The Black Box on Federal Plaza

ICE’s downtown offices are becoming a de facto detention center.

- By Matthew Sedacca

THINGS CAN MOVE quickly at 26 Federal Plaza. People arrive for check-ins at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s offices, then disappear inside the building. In the drab hallways by the courtrooms on the 12th and 14th floors, federal agents, in plainclothes with faces concealed, arrest people as they exit their hearings, pinning some with violent force. Then it’s down to the holding cells on the tenth floor, where, according to those detained, dozens are confined in tight quarters. Many have reportedly been held for days without a shower or clean clothes. Some say they saw people