In October 2025, New York published a series of photographs taken by @steffikeith inside of 26 Federal Plaza, where, for months, migrants appearing for routine court hearings were, seemingly at random, detained by federal officers. Keith spent most days stationed in the hallways of the 12th and 14th floors, watching as people arrived, stepped inside their respective courtrooms, and, upon exiting, were muscled away by agents. Usually, they appeared shocked; inside the courtroom, a judge had moved their case forward and told them to come back later. Their families were, in some cases, literally ripped from them. Other times, relatives who weren’t informed of their arrest would wander the halls, looking for them. By the fall, Keith had around 25,000 photos. This week, Keith received a George Polk Award for photojournalism. The number of migrants detained at the courthouse has dropped — many have simply stopped appearing for their hearings — but after briefly turning to other immigration stories around the country, Keith plans to return soon. “I have some other things I want to follow up on,” she says. “It’s really a never-ending story.” Revisit the full Cover Story: