NEW YORK – Three civil rights organizations announced a federal lawsuit against current and former officials of the Orange County Jail in Goshen as well as officials of Immigration Customs Enforcement for their alleged treatment of immigrant detainees housed there. ICE pays Orange County to detain the immigrants.
The groups made the announcement in Manhattan on Thursday.
Samah Sisay is a staff attorney for the Center of Constitutional Rights.
“The New York Civil Liberties Union, Center for Constitutional Rights and the Bronx Defenders filed a lawsuit against Orange County Jail officials and ICE, alleging that they engaged in First Amendment retaliation against hunger strikers, individuals who were detained at the jail who engaged in hunger strike and other types of free speech and were retaliated against by receiving various disciplinary tickets and some people being transferred to segregation units or being transferred to the south,” said Samah Sisay.
Sisay said the hunger strike occurred in February 2022 leading to detainees reaching out to public officials and filing complaints with federal officials. The mass transfer of individuals happened in July, she said.
The attorney said there are approximately 80 detainees still at the jail.
The groups are seeking monetary damages for the detainees at the jail, the release of one detainee from a segregation unit and the return to New York of two detainees who were transferred to a facility down south.
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