Virtual reality brings Indian and Pakistani residents back home

Three children were in critical condition Monday afternoon after a fire tore through a Bronx apartment building, injuring eight people in total, authorities said.

The blaze broke out on the second floor of 2609 Bainbridge Ave. in the Fordham section of the Bronx around 3:40 p.m., according to the FDNY and NYPD. Twenty-one units and 79 fire and EMS personnel responded and the fire was brought under control about an hour later, the FDNY said.

Three children suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical condition, police said.

A fourth civilian was hospitalized with serious injuries, and a fifth refused medical attention at the scene, according to the FDNY.

Three firefighters were also taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.

About 10 people have been displaced, police said.

Fire marshals are investigating the cause of the fire, according to the FDNY.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Councilmember Vickie Paladino and the City Council have agreed to end their fight over the member’s social media posts, with the lawmaker agreeing to remove three posts decried as Islamophobic and the Council dropping disciplinary charges filed against her, according to terms of the settlement.

The Council's ethics committee will drop disciplinary charges against the Queens Republican for “disorderly behavior” and violating the Council’s anti-harassment and discrimination policy, according to the settlement, which still must go before a judge.

Paladino will also remove all mention of her councilmember role on her social media account on X and delete three tweets specifically cited in the disciplinary charges leveled by her colleagues on the Council.

Spokespeople for the Council and Paladino declined to comment, citing a stipulation of the settlement.

In a statement on social media, Sandra Ung, chair of the Council's ethics committee, said that she appreciated that Paladino took down her tweets, which Ung disapproved of.

“I believe the resolution strikes the right balance between protection of Council staff and the First Amendment liberties of Council Members,” Ung said in a post on X.

Ung's statement was outlined as a stipulation of the settlement, which also mentioned a statement forthcoming from Paladino.

Paladino's required statement, according to the settlement, will clarify that her social media posts "were not directed at any Council Member of staff," she is responsible for the content, and that she "never intended to make Council Members or staff feel unwelcomed or unsafe in their work environment."

She must post the statement within 48 hours after a judge approves the settlement, according to the agreement.

The settlement comes after fellow councilmembers decried several social media posts by Paladino as being Islamophobic.

In a February tweet, Paladino criticized Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s appointment of Faiza Ali, a Muslim American woman and former Council staffer born and raised in Brooklyn, as the city’s chief immigration officer.

“New York is under foreign occupation. There's really no other way to put it,” Paladino posted. “Does this administration have one single actual American in it?”

Menin condemned the remarks in a social media post of her own, stating, “This Islamophobic rhetoric is deeply offensive.” Menin added, “I condemn it in the strongest terms.”

Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, a Democrat who sits on the ethics committee, said in a post that “Racism and Islamophobia have no place in City Hall.”

More recently, Paladino criticized Mamdani for praying with sanitation workers before a winter blizzard.

“This is part of Islamic conquest,” Paladino wrote in a Feb. 23 tweet. “The message is very clear — we are being replaced.”

Difficult conditions and inadequate staffing in a privately owned ICE detention center in Newark are degrading the health of detainees inside, a pair of New Jersey U.S. representatives said after a tour Monday.

Rep. Rob Menendez and Rep. Nellie Pou, both Democrats representing districts in urban North Jersey, conducted an oversight visit to Delaney Hall on Doremus Avenue.

They told reporters that dozens of detainees inside complained of inadequate medical care, difficulty visiting with family and friends, dirty air, and low-quality food.

“What they are doing inside of there is trying to create conditions where people are so demoralized that they will sign voluntary departure papers to not have to be in there anymore,” said Menendez, who noted he’s seen similar conditions during prior visits. “They're trying to break people so people give up.”

Reporters were not allowed to join the oversight visit. The congressmembers and their staff were not able to bring in their phones or take photos inside the facility.

An ICE spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did Florida-based The GEO Group, which operates the ICE detention center.

It sits between the Essex County jail and an NJ Transit bus garage on Doremus Avenue, a major truck route. Smells from a nearby sewage treatment plant and a fat rendering facility hang in the air.

Delaney Hall can hold up to about 1,200 detainees, though the actual population fluctuates. Pou said roughly 680 detainees are currently at Delaney Hall. She and Menendez said they met with detainees from around the globe, that none of them had criminal records, and that many of them had long-established lives in America.

Pou was making her first oversight visit to Delaney Hall. She called it an “eye-opening” experience. She said there was just one doctor and a handful of nurse practitioners in the facility’s medical clinic. Pou said she was concerned the medical staffing was not enough to handle emergencies.

Menendez said ICE and The GEO Group have repeatedly said that detainees who request medical care are seen within 24 hours. But he questions that. In one instance, Menendez said, a man described waiting over two months to see a dentist about mouth pain. Menendez said the man still has not gotten dental care, and instead is being given pain medication.

“ All the individuals that we spoke to, when you mention the idea that they've been seen within 24 hours, they like, they sigh in disbelief,” Menendez said. “Because that's not the reality.”

Visitation limits remain a complaint among detainees and their families, Pou said. Visitors are only allowed on the weekend and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Visitors often wait hours outside the facility before being let in.

There is limited parking available, and visitors risk being denied entry if they don’t comply with the facility’s dress code. Once inside, visitors have a limited time to meet with a detainee, and the clock starts before the check-in process is done.

The visit comes roughly a year after federal agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka while he was protesting the facility’s opening; the charges against Baraka were later dropped.

Menendez, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rep. LaMonica McIver were also there that day, trying to make an unannounced oversight visit. The three representatives were caught up in the scuffle around Baraka’s arrest. McIver was later indicted on charges that she impeded federal officers; that case is ongoing, with a hearing scheduled for June.

Menendez said the Department of Homeland Security has maintained a professional relationship with Congressional offices since last year’s incident. But he said GEO Group staff at Delaney Hall “hates when we’re here.”

Menendez said he doubts the facility can be reformed.

“ From Day One, we've said this place should not be open,” Menendez said. “We continue to believe that it shouldn't be open and I don’t think that there’s a way to improve it.”

The visit comes as Congress debates a Republican proposal to give ICE another $70 billion for immigration enforcement.

Menendez said he hopes New Jersey’s three Republican representatives visit Delaney Hall before they decide to vote on the measure.