Elected officials went from storefront to storefront in the Lower East Side over the weekend to inform business owners of their rights should they encounter ICE agents.
This came after locals say they spotted several ICE agents on Thursday at around 2:45 p.m on Broome and Eldridge streets. Those who eyed the Feds reported they were seen taking photos, then walking into a coffee shop and attempting to access the rear of the business, before being asked to vacate by a worker.
“Luckily the barista did the right thing, she stopped talking to them and asked them to leave, kindly, and they left. But you know, that’s what we need to tell people to do. It could have gone horribly bad if someone didn’t know that they can talk back to them and tell them that they’re not supposed to be there,” NYC Council Member Christopher Marte told amNewYork.
In response to this incident, Marte joined with Assembly Member Grace Lee, and Congress Member Dan Goldman, along with several volunteers, on Saturday morning to canvas the Lower East Side and speak with local workers. According to the politicians, they handed out pamphlets in Spanish and English that informed immigrant workers of their rights and employers of their legal abilities to deny ICE access to their place of employment.
“We decided that we need to take action and make sure that we’re providing information to all the small business owners, to the employees so that they know their rights and they can protect themselves,” Lee explained. “We’ve seen everything that’s happening in Minneapolis and how ICE is terrorizing communities. To know that they are starting to build up an operation on the Lower East Side is terrifying. It’s terrifying for the communities.”
Volunteers met at Allen and Rivington Streets and discussed the route they would take before splitting into groups. Marte, Goldman, and Lee branched off together. The elected officials met with workers at pizzerias and other restaurants who were interested in learning how they could legally turn away ICE agents.
This immigration enforcement escalation comes amidst massive weekly protests in the Big Apple and unrest in states across the country over the way the Trump Administration has permitted the federal agency to cause havoc, leading to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. And while New York has not seen the large-scale ICE operations that Minneapolis has, those like Goldman say it is only a matter of time before things ramp up, and he wants his constituents to be ready.
“My reaction is that they [ICE] better get themselves under control before they start coming into New York City. We will not accept this kind of lawlessness, and we will make sure that they are following the law and the Constitution and doing their job, and that they are focusing on those who are convicted criminals and should be deported and leaving those who are seeking lawful pathways to this country for a better life alone,” Goldman said, who has also been critical of ICE activity in Manhattan’s immigration court. “We need to be doing absolutely everything we can to both inform and protect residents of this city. And one thing we can and must do is make sure that they know what their rights are when violent and out-of-control immigration agents approach them.”
