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A new class-action lawsuit filed by a coalition of immigration advocacy groups alleges that undocumented immigrants have been detained in “crowded, squalid, and punitive conditions” in New York City.
The complaint paints a bleak picture of life inside the holding facility, confirming details previously published in articles by Gothamist and the New York Times, which the lawsuit also cites. It says the facility lacks beds, forcing those detained to sleep on the concrete flood—with the lights on—and sometimes next to toilets, or sitting upright due to lack of space. Immigrants detained have also been denied access to showers, medications, and hygiene products. In one case, a stroke survivor had “dangerously high blood pressure” after he did not receive his medication; in another, a woman who had her period was not able to receive any menstrual products and had to wear her blood-soaked clothes for the entire time she was detained…