A federal judge ordered ICE to ensure hygiene, medication and phone calls for immigrants detained at its Manhattan facility

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Tuesday temporarily ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to improve conditions for immigrants it is holding in a federal building in midtown Manhattan. "There seems to be quite a gap between the ICE standards, indeed, and what’s really happening," the federal judge said at a hearing, going on to order ICE to provide immigrants, upon request, with soap, mats, access to medication, clean clothing, medical personnel, feminine hygiene products and extra blankets.

Kaplan's order came after several civil rights groups warned him about conditions at the federal building, alleging that immigrants detained there were not only overcrowded, but also exposed to extreme temperaturesand without sufficient access to legal counsel or medication. In response, the Department of Justice (DOJ)ackgrounded that the immigrants were not provided with sleeping mats or their medications, and were only given two meals a day. The agency also argued that Kaplan should not intervene because there was no overcrowding at the time.

The order will be in effect for up to two weeks.

In his five-page ruling, the federal judge, who was appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, also demanded that immigration authorities install phone lines so that detained immigrants have the ability tocall their lawyers without being monitored within the first 24 hours of their detention, and that they be allowed to make additional calls every 12 hours. The order will be in effect for up to two weeks, and Kaplan will soon evaluate whether to grant a longer injunction.

"This is a first step, in my view. And my conclusion here is that there is a very serious threat of continuing irreparable injury, given the conditions that I’ve been told about. I have no enforceable way of assuring that any progress that, in fact, has been made won’t backslide very quickly," Kaplan commented during the hearing.