Video released Tuesday by the New York Immigration Coalition gives a first look inside some of the holding cells of New York City’s federal immigration offices.
It shows men sleeping on the floor on thin thermal blankets. At one point, a man is heard saying, “Look how they have us … like dogs in here.”
There are reports the lights are kept on around the clock and nearly 30 people share a single toilet.
Joan Paul Alcivar De La Cruz was held at the facility for several days last month before being sent to Jackson Parish Correctional Center in Louisiana. His wife, Samara De La Cruz, told CBS News he was fed just a sandwich and bottle of water each day while at the New York facility.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin says detainees were “briefly” held at the New York City facility, and that “any claim that there is overcrowding or subprime conditions at ICE facilities are categorically false.”
Samara said her husband was fleeing persecution in Ecuador and it wouldn’t be safe for him to return there. She said he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at his asylum hearing, a tactic ICE has been using amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration that is facing legal challeneges.
“He did not deserve any of this. He did not. He made sure he followed all the laws. He went to all his immigration courts. He’s never been arrested. He’s never had any criminal record,” Samara said.
She’s an American citizen. The two were married in May. Samara was pregnant at the time of her husband’s arrest, but went on to have a miscarriage, which she blames on the stress of her husband’s detention.
“It was kind of, uh, very traumatic for me,” she said.
But even though Joan was moved to a different facility, Samara says she fears for her husband’s life, saying he’s been denied life-saving medication for a liver condition at both detention centers.
McLaughlin has said all ICE detainees are provided with proper meals and medical treatment.
“He said he requested to go to the hospital multiple times. They just ignored him like turned their back and pretended like he didn’t say anything,” Samara told CBS News.
She said despite the danger of him being deported to Ecuador, she’s even more afraid of him remaining in the detention facility.
“Because he’s suffering in there. You know, he’s in so much pain. If they continue what they’re doing and not giving him what he needs, he’s going to die in there,” she said.
