forced to remain is indicative of the Trump administration’s sentiment towards immigrants as disposable and serves as further justification to continue to demand oversight and accountability at these facilities,” he added. “This video demonstrates a moral and legal failure that demands immediate action.”

In June, Caribbean immigration advocates and legislators expressed outrage over the arrest of New York City Comptroller and Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander by ICE agents at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan.

Lander, a staunch critic of President Trump’s mass deportation policy, was arrested while trying to steer an immigrant man past ICE agents stationed in the hallway of the courthouse.

“The arrest of the NYC Comptroller is an outrageous abuse of power and a dangerous obstruction of justice,” Awawdeh said. “This is not just an attack on one of our city’s elected leaders; this is an attack on all New Yorkers who believe in due process and the fundamental rights of immigrant communities.

“For federal agents to forcibly arrest and detain an elected official simply escorting an immigrant New Yorker out of court is a deliberate attempt to intimidate, silence, and criminalize those who seek to stand up and protect our immigrant neighbors,” he added.

“At a time when immigrant New Yorkers are being kidnapped in broad daylight from our communities and our neighborhoods, this kind of intimidation only deepens fear and uncertainty,” Awawdeh continued. “We demand immediate answers and accountability from the federal government.

“New York City will continue to be a beacon of opportunity, hope, and a place that stands up for immigrant communities,” he said.  

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul described Lander’s arrest as “a sorry day for New York and our country.”

She said she was walking the streets of Little Haiti in Brooklyn “to try and bring some comfort to a community that’s under siege with a travel ban and losing their legal status.

“The streets were empty, people were scared, businesses are concerned about their future, and that’s when I got word of what happened to my colleague in government, our comptroller Brad Lander,” she said. “We’re also concerned about those who are walking out of this courthouse, taken away from their families.

“They don’t have the attention, they don’t have the lawyers, and that’s why the State of New York is providing US$50 million to cover legal services for people who are finding themselves in this situation,” the governor added. “We continue to do what we can to support the communities and the immigration coalitions, and thank them for the work they’re doing at this time.”