U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will not hold detainees for longer than 12 hours or overnight at the federal courthouse in Central Islip except in “exceptional circumstances,” Long Island’s top federal prosecutor said in a letter to a judge who had described conditions at the facility as “abhorrent and likely unlawful.”
The letter, filed Dec. 23 but made public Tuesday, was in response to U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown’s Dec. 18 order requiring the Department of Homeland Security to explain why a Jamaican native was subjected to “inhumane and unlawful” treatment, including being held overnight at the courthouse in what Brown described as a cold, “putrid and cramped” cell. Documents submitted to the judge by ICE, which is under the purview of DHS, were “demonstrably false” and officials failed to follow court orders, according to Brown, who had threatened to find the agency in contempt.
“ICE will transfer all detainees already in the CIHR [Central Islip holding room] to other facilities each evening regardless of stage of post-arrest processing,” Joseph Nocella, Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in the letter to Brown. He added, “Detentions will be limited to no more than 12 hours, that is detainees will be transferred from the CIHR within 12 hours.”
A Newsday investigation determined that more than 100 people this year had spent more than 12 hours in holding rooms at the courthouse, some for up to 72 hours.
Nocella cautioned in his letter that these new guidelines would apply unless there were “temporary and unforeseen circumstances that require immediate action.”
The letter was submitted as part of a petition filed on behalf of Erron Anthony Clarke, a Jamaican native who was detained by ICE agents on Dec. 5 after he appeared in Hauppauge for what he believed was a necessary hearing toward becoming a permanent resident of the United States.
Clarke and eight other men were held overnight in a Central Islip courthouse cell, which had an open toilet and was intended for the temporary detention of a single person, Brown said in his Dec. 18 order.
Clarke’s attorney, Loren Jeffrey Kelman of Valley Stream, declined to comment Tuesday.
ICE described the room where Clarke and other men were held as “10’ x 7’ or 8,’ ” Brown said. Conditions of the room “violate numerous minimum standards set by ICE to ensure the safe and humane treatment of detainees,” he added.
“The evidence reveals that ICE is … ignoring its requirements concerning the provision of seating, cleaning, safety inspection, bedding, meals, temperature and the requirement that ‘[h]old rooms with toilets shall allow for an appropriate amount of privacy,’ ” Brown wrote.
An ICE spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday that the holding room was a “processing facility, not a detention facility.”
The spokesperson added, “The ICE Central Islip facility has an abundance of supplies, including food, assorted snacks, water, personal hygiene items and bedding materials. The facility is temperature-controlled, and the staff provides mats, mylar blankets and additional clothing for anyone who is cold.”
Release date questioned
Brown had ordered Clarke to be released on bail and that authorities produce him in court for a Dec. 11 hearing. Instead, ICE agents transferred Clarke from the Central Islip holding room to the private Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark. He attended the proceeding via telephone.
Court papers filed by the government that said ICE had not released Clarke as directed by the judge were not accurate, Nocella said in the Dec. 23 letter. Clarke’s attorney confirmed that his client was released on Dec. 11, Nocella said, although the letter does not address why he was not produced in Central Islip for the hearing.
ICE, along with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, also ignored several court directives asking for more information on Clarke’s movements and photographs of the holding room, according to Brown’s order.
Nocella’s letter said ICE would provide photographs of the Central Islip holding room to the court. It also asked the court to grant the government additional time — until Jan. 23 — to address the judge’s concerns.
Brown, a Brooklyn native, was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019.
Clarke arrived in the United States in 2018 on a work visa. When the visa expired that November, he remained in the country without authorization, according to Brown’s order. He married a U.S. citizen in 2023, which “may entitle him to permanent residency,” Brown said.
On Nov. 6, Clarke’s wife filed an application with DHS sponsoring him for permanent residence, a matter that remains pending, according to court documents. In the application, Clarke admitted to working in the United States without authorization.
#ICE #limit #long #detainees #held #Central #Islip #courthouse #U.S #attorney
