Immigrants having a decent time under Donald Trump‘s reign sounds unfamiliar, and some present instances further reinforce the fact. Reports state that the immigrants are being held inside a federal building located in downtown Manhattan say and they are treated in ways that simply goes against dignity of people, as they are not even given the chances to fulfill their basic needs with not providing them the proper food, no mattresses to sleep properly, and not even soap, or toothbrushes.
The makeshift jail, tucked inside 26 Federal Plaza, has come under fire after shocking videos surfaced online. Dozens of men were seen crammed together on the floor, clutching thin foil blankets for warmth. Women faced equally dire conditions. One lawsuit revealed that women on their periods were forced to share just two menstrual products between them.
🚨 BREAKING: new video shows ICE is operating a detention facility on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza, where people are being held for days or weeks at a time without showers, medication or a change of clothes, sleeping on the floor, and with minimal food and outside contact pic.twitter.com/vdy412EH1Y
— New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) (@thenyic) July 22, 2025
The descriptions were stomach-churning. Detainees spoke of being forced to endure the “horrific stench” of sweat, urine, and feces — all while eating what they described as inedible “slop.” The cause: overcrowded rooms with open toilets, where human beings were made to live for days.
But the outrage reached a new level when federal prosecutors, defending ICE, insisted that toothbrushes were too dangerous to hand out. In a filing, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office argued: “Toothbrushes can readily be improvised as weapons,” suggesting detainees should make do with teeth-cleaning wipes instead. The claim stunned observers and sparked ridicule, given that even inmates at Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center can buy toothbrushes for just 85 cents.
Lawyers for the detainees immediately pushed back, telling the court: “There is no basis to deny individuals detained at 26 Federal Plaza basic hygiene products.” The courtroom showdown forced U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to step in. After hearing testimony that detainees were left without mats, more than two meals a day, or even prescribed medications, Kaplan ordered ICE to provide what he called the bare minimum.
His ruling demands that each detainee be given a bedding mat, soap, towels, toilet paper, and space to move — at least 50 square feet per person. Medical care and access to prescribed medication must also be guaranteed, or families allowed to deliver it themselves. Kaplan went further, insisting that detainees be allowed to make confidential phone calls to their lawyers, a right they had been denied. The order comes after a string of damning videos and lawsuits brought by civil rights groups, including the ACLU, who have branded the conditions at 26 Federal Plaza nothing short of “inhumane.”
Leaked footage confirms what we’ve known all along: 26 Federal Plaza is a secret detention site where immigrants are being held in overcrowded, inhumane conditions.
@DHSgov has spent months lying to cover it up. We need answers. We demand accountability. pic.twitter.com/1JK8HaNUm8— Rep. Nydia Velazquez (@NydiaVelazquez) July 22, 2025
Still, not everyone is convinced. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, brushed off the criticism. In a statement she declared: “26 Federal Plaza operates as a processing center, brief intake for illegal aliens, and then transfer to an ICE detention center meeting national standards for care and custody, which are in most cases better than facilities which detain Americans.”
But for those who have seen the videos, migrants packed into tight rooms, forced to sleep beside toilets, stripped of dignity, the government’s denials ring hollow. For now, a judge has drawn a line. Yet the bigger question still lingers: why does the fight for basic human necessities — like a toothbrush — have to end up in court?
