New York Liberals Complain Over Accommodations for Illegal Migrants at ICE Detention Centers

Reports from inside U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding sites across New York reveal increasingly difficult conditions for migrants, sparking yet another round of outrage from New York’s Democratic leaders who have long accused federal immigration authorities of mistreatment and abuse. Overwhelming numbers of illegal migrants in these facilities is causing overcrowding and putting the Department of Homeland Security in a precarious position.

In the Oswego Border Patrol station, where nearly 60 workers detained in a September factory raid were processed, detainees described sleeping shoulder to shoulder on concrete floors with as many as 30 people confined to cells barely 10 square feet wide. Attorneys said their clients were denied showers, hot meals, and even basic phone access. One lawyer, Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, said it took days just to locate her clients because CBP and ICE would not confirm their whereabouts.

“This is not how any human being should be treated,” Kelley-Widmer said, noting that one migrant was held in Oswego for nearly a week - a situation she described as previously “unheard of” in New York.

Governor Kathy Hochul, who has frequently condemned federal immigration enforcement, renewed her call for Washington to rethink its approach.

“Families should not be torn apart, children should not be traumatized, and asylum seekers should not be treated as criminals,” Hochul said previously. “New York will always defend the rights and dignity of immigrants.”

Attorney General Letitia James, now facing her own federal legal battles, has also sharply criticized detention practices. She has previously declared:

“The Trump Administration’s callous disregard for the health and safety of immigrants has put countless lives at risk. We will not allow this cruelty to continue unchecked.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has long been one of the most vocal critics of ICE. She has even gone so far as to suggest to illegal migrants how to avoid ICE agents.

Other Democrats, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have also repeatedly blasted the federal government for what they call systemic abuse of migrants in detention.

According to ICE records, hundreds of immigrants have been kept for days in temporary holding cells across New York, which is far beyond the agency’s prior 12-hour limit. Earlier this year, ICE issued a waiver expanding confinement in these “short-term” facilities to up to three days, citing a nationwide surge in arrests.

At Federal Plaza in Manhattan, more than 600 migrants were held for three days or more in the first half of 2025, resulting in it being impossible to give amenities such as ed showers, privacy, or confidential legal calls. In Buffalo, detainees were crammed into ICE offices in a downtown office tower, some waiting up to five days for transfer.

“This isn’t an accident, it’s a deliberate tactic to intimidate migrants into giving up their rights,” said Jessica Maxwell of the Workers’ Center of Central New York.

ICE filings revealed dozens of children among those confined in holding rooms this summer, including at least 24 minors in New York City alone in June. One nursing mother held at the Wellesley Island station reportedly had to be driven 40 minutes to a hospital because officers on-site could not provide her with medical help.

“This is unconscionable,” said AG James previously. “Denying basic care to mothers and children is inhumane and unlawful.”

New York Democrats have made opposition to ICE detention practices a consistent rallying cry. Hochul, James, and Ocasio-Cortez have each used past controversies - from raids to family separations - to position themselves as defenders of migrants’ rights, often blaming federal Republican leadership for escalating cruelty.

While ICE insists its waiver is “temporary” and meant to “manage the surge responsibly,” liberal democrats say the reality is clear: New York’s detention system is strained, migrants are being held in deplorable conditions, and the state’s top Democrats are once again pointing the finger at Washington.

Yet the contrast to protecting illegal migrants as opposed to the horrible conditions of state prisons cannot be overstated. There have been reports for years of the conditions of state facilities across New York, yet there has been little done to address it. Seemingly, elected democrat officials care more about migrants in this country illegally who are being detained and deported than they do those who are residents of New York.

“Almost no one knows what’s happening inside there,” said law professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández. “Only Border Patrol staff and the detained see it. And that’s the real danger.”

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New York Liberals Complain Over Accommodations for Illegal Migrants at ICE Detention Center