![\"zhuang](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/A003_20260116__Erica-Price.jpg\")
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A Bensonhurst church leader was arrested by ICE on Thursday morning, according to Council Member Susan Zhuang. <\/p>\n
Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n
A Bensonhurst church leader and several of his neighbors were arrested by federal immigration agents early on Thursday morning, local officials said.\n<\/p>\n
Deacon Sebastian Renoj Barreno, an immigrant and longtime member and leader at Jovenes Cristianos in southern Brooklyn, was detained outside his Bay Parkway apartment building, according to local pastor Erick Salgado and Council Member Susan Zhuang.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYesterday, ICE agents came and they were outside just waiting for everyone who was walking out of this building,\u201d Salgado said. \u201cThey took like six or seven members of our community, including \u2026 Sebastian Renojo Barreno, who has been a leader of my church for over 18 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barreno does not have a criminal record, Salgado and Zhuang said. The Council Member later said he had been detained \u201con a technicality related to immigration status.\u201d She did not share where Barreno had immigrated from, or how long he has been in the U.S.<\/p>\n
![\"church](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/A005_20260116__Erica-Price.jpg\")
Pastor Erick Salgado said Barreno has been active as as church leader for 18 years, and did not have a criminal record. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n
ICE did not return request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Salgado immediately got in touch with Zhuang\u2019s office, who helped him find legal representation. A lawyer is preparing to file a case to ensure Barreno gets \u201cdue process,\u201d Zhuang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Less than 48 hours after his arrest, Barreno had already been moved to a detention facility in New Jersey, Salgado said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re working very fast,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
ICE activity and arrests have skyrocketed in Zhuang\u2019s district, which includes large parts of Sunset Park and Dyker Heights and parts of Bath Beach, Borough Park and Gravesend, the council member said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a one time case,\u201d Zhuang said. \u201cWe have this type of case almost every single day this week.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
In November, ICE agents allegedly lured a young mother out of her Bensonhurst home and arrested her<\/a>. Zhuang said another constituent, a \u201cPTA parent\u201d who was \u201cdoing every single thing right, and doing every single thing possible to follow the instructions, follow the law,\u201d was recently detained at a green card interview. Agents also recently entered a store near Zhuang\u2019s district office, she said, and detained and deported the owner.<\/p>\n The council member said three attorneys are volunteering to help with immigration issues at her office. Still, it is often very difficult to get information about constituents who are arrested, and can be impossible to track them through the ICE system.<\/p>\n Church members have seen ICE agents on patrol in the neighborhood regularly, Salgado said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhat concerns us most is that they come into this community almost every day,\u201d he said. \u201cThey go to the train station at New Utrecht and 18th Avenue, waiting at 6 o\u2019clock in the morning and following a profile.\u201d<\/p>\n Zhuang said she feels immigrants with criminal records should be deported \u2014 but that most of the people detained in her district are innocent.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe are promised by [President Donald Trump] that ICE is committed to public safety, detaining violent criminals and then deporting them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut [Barreno] was not a criminal. He is an active member of our community, serving and uplifting our community and constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n Zhuang, an immigrant herself, said the immigration system in the U.S. is \u201cvery hard to understand.\u201d Gaining legal status is complicated and can take many years, Zhuang said.<\/p>\n In 2025, thousands of people<\/a> attending routine immigration hearings at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan were arrested by ICE. Many were detained<\/a> even after judges ruled they could remain in the U.S. for additional court dates or to continue seeking asylum<\/a>, others were arrested<\/a> while attending mandatory ICE check-ins while awaiting immigration proceedings.\u00a0<\/p>\n ICE has also conducted a number of raids across the city, arresting several vendors<\/a> in lower Manhattan\u2019s Chinatown and descending on multiple homes in Queens, where they forcibly arrested<\/a> residents.<\/p>\n![\"apartment](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/A012_20260116__Erica-Price.jpg\")
Barreno was arrested as he exited his Bay Parkway apartment building. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n![\"ICE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/DSC04485-copygggg-1.webp.jpeg\")
Agents have arrested thousands of people attending routine immigration proceedings at 26 Federal Plaza. File photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n