Heavily armed federal agents descended upon a Queens neighborhood early Thursday morning and arrested at least one person in an operation that sparked fear throughout the community.
Video footage shows what appears to be Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents, dressed in camouflage body armor and carrying long guns as if they were ready for combat in a foreign land, emerging from white vans parked on 89th Street and 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights at around 6:20 a.m. on Dec. 4.
One video shows a woman appearing to be swiftly pulled away by agents while handcuffed. The reasons for this individual’s arrest are not known. amNewYork reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment, and did not receive a response prior to publication.
The NYPD was not part of the raid, a law enforcement source told amNewYork. The city’s sanctuary laws prohibit the NYPD from cooperating with federal agencies such as HSI and ICE on immigration matters.
The area of Jackson Heights has become famous for its Open Streets program along 34th Avenue, which is entirely closed to traffic for many blocks east of 69th Street. During the day and on weekends, children are seen playing in the streets alongside local performers and artists.
But the sight of heavily armed agents resembling soldiers along 34th Avenue in the predawn darkness, combined with the sounds of helicopters flying overhead, made the neighborhood feel like a war zone, according to some residents.
View this post on Instagram
One local representative, state Sen. Jessica Ramos, was particularly appalled.
“We saw agents that were heavily armed, I mean heavy artillery, and they wouldn’t say a word. They wouldn’t say if they were looking for someone, if they weren’t looking for someone. And of course, you know, the fear from our neighbors is that they will randomly take people, that they will hurt people, especially at an hour in the morning when so many are on their way to work or school,” Ramos told amNewYork.
In a video viewed by amNewYork a concerned citizen could be heard approaching the heavily armed federal agents and asking “Are you guys ICE? Are you HSI? What are you doing here?”
The armed men responded by saying, “You are not involved,” before refusing to answer any more questions.
A flood of concerned New Yorkers and advocates rushed to the area, but the predawn raid had already been conducted by the time most had arrived.
Ramos charged that the sight of the weapons has sent shockwaves through the community, which she noted is “not a battlefield.” She also shared the fears she heard from her community members.
“How do I explain this to my kids? What happens if we see them on the way to school? How do we explain why big guns are in the neighborhood? This was not the purpose of 34th Avenue. What do I do if I see them?’ And that question goes for both citizens and undocumented people,” Ramos said. “People are very scared, including Latino American-born citizens like me, who are scared that, you know, they now have to walk around with their passport in order to prove that they’re American-born.”
amNewYork also reached out to two local organizations representing immigrants, the Legal Aid Society and the New York Civil Liberties Union, about the incident, and are awaiting a response.
