Kaplan Amended Final Judgment on Federal Plaza Holding Rooms Grants Logbook Inspection, Not the Sworn-Compliance Reporting Plaintiff Sought

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan signed an Amended Final Judgment of Permanent Injunction in Barco Mercado v. Mullin on 10/02/26, after his opinion on ICE’s holding rooms at Federal Plaza in Manhattan.

On compliance, the opinion says ICE “repeatedly has violated this Court’s orders either by intentionally flouting them or by employing so-called “best” efforts that simply have not been good enough” and that “defendants have complied with its orders only when convenient for them”.

On monitoring, plaintiff asked for a log of everyone held, scans of the contractors’ logbooks and a sworn compliance affirmation. The court granted “a limited right to inspect the contractors’ logbooks or comparable documentation” and found the rest burdensome, adding that “the Court promptly could address a request to that effect” if plaintiff shows good cause. The amended judgment’s logbook paragraph reads: “Upon request made no more frequently than once each month”.

On appeal, the government’s earlier appeal of the preliminary injunction ended in March 2026 when the Second Circuit recorded “a stipulation withdrawing this appeal”. No appeal from the permanent injunction appears on the RECAP copy of the district docket; RECAP records only what someone pulled from PACER, so this is a dated absence, not a statement about the live docket.

Research Gaps

• Whether a notice of appeal or stay motion followed the permanent injunction.
• What the amended judgment changed from the original.

Related Entries

• 2026-09-24–kaplan-permanent-injunction-ice-26-federal-plaza-conditions