Congress members trying to see ICE detainees at MDC Brooklyn jail barred from entry

Yahoo

3 days ago

NEW YORK — Officials at MDC Brooklyn barred three Democrat members of Congress from conducting an oversight visit of the jail's ICE detention operation, sparking a brief lockdown that led to cancelled legal visits for inmates seeing their defense lawyers.
The Congress members, Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Nydia Velazquez and Dan Goldman, showed up at the notorious Sunset Park jail Wednesday morning, but were blocked at the door, then were briefly trapped between the iron gate in front of the jail and its entrance doors.
Inside, about 20 defense attorneys visiting their clients abruptly had those visits cut short, multiple lawyers told the Daily News.
Jail staff recalled those inmates back to their housing units, and wouldn't let their lawyers leave the MDC for about a half hour as the drama unfolded outside, the attorneys said.
Those lawyers included Marc Agnifilo, who represents Sean 'Diddy' Combs and alleged healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione, both of whom are housed in MDC, sources said. Agnifilo did not return messages seeking comment Wednesday.
'We were trapped between the gate and the building,' Velazquez told The News.
She said that the lawmakers entered the gate and approached the place's front door, and Espaillat asked a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent outside to show his face.
'He [the agent] immediately jumped in front of the gate and locked us inside, and then went upstairs, climbed the steps for the federal building and locked the door so we could not get out to the street,' Velazquez said. 'We couldn't get into the building.'
New York Immigration Coalition President Murad Awawdeh, who accompanied the lawmakers, said the ICE agent immediately confronted them, asking for ID, then triggered a lockdown and disappeared into the building.
'It was a circus that the federal prison bureau created,' he said. 'Why is the federal government going so far out of its way to prohibit anyone from seeing what's happening inside their facilities?'
Eventually, an assistant to the warden came out, 'and he said what we knew he would say, that we have to request seven days in advance for a permit to allow us to go inside,' Velazquez said.
That's against federal law, which gives Congress members the right to make unannounced visits, she said.
Starting in June, MDC Brooklyn began holding more than 100 ICE detainees as part of an interagency agreement between ICE and and the Bureau of Prisons to use eight federal facilities across the country to hold immigrants ensnared in Donald Trump's mass deportation machine.
'Denying Members of Congress access to a federal detention facility is outrageous and unacceptable,' Espaillat said in a statement later Wednesday. 'MDC Brooklyn has a well-documented record of abuse. ICE should not be allowed to expand its reach through backdoor deals with federal prisons. This contract must be terminated now.'
BOP spokeswoman Randilee Giamusso said Wednesday that the prison system would be happy to accommodate Congress member visits if they give advance notice.
'However, as a law enforcement entity, we must prioritize the safety of our staff, inmates and our facilities. We remain committed to working with our congressional partners,' Giamusso said. 'With proper notice, the BOP is happy to accommodate a request for a site visit from any congressional member.'
Espaillat and several other Congress members sued the Trump administration last week, arguing that federal law specifically prohibits immigration detention facilities from requiring prior notice before members of Congress can make oversight visits.
'The Trump administration's lawless efforts to defy that constitutional authority are a gross abuse of power,' Goldman said, 'and we're taking them to court in defense of that principle and to find out what they're hiding.'
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