Nearly two dozen protesters, including a pastor, were arrested late Wednesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers inside and outside a Manhattan courthouse, The City reported.
Following the arrests of multiple illegal immigrants by ICE at a Lower Manhattan courthouse, protesters began blocking the path of two vans the agents were using to transport the detained migrants. The protesters had become enraged when 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, the outlet reported.
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 crackdown of illegal immigration has been central to the policy of President Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan. ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson told the outlet the agents are acting according to established law. "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."
The New York Police Department helped clear the protesters which involved removing some from the path of the ICE vans. Marlena Fontes, one of the arrested protesters yelled "Eric Adams and the political establishment should be ashamed." She added, "They are allowing the NYPD to be used to break up families in New York City."
One man who identified himself as Ben to CBS News described the actions of ICE as unprecedented. "I've never seen anything like this. 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," he said.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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