![\"Congressman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260409-DANGOLDMAN-BROOKLYNMDC-ON-2048x1536-1.jpg\")
Congressman Dan Goldman walks out of the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center following the inspection of the ICE facilities in the building. Photo by Oishika Neogi for Documented.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\tOverview:<\/p>\n
More than half of the nearly 200 immigration detainees held at Brooklyn\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center have no criminal record, according to a 2026 DHS letter. The facility has not undergone required ICE compliance inspections, raising concerns about detention conditions and oversight.<\/p>\n
Nearly 200 people are now detained at New York City\u2019s only immigration detention center \u2014 and more than half have no criminal record, according to a February 2026 Department of Homeland Security letter obtained by Documented.<\/p>\n
The facility, the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn\u2019s Sunset Park, where detainees face some of the longest stays in the state, has also never been inspected under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s (ICE) own compliance standards, and so far no inspection is planned.<\/p>\n
The new details came to light this week as Congressman Dan Goldman toured the facility, which is one of eight federal prisons nationwide that began holding detainees last year amid the surge in ICE\u2019s crackdown on immigrants in New York City and beyond.<\/p>\n
As part of an agreement between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Bureau of Prisons, MDC \u2014 which has also held Luigi Mangione, Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, and Nicolas Maduro \u2014 would additionally hold immigrants detained in raids.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Within eight months of this contract taking effect in New York, 176 immigrant detainees were held at MDC, which houses 1,363 inmates overall. Fewer than 24 percent of the detained immigrants have criminal convictions, DHS said in a letter dated February 27, 2026. About 19 percent had \u201cpending charges.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for over 50 percent of those being held at the facility, DHS provided no details of any charges. The figures came in response to nine questions posed by Goldman, who, in February, after months of rejections, became the first lawmaker to visit the ICE facility at the MDC, which is in his Congressional district. And he returned again on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Congressman Dan Goldman walks out of the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center following the inspection of the ICE facilities in the building. Photo by Oishika Neogi for Documented.<\/p>\n
This time, the prosecutor-turned-lawmaker \u2014 who faces former Comptroller Brad Lander in a primary challenge for his seat this fall \u2014 met three men detained by ICE at the Brooklyn prison. None had criminal convictions. Two were political asylum applicants from Georgia; another had fled Ukraine seeking refuge in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were promised by this President, and his henchmen \u2014 including Stephen Miller \u2014 that this administration would go after the worst of the worst to deport,\u201d Goldman said outside the gates of the MDC.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, almost all of them in here have no serious criminal records and many have no arrests at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
ICE did not respond to Documented\u2019s request for comment, including a question about what the charges are against at least 100 people detained at the Brooklyn MDC.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ICE\u2019s Office of Detention Oversight (ODO) is mandated to inspect facilities that hold 10 or more noncitizen detainees for more than 72 hours. The Brooklyn MDC has an average length of stay of 52 days \u2014 higher than six other ICE facilities in New York State, and equal to the detention center in Orange County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet, according to DHS records, it is the only ICE detention center statewide to have neither gone through a facility inspection yet, nor have one scheduled \u2014 something that is highly unusual.<\/p>\n
In October 2024, for example, ODO inspectors conducted a three-day inspection at New York\u2019s ICE facility in Batavia, following up on a prior review that had found compliance issues in food services, medical care, custody classification, and incidents of use of force. This time, personnel interviewed 23 detainees. \u201cOne detainee reported suspected sexual abuse of another detainee,\u201d noted the 13-page, semi-redacted report reviewed by Documented.<\/p>\n
The unit also found three incidents of force in which staff \u201cdid not take the time\u201d to seek alternatives before deploying chemical agents, entering rooms, and forcibly removing detainees.<\/p>\n
Overall, the inspection in Batavia found non-compliance with 10 of 29 standards.<\/p>\n
Two months later, ODO inspectors conducted a similar review at another New York ICE facility in Orange County. Though operated by the county sheriff\u2019s department, the unit interviewed 33 detainees; at least two required better medical care.<\/p>\n
Just weeks before Brooklyn MDC\u2019s east building became an ICE detention facility last summer, a federal correctional officer was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing an inmate in the prison on at least two occasions, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office said in a press release about the officer\u2019s indictment just last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since MDC began holding immigrants, at least 12 ICE facilities have been inspected nationwide.<\/p>\n
Why the Brooklyn center hasn\u2019t been inspected remains unclear. ICE did not respond to questions from Documented about why the MDC is the only New York facility to not have a compliance inspection done or scheduled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Goldman, who counted at least 204 detainees at the MDC\u2019s two immigration pods on April 7, immigration detainees at New York City\u2019s only ICE facility may be subjected to the same standards as criminal defendants lodged in the federal prison, even though ICE detention centers are supposed to operate under a less restrictive model.<\/p>\n
From Miami and Atlanta to Philadelphia and Honolulu, the other seven federal prisons used for immigration detention nationwide have not undergone ODO inspections either. But within the year since the inter-agency agreement was signed, ICE has \u201creimbursed\u201d over $52 million to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for immigration \u201cdetention support\u201d at the federal prisons cumulatively, DHS confirmed in the letter response to Goldman.<\/p>\n
In Brooklyn, aside from a handful of DHS officers in the immigration pods and potentially greater access to telephones and legal aid, \u201cthe conditions are the same\u201d as in a federal prison, Goldman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the extent that the Department of Homeland Security has different standards for their detainees, I don\u2019t believe they are being followed,\u201d he said. \u201cThe food is the same. The medical care is the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the detained New Yorkers who the Congressman met on the windy April morning was a Georgian asylum seeker who collapsed after experiencing severe kidney pain in January 2026, the congressman told Documented. The only medical care he received at MDC, Goldman said, was an injection that alleviated the pain. His pain persists at a lesser degree. The man, who was detained by ICE at 26 Federal Plaza despite an active asylum application and no criminal history, Goldman said, has now also developed a severe stomach condition that is leading to blood in his stool.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite multiple requests, he hasn\u2019t been able to see a doctor yet, the Congressman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single thing about this immigration dragnet is un-American,\u201d said Goldman.<\/p>\n
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