A data analyst with the New York City Council wound up in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday at a Long Island office.
Like so many other New Yorkers, this data analyst, whose name was not disclosed, followed the law and appeared at a required proceeding regarding his immigration status. Like many other New Yorkers detained by ICE in the past 12 months, this data analyst had no criminal record, according to the City Council; however, ICE disputes that statement. Regardless, the analyst had cleared every background check and had a visa to work in the country.
None of it mattered, it seems, to ICE — which, not too long ago, was just another branch of federal law enforcement with a mission to protect this country from real criminal threats. Under President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, it has seemingly abandoned that mission in favor of something far more aggressive.
We have witnessed ICE’s devolved operations in the halls of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza much of last year, where masked agents ruthlessly apprehended immigrants who merely followed the law, obeyed court orders and were pulled away from their families and attorneys anyway.
We have witnessed ICE’s devolved operations on the streets of Chinatown, where agents last October rampaged through Canal Street looking for illegal vendors — and roughing up anyone who stood in their way, including citizens exercising their First Amendment rights to protest.
And we have witnessed ICE’s devolved operations in the images coming out of Minneapolis in recent days — from the senseless shooting of Renee Good, to the pepper-spraying of youths near schools, to armed-to-the-teeth masked agents barging their way into homes without warrants.
With Trump and Noem ignoring almost every appeal to cease and desist this blatantly unconstitutional behavior, it is up to New York and the other states to take action to combat ICE and protect law-abiding citizens and immigrants from harassment, wrongful arrest, detention, and deportation.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature must act to reinstate a mask ban that will compel officers of the law, and everyone else, to show their faces. They must also adopt legislation sponsored by Manhattan Assembly Member Tony Simone that bans federal agents from wearing masks on duty.
And most importantly, those New Yorkers in ICE custody today who have no criminal records must be released and returned home to their families.
Should ICE ignore these regulatory efforts, the state and city must then utilize every legal tool at their disposal to compel the agency to comply with the law. If that doesn’t work, then New York should defund ICE by withholding tax dollars earmarked for the federal government.
