With masked ICE agents still roaming the halls of 26 Federal Plaza to detain immigrants, New York City elected officials demanded on Monday that the NYPD intervene to stop those federal agents who violate civil rights and break the law.
Standing in the shadow of Federal Plaza on Oct. 20, US Rep. Dan Goldman (D-Brooklyn/Manhattan) revealed that he had urged Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to compel police officers to take action against ICE agents who get out of line, issuing a stark warning about the potential mayhem that could befall the Big Apple in the coming months.
The well-documented behavior of masked ICE agents at Federal Plaza — from roughly detaining immigrants to accosting reporters — has been “amoral, illegal and un-American,” in Goldman’s words.
“I sent a letter last week to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to warn her about what is likely coming to New York City, because we’ve seen it around the country, in Chicago, in Los Angeles, in Portland, masked ICE agents aggressively militarized, assaulting lawful permanent residents and United States citizens,” Goldman said. “That is amoral, it is illegal, and it is un-American. That is not what this country stands for.”
Goldman asked Tisch to train her officers for a potential incursion by other federal agents into New York City, and even pleaded with her to arrest masked agents who detain or assault individuals not wanted by the agency.
The NYPD did not immediately respond for comment.
The congressman used the viral video of Monica Moreta-Galarza as an example. Moreta-Galarza was shoved to the ground inside immigration court by an ICE supervisor last month while trying to find more information about her detained husband; ICE initially announced that the supervisor, his identity never disclosed, had been suspended indefinitely, yet he was back on the job several days later.
Goldman was joined by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who didn’t pull any punches with his rebuke of both ICE and President Trump, referring to him as a felon as he implored the NYPD to take action.
“We are all here because we want to report a crime spree, a bad crime spree that includes kidnapping and assault of New Yorkers. That crime spree is not just being condoned, but spearheaded by a convicted felon, that is happening in 26 Federal Plaza,” Williams charged. “It is clear that the president is trying to create another, whether the other is immigrants, unfortunately, whether the other are reporters, whether the other is the left or progressive, anyone who wants to point out what his authoritarian regime is doing is wrong and needs to be stopped.”
City Comptroller Brad Lander also joined the call to hold the Feds accountable, recalling incidents he has witnessed when ICE detained the wrong person in a case of mistaken identity, as well as referencing when an amNewYork journalist was pulled from a public elevator by hulking, masked men. Lander himself had been subject to rough treatment by ICE during a visit to Federal Plaza in June.
The elected officials pointed out that this proposed policing of ICE would not be permitted inside of 26 Federal Plaza but instead on the streets of New York where they say they are asking cops to ensure that the masked men are who they say they are and that the person they are detaining has a warrant for their arrest.
“People who don’t present a judicial warrant, who don’t identify themselves, who give no reason for you to believe they’re actually law enforcement agents, or that they have any lawful grounds” should be subject to NYPD investigation, Lander charged. “The abductions in this building are lawful, but if you’ve been in here long enough, you’ve seen times when they grab the wrong person.”
Meanwhile, ICE could be seen once again waiting in the hallways of immigration court that morning, watching families pass by through their masks. However, amNewYork did not observe any detentions.
