A 20-year-old Ecuadorian woman was detained at 26 Federal Plaza immediately after her first immigration hearing on June 24, where a judge had scheduled her next court date for March 2026. She was held for nine days without charge, without access to an attorney, and without a bed—sleeping on the floor alongside at least 70 other detainees—while lights stayed on, heat was unbearable, and food was minimal, often just cookies thrown into the cell. On July 4 she was transferred to the Richwood Detention Facility in Louisiana before a New York judge could review a habeas corpus petition filed on her behalf, and she was later released from ICE custody following a federal judge's order. She had fled threats and stalking in Ecuador before joining her family in New York in 2024 after crossing into the U.S. at El Paso, and said: "A human being doesn't deserve to be treated that way. They had us in there like animals."