A recently detained immigrant filed a potential class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday, denouncing the conditions inside holding cells at the main federal immigration offices in Manhattan as overcrowded and unsanitary.

The cells belong to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, at 26 Federal Plaza. They have drawn scrutiny as ICE has hastened the pace of arrests in New York City, with migrants filling the holding facility on the building’s 10th floor. In the past, the cells were used to hold migrants for just a few hours, but amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, migrants often remain there for days or for more than a week.

The lawsuit said that migrants often sleep on the concrete floor or sitting upright, lack access to legal counsel and are subjected to a “horrific stench” emanating from toilets next to where they sleep.

A video recorded by a migrant who sneaked in a cellphone last month appeared to confirm some of those complaints, as has recent reporting by The New York Times.

The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court by Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, a Peruvian immigrant who entered the United States in July 2022 and lives in New Jersey. He was arrested by ICE on Friday as he was leaving a routine appearance in immigration court, where he was facing deportation proceedings and applying for asylum after being charged with entering the country unlawfully.

Mr. Barco Mercado, a father of two, including a 3-month-old, is being held at 26 Federal Plaza, where the lawsuit said dozens of people were often crammed into a space that was just 215 square feet. His lawyers are seeking that a judge certify the suit as a class-action lawsuit.