Nearly two dozen people were busted as protests erupted Wednesday night after ICE arrested multiple migrants at a Lower Manhattan courthouse hours earlier, cops said.
Twenty-three people were taken into custody as activists rallied outside the U.S. Immigration Court on Varick Street near West Houston Street, according to police. Eighteen were released with summonses, and the status of the five others was not immediately known.
The arrested demonstrators were attempting to block the path of the two vans that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were using to transport the detained migrants, Hell Gate reported.
The crowd also clashed with authorities over the barricades set up to keep them back, according to CBS New York.
The protesters were outraged after two dozen masked, plainclothes officers gathered Wednesday afternoon in the lobby of 26 Federal Plaza, where they corralled at least six migrants as well as a Queens pastor who tried to intervene, according to a report in The City.
The six men and one woman were spotted as agents carted them — some in handcuffs — back into an elevator they had just come out of, the outlet reported.
ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson told The City that the operation was in line with the Trump administration’s push for “expedited removal” of those who had illegally entered the country over the last two years under the Biden administration.
“ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been,” Ferguson said. “If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.”
But a member of the crowd gathered on Varick Street told CBS he was astonished by the scene.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said the man, who only provided his first name, Ben. “I’ve been working here for a couple years and I’ve never seen this many agents, let alone agents dressed in plain clothes, wearing masks, pulling people out of line. It’s totally out of the ordinary.”
Meanwhile on Thursday, at the City Council’s Fiscal Year 2026 executive budget hearing, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the NYPD prohibited by city law “to participate or assist in civil immigration enforcement, and we do not.”
“We have been very clear and consistent on this, and our officers understand that this is a red line we cannot cross,” the top cop said. “At the same time, we will continue to target criminals, regardless of their immigration status.”
“Some have asked whether we should reconsider our cooperation with federal agencies on criminal investigations in light of their work with ICE,” Tisch added. “The short, straight answer to this is no. Working with our federal partners on criminal matters is crucial to the safety of our city.”
