ICE packed more than 80 people into this hold room built for only a handful

For weeks, U.S. immigration officials alerted their colleagues about dangerous overcrowding at 26 Federal Plaza, where detainees were held in small rooms with no beds, showers or full-time medical staff.

In the first four days of June 2025, the number of detainees in Hold Room 1, one of four holding rooms on the building's 10th floor, jumped from approximately eight to more than 80. The room is a square cell roughly 30 feet on each side, with hard floors, concrete benches and three metal toilets.

The spaces reeked of unwashed bodies. People slept sitting up because there wasn’t enough space to lie down. And because of a shortage of medical staff, people with serious health conditions, including tuberculosis, an ovarian cyst and kidney failure, lacked proper care, texts and emails among ICE officials show.

DHS declined to answer a detailed list of questions about its treatment of detainees at 26 Federal Plaza and temporary holding rooms around the country, citing the ongoing litigation.

There are no laws governing the amount of space immigrant detainees must be provided within ICE field offices.