By Hank Russell
A federal jury has ordered Suffolk County and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office to pay $112 million to over 600 immigrants who claimed they were unlawfully detained in a county jail to be handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers eight years ago.
On November 12, 2025, a Brooklyn jury awarded $112 million to 674 immigrants in a class action lawsuit filed by LatinoJustice PRLDEF.
According to the lawsuit, Joaquin Orellana Castaneda, a Guatemalan immigrant, was handed over to ICE from the Suffolk Sheriff’s Office on April 26, 2017. Although Orellana Castaneda had his bail paid by his cousin, the Sheriff’s Office continued to keep him behind bars and never told him his cousin posted bail for him.
He was then transferred from the county jail in Yaphank to the Rivehead Correctional Facility. The next day, Orellana Castaneda was taken to the ICE Varick Street detention center in Manhattan.
The lawsuit claims that the Sheriff’s Office violated Orellana Castenada’s Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth rights of the U.S. Constitution and a violation of the First Article of the New York State Constitution. U.S. District Court Judge William F. Kuntz II of the Eastern District determined that Orellana Castaneda suffered serious physical and mental harm, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of liberty, emotional distress, humiliation and economic loss, among others, according to News Nation.
“This decision brings long-overdue accountability,” said José Pérez, the deputy general counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF. “The jury confirmed what we have argued all along, that Suffolk County’s actions trampled the basic due process rights guaranteed under the 14th Amendment. Today’s verdict is justice served and our clients’ courage ensures these types of abuses will hopefully not be repeated.”
Long Island Life & Politics reached out to the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office. They deferred to the county attorney’s office, which did not respond as of press time.
LILP also reached out to the county executive’s office. A spokesperson said in a statement, “The county will be appealing the court’s ruling.”