Efrain Rodriguez confirmed up at 26 Federal Plaza in Decrease Manhattan on July 17 for his court-scheduled immigration check-in on his asylum utility. It was alleged to be a routine listening to — however then masked ICE brokers pulled him away.
Although he didn’t count on to be detained that July afternoon, Rodriguez discovered himself in acquainted territory. He had been detained as soon as earlier than in February 2020, throughout the begin of a worldwide pandemic and the final yr of the primary Trump administration. That have has lived with him ever since.
Rodriguez’s detainment in July 2025, throughout the second Trump time period, was far shorter — simply 39 days. However it delivered to thoughts the horrible situations he witnessed whereas detained for greater than a yr, between two presidencies, describing them as inhumane and psychologically terrifying.
Stored in ICE isolation
He claimed that his meals was rotten and that the workers would retaliate in opposition to him if he spoke out in regards to the residing situations.
“There is psychological abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse. If you don’t agree with what the institution entails, they isolate you in a cell within another cell where you have no access to television, no access to calls, no access to lawyers, no access to three regular meals, no access to medication, no access to anything,” Rodriguez advised New York News.
Over the course of his detention, he was held in solitary confinement three totally different instances, which is what he believes first triggered his despair signs. Rising extra livid over each the situations and therapy, in Could 2020, Rodriguez and 25 different detainees determined to band collectively and carry out a starvation strike demanding enhancements.
He claimed the guards appeared to tempt them to cease the strike by passing a steak in entrance of their faces.
“We managed to get the director of the ICE New York Movement to be in jail and get us a monthly commissary of $25 and 500 minutes of phone time,” Rodriguez says.
Efrain Rodriguez stands exterior 26 Federal Plaza.Picture by Dean Moses
He additionally famous that one other change they noticed after the strike was a rise of their out-of-confinement time, from half-hour to 45 minutes.
He was lastly launched one yr later beneath the Biden administration by means of a program that allowed individuals recognized with despair to depart the detention facilities. Even so, he was compelled to put on an ankle monitor and have his journey confined to a 70-mile radius of his residence for the subsequent 14 months.
Witnessing a suicide try in ICE custody
Quick ahead to July 2025, and the go to to Federal Plaza that discovered him again in ICE custody a second time — regardless of doing the whole lot proper, in keeping with his lawyer.
“He went to every check-in. He kept the ankle monitor on and didn’t miss anything, and it seemed the ICE agents, for some reason, took a dislike to him while he was in line. There was no real reason for him to be re-detained. Nothing has changed in his case,” 26-year-old Miriam Mars, Rodriguez’s legal professional on the Authorized Help Society, advised New York News.
His second time detained introduced much more and really totally different horrors. Whereas held in 26 Federal Plaza earlier than being transported to Pennsylvania, he acknowledged that he witnessed a fellow detainee attempt to remark suicide after attacking ICE officers earlier than being crushed for his hassle.
“He cut himself six times, I counted them,” Rodriguez stated. “When they tied him up, you could hear the beating.”
Though Rodriguez’s second stint was shorter, he stated it was much more emotionally devastating — primarily as a result of he had two youngsters, a five-year-old and a 15-year-old, ready at residence.
An ICE agent waits exterior of a courtroom at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan on Oct. 1, 2025.Picture by Dean Moses
“This time everything exploded,” he stated. “In 2020, it was just my wife and me. Now, we have two children, and I am the only one who works. When I was detained, my family had nothing, no income,” Rodriguez stated.
‘They don’t care’
Rodriguez’s legal professional defined that very like immigrants, attorneys are additionally left making an attempt to navigate the brand new methods during which the second Trump administration is ruthlessly pursuing its deportation agenda and the way, as authorized representatives, they will defend their shoppers.
“The difference between the first time [is] we all knew detention centers were terrible and conditions were terrible, but it felt like there were some things we could do about it. But now that they’re using federal buildings and detaining people basically incommunicado, we can’t even reach people to talk to anyone about it or to talk to our clients about what they’re experiencing. It is incredibly frustrating,” Mars stated.
Rodriguez was lastly launched on Aug. 25 with the assistance of an legal professional, however not earlier than he was compelled to pay over $5,000 to safe his launch – one thing he may solely pay with the assistance of the Envision Freedom Fund.
It was much like the plight of an Ecuadorian man who advised New York News that he was compelled to pay an eye-watering $20,000 for him to solely be launched with an ankle monitor. The monitor requirement has left many attorneys and immigrants to really feel as if the detentions are much less about immigration coverage and extra about ICE reaping income.
Rodriguez’s case stays pending. His subsequent court docket listening to is as soon as once more scheduled for June 2026 at 26 Federal Plaza. However ICE, in his view, appears to care solely about one factor.
“They turned us from immigrants into criminals. This administration has placed an economic value on each immigrant,” Rodriguez stated. “They came in with more violence. In 2020, they came in armed. Now they’re brandishing their weapons. They don’t care if you’re an American citizen. They don’t care if you’re on a student visa, or a child, or a woman. They only care about money, money, money.”
