OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiffs Nahum Gilberto Ortiz, Denny Molina Cantor, Lucas Palacios Alvarado, Jeremias Lopez Lopez, Elmer Moscoso Guerra, and Luis Gonzalez Carbajal, all individuals who were or are civil immigration detainees at the Orange County Jail (“OCJ”) in Goshen, New York, bring this action against Orange County, New York; Paul Arteta, Sheriff of Orange County; Carl Dubois, former Sheriff of Orange County; and Kenneth Jones, former Undersheriff of Orange County (together, the “Orange County Defendants”); as well as against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”); U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”); and Kenneth Genalo, Acting ICE Field Office Director (together with DHS and ICE, the “Federal Defendants”). Plaintiffs bring a First Amendment claim against the Orange County Defendants under 42 U.S.C. §1983, and they bring claims against the Federal Defendants for violations of the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §701, et seq. Plaintiffs principally claim defendants retaliated against them for complaining about allegedly poor conditions at OCJ. Now pending is the Federal Defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). (Doc. #38).1 For the reasons set forth below, the motion is DENIED. The Court has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§1331, 1343(a)(3). BACKGROUND For the purpose of ruling on the motion to dismiss, the Court accepts as true all wellpleaded factual allegations in the complaint and draws all reasonable inferences in plaintiffs’ favor, as summarized below. For the sake of brevity, the Court summarizes only those facts relevant to the instant motion. Orange County contracts with ICE to house civil detainees at OCJ while they await the outcome of their immigration proceedings. (Doc. #7 (“Compl.”) 2). At the time the complaint was filed, plaintiffs allege approximately 320 people were incarcerated at OCJ, approximately 80 of whom were held pursuant to the ICE contract.2 Plaintiffs are six individuals who were or are detained at OCJ under the ICE contract.3 Plaintiffs allege that while at OCJ, they faced “abuse, racist mistreatment and neglect by jail officials,” including “[a]ssaults and verbal racist abuse,” the denial of basic medical and mental health care, and inedible, rotten meals. (Id.
