ICE brutality in New York City exposes lawlessness of Trump’s mass deportation plan

On October 21, multiple law enforcement agencies descended on the downtown Manhattan neighborhood of Chinatown, violently arresting nine immigrants from West Africa. The raid drew immediate outrage and spontaneous protests from onlookers and New Yorkers who heard about the raid as it was taking place. Federal agents immediately moved to arrest some bystanders as well. 

Some are saying that the raid appears to have been in response to a post on X by Savanah Hernandez, a contributor with the far-right group Turning Point USA. Hernandez posted a video on October 19, showing African immigrant vendors selling handbags on the streets of Chinatown, a common practice on Canal Street for decades. Hernandez labeled the vendors as an “illegal immigrants are operating a black market”.

“Perhaps @ICEgov should go check this corner out,” Hernandez wrote, tagging the official Immigration and Customs Enforcement account. Days later, ICE agents descended.

New York City immigration court becomes flashpoint

Federal agents were captured on video shoving protesters, who appeared to only grow in number, pursuing agents down city streets and chanting “ICE out now!”

As part of President Trump’s widening immigration crackdown, ICE operations have also increased in New York City which have been met with resistance. Major clashes have centered around 26 Federal Plaza in downtown Manhattan, a skyscraper that houses both immigration court and ICE headquarters. During Trump’s second administration, the tenth floor has become a makeshift detention center, notorious for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.

Federal agents have also been lurking in the halls of immigration courts across the country in order to increase their detention numbers, ready to pounce and arrest immigrants willingly attending routine court hearings. The presence of these ICE agents has sometimes resulted in brutality against immigrants and bystanders that has gone viral, including the arrest of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander while he was in the process of escorting a migrant who ICE agents were seeking to arrest. 

A video of an ICE agent violently shoving a woman to the ground circulated widely last month. Monica Elizabeth Moreta-Galarza was pleading with ICE agents after they detained her husband of 17 years at an immigration court hearing in 26 Federal Plaza. 

“I didn’t do anything to him. I just begged him, and any human would have some compassion, but he didn’t have that,” Moreta-Galarza told CBS News New York. Moreta-Galarza said that the ICE agent pulled her hair and yelled at her children before the video was taken. 

In a statement to PEOPLE, Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, said the officer had been “relieved of duty.”

ICE brutality caught on camera sparks national anger

Trump’s push to get quickly-trained, masked federal agents on the streets of major US cities has in many cases generated viral moments of ICE brutality. These moments depict not only the violence of ICE agents, but also the ordinary people protesting against them. 

Videos from Chicago show ICE pushing protesters, including a congressional candidate, to the ground. Illinois Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was shoved to the ground by federal agents during a protest last month outside of an immigrant detention center. 

Also captured on video, however, have been residents unafraid to gather in protest even after ICE agents violently, and deliberately, crashed into a car in a residential neighborhood. 

The anger of New Yorkers at Tuesday’s Chinatown raid appears to be ongoing. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside of 26 Federal Plaza on the evening of October 22 to protest the raid in Chinatown, holding signs reading “ICE out of NYC now” and chanting “no justice, no peace, we want ICE off our streets!”