What's Inside a 10th Floor ICE Office? New York Democrats Want to Know.
On the 10th floor of a federal building in Lower Manhattan, there is a holding area where immigration authorities have typically held a few dozen immigrants at a time for a few hours before transferring them to detention centers.
But as the Trump administration expands its immigration crackdown, the space has become overcrowded and people sleep sprawled on the floor, sometimes for days, according to those who have spent time there.
Descriptions of the conditions at the center, the New York City field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have prompted several congressional Democrats to demand that they be allowed inside for oversight purposes. Those demands have been denied.
On Friday, seven New York City Democrats plan to escalate their efforts to get onto the 10th floor by sending a letter to Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the immigration agency, known as ICE. In the letter, they accuse the immigration authorities of violating federal laws that allow members of Congress to tour facilities where migrants are being held.
From New Jersey to California, ICE premises have turned into political battlegrounds over President Trump's immigration agenda, leading to the arrests of several Democratic officials.
'Congressional oversight is essential to bring transparency to the conduct of the Department of Homeland Security,' the lawmakers say in the letter. 'Given the overaggressive and excessive force used to handcuff and detain elected officials in public, DHS's refusal to allow members of Congress to observe the conditions for immigrants behind closed doors begs the obvious question: what are you hiding?'
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Who's who in the secret group advising Trump on Iran - who has been left out of the planning?
President Donald Trump let it be known on Thursday that he will make a decision on whether to involve the U.S. in Israel's war with Iran within the next two weeks, as tensions over the question continue to divide conservatives. The president, who signed off on attack plans on Tuesday but resisted giving the go-ahead, is reportedly taking soundings from a small coterie of trusted advisers while also throwing the conversation open to fellow world leaders, as well as allies such as the hawkish Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Outside of his inner circle, MAGA personalities Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Steve Bannon, and Candace Owens have been speaking out against the prospect of the U.S. wading into another prolonged Middle Eastern war. At the same time, other Trump cheerleaders on Capitol Hill and the media have made the case for intervention. Here's a look at the people Trump is listening to, according to NBC News. Vice President Vance has previously struck a non-interventionist posture on foreign wars, notably opposing American support for Ukraine. He appears to favor a diplomatic solution to the dispute with Iran, applauding Trump for showing 'remarkable restraint' and making the safety of American troops and assets his top priority. The president's White House Chief of Staff and former campaign manager is known as the 'Ice Maiden' and regarded as an important restraining presence, in place to shield Trump from his own worst instincts. A senior adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Miller is known as an anti-immigration hardliner and one of the faces of Trump's mass deportation push. A regular talking head on conservative media loathed by liberals, Miller has reportedly been nicknamed 'Weird Stephen' behind the scenes by the president, which does not suggest he commands the level of respect to which he aspires. Once a bitter enemy of Trump and rival for the Republican nomination, the Secretary of State now has such a full plate he has been dubbed the 'Secretary of Everything.' Rubio was out quickly last week to deny American involvement in Israel's initial onslaught but has since largely left the public messaging to the president. Trump's Middle East envoy, like him, a former luxury real estate developer, has led talks with both Israel and Iran since taking office earlier this year and, like Rubio, has cut a busy figure, also serving as the president's de facto liaison with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The lieutenant general serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff boasts the tough-guy nickname 'Razin' Caine' and previously served as a counterterrorism specialist to George W. Bush's Homeland Security Council. He reportedly first befriended Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019 and impressed him by suggesting that Isis could be stamped out within a week. 'One week? I was told two years!' Trump marvelled. The head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is a career army officer who also has a cool nickname, 'The Gorilla.' He has reportedly been granted an unprecedented amount of leeway by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He has seen an increasing allocation of resources to his areas of responsibility, which include the Middle East. The CIA Director is an influential voice, having also served in the first Trump administration. He was previously a Texas congressman and a mayor of a small town. Two names conspicuous by their absence from that list are Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell has pushed back against the suggestion that Hegseth has been sidelined. 'This claim is completely false,' he told NBC. 'The secretary is speaking with the president multiple times a day, and has been with the president in the Situation Room this week. 'Secretary Hegseth is providing the leadership the Department of Defense and our Armed Forces need, and he will continue to work diligently in support of President Trump's peace through strength agenda.' Trump is meanwhile reported to have fallen out with Gabbard for going 'off-message' after she posted a video on X attacking the 'political elite and warmongers' for 'carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers' and placing the world 'on the brink of nuclear annihilation.' Asked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins aboard Air Force One about Gabbard's statement to Congress in March that, although Iran's enriched uranium levels are at an all-time high, the expert opinion is that Tehran is not currently seeking to develop a nuclear bomb. 'I don't care what she said,' the president snapped. 'I think they were very close to having a weapon.' One Trump supporter to deny any involvement in Trump's discussions about the conflict is MAGA die-hard Laura Loomer, who attacked former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson on X on Thursday night for reporting that she was playing an advisory role, dismissing the claim as 'fake news.'
Washington Post
40 minutes ago
- Washington Post
How the Republican tax bill leaves poor kids behind
Megan Curran, Sophie Collyer and Jane Waldfogel research child poverty at Columbia University's School of Social Work. H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill, manages to be the worst of both worlds. It spends an eye-watering amount our country can ill afford and directs almost all of that money to the wealthiest while cutting critical services for low- and middle-income Americans.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Our unexploded bombs in Southeast Asia from 50 years ago still kill people today
Imagine airplanes dropping bombs every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 long years. This was the reality for Laos, a country scarred by a secret war most Americans never knew about. My parents, age 14 at the time, were forced to endure the destruction and displacement of their community, its people and its religious sites. From 1964 to 1973, the U.S. secretly dropped at least 2.5 million tons of ordnance on Laos during 580,000 bombing missions, making it the most bombed country per capita in history. Although I wasn't born during this war, I inherited its consequences. As a child, I witnessed my father, a surgeon, operate on countless victims of unexploded ordnance accidents. One was my classmate, a five-year-old little girl. The imminent dangers forced my family to flee in 1990 when I was only six years old. In 1971, the so-called 'Secret War' in Laos was revealed to Congress, thanks to the courage of Fred Branfman and Bouangeun Luangpraseuth, who collected harrowing survivor testimonials. Yet it took two more decades before the U.S. began allocating funds to clean up its mess. In 1993, funding remained under $3 million, barely a drop compared to the $50 billion it had cost to bomb a neutral country against which we never declared war. Today, millions of unexploded bombs remain, posing a deadly threat to children and their families. An estimated one-fourth of Laos is contaminated and less than 10 percent has been cleared. This burden hinders all aspects of life for the people of Laos, not only safety, but the long-term economic development. As we commemorate World Refugee Day on June 20, we also recognize two other important dates: 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War and 50 years since the largest refugee resettlement wave in U.S. history — a direct result of America's military actions in Southeast Asia. The Vietnam War affected not just the U.S. and Vietnam, but also Laos and Cambodia. Instead of celebrating our collective gains of peace with former adversaries, President Trump took office announcing a 90-day foreign aid freeze on January 20. All U.S.-funded programs were issued a stop-work order, including life-saving de-mining initiatives in Laos. This was no insignificant matter. During the freeze, there were nine casualties in Laos from unexploded ordnance, including the death of a 15-year-old girl. Thanks to persistent advocacy efforts from former U.S. ambassadors, veterans, youth and strong bipartisan Congressional support, funding for unexploded ordnance programs has resumed. but the damage during the halt is irreversible, and the trust between our country and the region is fragile. To its credit, the U.S. has worked to resolve the enduring legacies of war — efforts that have saved lives, supported vulnerable communities, and strengthened diplomacy. Foreign aid is a strategic investment in our nation's long-term interests and global stability. Nowhere is this more evident than in Southeast Asia, where U.S. assistance has shown clear and lasting benefits: improved safety, stronger economies, and deeper cooperation between nations. The U.S. began its post-war engagement by focusing on the recovery of Americans missing in action in 1985. The first American investigative team was approved by the Laotian government well before Laos and the U.S. normalized relations. The American team traveled to my childhood home, Pakse, Laos, to recover the remains of 13 service members lost in a 1972 plane crash. Since then, the U.S. has recovered more than 280 of the MIAs in Laos. This collaboration became the cornerstone for broader initiatives, such as the removal of unexploded ordnance and education about the dangers of explosive remnants of war. These preventative efforts, combined with de-mining, have led to a dramatic drop in casualties in Laos, from more than 300 annually to 60 or fewer in the last decade. Recognizing the value of these efforts, the U.S. now invests in similar programs globally and is the world's largest supporter of humanitarian de-mining, with more than $5 billion invested to date. These programs prove what long-term commitment and international cooperation can achieve — helping war-torn communities rebuild, heal, and thrive. As a former refugee, I view World Refugee Day as not just a day of reflection, but a reckoning — a test of our values, of whether we are willing to do right by those still living with the consequences of our past actions. If America is to lead with morality, it must continue investing in the recovery of countries like Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. That means sustained funding and genuine partnership — not the politics of the moment, but a humane foreign policy shaped by the lessons of our past. In the end, this is not only about Southeast Asia. It is about who we are and who we choose to be. America's legacy should not be measured by the bombs we dropped, but by the lives we choose to heal. Sera Koulabdara is CEO of Legacies of War and co-chair of the War Legacies Working Group.
