Local elected officials on July 14 called on the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Justice to immediately halt the intake of immigrant detainees at the troubled Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, calling the conditions at the federal facility “inhumane” and “barbaric.”
At a press conference outside the notorious prison, U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan), joined state Sen. Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn), Assembly Member Robert Carroll (D-Brooklyn) and community activists in highlighting the inhumane conditions at the facility while condemning the Trump administration for what they described as its unlawful targeting of immigrants for expedited deportation. More than 100 migrants arrested by ICE are currently being housed at the prison.
Goldman warned that the Trump administration’s mass deportation order was not only unconstitutional but also placed further strain on an already overburdened prison system.
“One of the things that this new policy has done is create a shortage of places to hold these non-criminal, non-violent civilians who are trying to immigrate to this country, as so many have before,” Goldman said. “What we have learned is that ICE and the federal government, in coordination with the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons, is relocating immigration detainees to the MDC here.”
MDC, which currently houses high-profile inmates including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Luigi Mangione, has long been plagued by serious issues, including staff shortages, stabbings, killings, limited access to health care and prolonged lockdowns. In 2019, a power outage left prisoners without heat in the dead of winter, prompting national outrage. In 2024, a federal judge described conditions at the facility as “barbaric.”
“Yet, the Trump administration is now sending non-criminal, non-charged, non-violent immigrants, many of whom have ongoing asylum cases, to be detained in this place where federal judges will not send convicted criminals,” said Goldman, who last week sent an oversight letter of inquiry to BOP demanding answers on its new interagency agreement with ICE to house more than 100 immigration detainees at MDC.
Goldman described the Trump administration’s arrest of immigrants as “draconian, militarized immigration enforcement” aimed at instilling fear and terror among immigrant communities. He shared the story of a legal permanent resident and longtime employee at the Square Diner in Tribeca who was detained during an immigration appointment.
“[He] went to an immigration appearance, was snatched by ICE agents. [He] told them that he was a green card holder, showed them, I believe, his Social Security card,” Goldman recounted. “They, the ICE agents, took it, ripped it up, accused him of having a fake Social Security card, and they sent him to Texas to be deported.”
Gounardes pointed out that in addition to poor living conditions at MDC, immigrant detainees were also being denied the right to speak with their lawyers.
“We have a facility where people who are not being charged with a crime are being detained without access to legal representation. That is a violation of due process, that is unconstitutional, not to mention illegal,” said Gounardes, who also criticized the lack of transparency regarding the detained immigrants.
“We don’t have full, accurate information as to what each individual status of each person, each individual detainee has here. We just have anecdotal stories, like the ones that have been shared, plus dozens and more that we hear from folks in the community,” Gounardes noted.
Assembly Member Robert Carroll said he was not only concerned about MDC’s “inhumane” conditions but also the “lack of rule of law.”
“We are concerned about the due process and the 100 human beings, most of whom have never committed a crime, most of whom are being denied due process to make sure they are given the justice and the humanity that they deserve,” he said.
Carroll pointed out that, due to the lack of transparency, it is difficult to say how many immigrants have been detained and what their status is.
“That’s clearly by design, that’s what they would like to do, so that people can actually figure out who has been taken and where they’ve been disappeared to,” Carroll said.
Lorena Kourousias, executive director of Mixteca, an organization that has supported the Latinx community in Sunset Park for 25 years, shared the story of Bulmaro Flores.
The father of two American-born children and sole provider for his family was detained on June 3 during an immigration check-in. A week after his detention, Bulmaro was finally allowed to call his wife.
“Now Bulmaro is in Texas because he was transferred quickly to another state to disconnect him from the network and his family,” Kourousias said. “That’s the case of many, many of our immigrants here.”
While the Bureau of Prisons has not publicized the new formal agreement between ICE and BOP, the Miami Herald reported June 25 that MDC is among three new federal correctional facilities to house immigrants detained by ICE, following an interagency agreement between the agencies.
In a statement to Brooklyn Paper, the BOP confirmed it is assisting ICE by housing detainees and will continue to support law enforcement partners to fulfill the Trump administration’s policy objectives.
A spokesperson also acknowledged that BOP has entered an interagency agreement allowing ICE to place detainees in eight BOP facilities, including FDC Miami, FCI Atlanta, FCI Leavenworth, FDC Philadelphia, FCI Berlin, FDC Honolulu, FCI Lewisburg and MDC Brooklyn.
“For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not comment on the legal status of an individual, nor do we specify the legal status of individuals assigned to any particular facility, including specific numbers of detainees,” the statement reads.
