{"id":168456,"date":"2026-03-19T18:55:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/168456\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T18:55:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:55:42","slug":"after-brooklyn-navy-yard-ousts-israeli-drone-maker-activists-want-ice-contractor-evicted-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/168456\/","title":{"rendered":"After Brooklyn Navy Yard ousts Israeli drone maker, activists want ICE contractor evicted too"},"content":{"rendered":"

Real journalists wrote and edited this (not AI)\u2014independent, community-driven journalism survives because you back it. Donate<\/a> to sustain Prism\u2019s mission and the humans behind it.<\/p>\n

Israeli drone manufacturer Easy Aerial\u2019s lease at the Brooklyn Navy Yard will not be renewed after more than a year of protests. Now activists are demanding that another military gear manufacturer follow it out the door.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn Navy Yard, a New York City-owned industrial campus, confirmed in February that it would not renew Easy Aerial\u2019s lease after Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard<\/a> (DBNY), a coalition of tenants and organizers, organized weekly protests inside and outside the Navy Yard for more than a year. Amid Easy Aerial\u2019s impending departure, organizers are now focusing their attention on the other target of their protests: tactical apparel and body armor company Crye Precision, which recently won a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n

In an email response to Prism, spokesperson Claire Holmes said the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation voted in December not to renew Easy Aerial\u2019s lease over \u201crepeated compliance issues dating back to 2023,\u201d including unauthorized drone flights and improper utility use. \u201cThere were no other factors in our decision,\u201d Holmes added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Council Member Lincoln Restler, who represents the district, praised the move, posted on social media<\/a> that Easy Aerial was set to leave the Yard<\/p>\n

\u201cThis public asset should not be leasing space to companies producing drones that are being transformed into weapons of war,\u201d wrote Restler, who did not respond to Prism\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the streets of Brooklyn to the border in Texas, gear made right here in Brooklyn is being used to harass, detain and endanger migrants and communities of color,\u201d DBNY said in a statement. \u201cMeanwhile, this same gear is shipped to the Israeli military. We are drawing a direct line from the occupation of Palestine to the violence at our own border, and it runs straight through the Brooklyn Navy Yard.\u201d<\/p>\n

DBNY organizers saw the nonrenewal of Easy Aerial\u2019s lease as proof that sustained organizing can move decisions at a public campus, and they are now pushing for Crye Precision\u2019s eviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe demand a termination of all of Crye Precision\u2019s leases and to vacate the Brooklyn Navy Yard immediately,\u201d an organizer with DBNY, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation, told Prism in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrye Precision has supplied ICE and Border Patrol with over $1,000,000 in plate carriers, helmets, and uniforms since 2014,\u201d the DBNY organizer added. They said DBNY\u2019s campaign focuses on specialized units, alleging that Crye supplies ICE\u2019s Special Response Team (SRT), which they characterized as deployed for \u201chigh risk operations,\u201d including protests and incidents in detention facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Public documents confirm that Crye was contracted to provide gear for ICE, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and SRT. Prism was unable to independently verify the total dollar total, but confirmed several of the contracts that organizers cited.<\/p>\n

BNYDC leadership and Crye Precision did not respond to Prism\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

From New York to Maine<\/p>\n

DBNY\u2019s calls for city officials to terminate the leases of Crye Precision, housed at the Yard since 2002, drew renewed attention after Crye won a federal purchase in January to supply gear for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Maine.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 19, CBP\u2019s Houlton Sector in northern Maine issued a sole-source purchase order to Crye Precision<\/a> for cold-weather jackets and pants. The award totaled $39,681.32, and the supporting notice said that Crye could rapidly provide the gear \u201ccritically needed\u201d for operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Days later, ICE carried out what officials described as an \u201cenhanced\u201d operation that led to hundreds of arrests<\/a> in Maine over just a few days.<\/p>\n

DHS media spokesperson Robert Kay did not respond to Prism\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

Crye\u2019s footprint on Brooklyn\u2019s waterfront<\/p>\n

The Navy Yard on Brooklyn\u2019s waterfront is a former military shipyard now promoted as a major industrial campus with around 500 tenants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Yard is run by a nonprofit that operates as the landlord and developer on city-owned land. In its audited financial statements, BNYDC is described as \u201ca component unit of The City of New York\u201d and the Yard\u2019s \u201creal estate developer and property manager \u2026 on behalf of the City,\u201d responsible for leasing, management, and development across industrial and commercial space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BNYDC\u2019s arrangement with the city is also unusually long term. The audit states that BNYDC operates under a city lease that, after renewals, runs until 2111. And it doesn\u2019t just rent space; it also runs day-to-day campus operations, including upkeep of buildings, roads and utilities, sanitation, snow removal, and \u201cstreet security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the Yard is city-owned, tenants are positioned to benefit from a package of incentives that can lower operating costs. The Yard advertises Qualified Opportunity Zone benefits and exemption from real estate taxes, and it promotes other programs that tenants may qualify for. City money also supports the campus itself. BNYDC\u2019s audit shows the city fronted more than $8.3 million in 2025 for capital improvements under management.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maisha Morales, a local community board member and resident who joined the DBNY campaign eight months after its launch, said she initially supported the Yard\u2019s push to provide subsidized manufacturing space for small businesses, especially for minority- and women-owned companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCommercial rents are astronomically high,\u201d Morales told Prism, adding that \u201cthere is almost no manufacturing space in this city.\u201d She said learning that companies tied to immigration enforcement and military supply chains were operating on the subsidized, city-owned space, changed how she viewed Yard\u2019s public benefit mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DBNY has argued that it\u2019s targeting the Yard because city-owned public land is being leased to harmful companies.<\/p>\n

BNYDC does not routinely publish lease terms for individual tenants. But lease documents<\/a> obtained through a public record request by Drop Site News show that Crye Precision received significant rent concessions at the Yard. According to a 2012 lease, Crye\u2019s first year of rent was waived, saving the company at least $340,000, and the remaining rent was discounted by more than $1 million, while also offering up to $1 million in construction work directed by the tenant. A 2019 lease waived the first quarter of rent, valued at at least $159,444.<\/p>\n

The DBNY organizer said Crye holds three leases for spaces in the Navy Yard: the longest lease term is 20 years, plus two additional leases of 10 years and five years.<\/p>\n

DBNY also provided statements from a tenant at the Yard, a woodworker who has worked there for three years and was not named by the organizers. The tenant said that many people on campus did not initially know what the contested tenants made or who they sold to. \u201cMany have joined or are supportive\u201d of protests, the tenant said. The tenant said leasing can include concessions that help businesses survive buildouts in older industrial space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received a number of months\u2019 free rent to pay for the extensive remediation and buildout to our space, which was in poor condition,\u201d the tenant said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They said it would take \u201ccontinued pressure\u201d to remove a tenant like Crye from the Navy Yard.<\/p>\n

Morales said she raised the issue to her community board and later attended meetings with Navy Yard leadership as a Brooklyn resident. She said after she attended the meeting, she left feeling the board was looking for the easiest legal path out. \u201cThey kind of mentioned and alluded to \u2026 \u2018We can\u2019t break the lease,\u2019\u201d she said. In her view, Easy Aerial was simpler to remove than Crye Precision.<\/p>\n

\u201cEasy Aerial\u2019s lease was up to renewal \u2026 whereas with Crye precision\u2019s position, I don\u2019t think that is the case, which is why we need to continue to do the work,\u201d Morales said.<\/p>\n

She also claimed that the Yard leadership agreed to meet with a small group of residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe meeting was done outside in the Yard with security surrounding us,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morales also said she raised the campaign directly with Zohran Mamdani when he was a mayoral candidate. \u201cI gave him the rundown: \u2018You should meet with the campaign, so you can be better informed, so that if and when you become mayor, you know what you have to do from day one,\u2019\u201d Morales said, adding that Mamdani made a commitment, but there were no followups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s office did not respond to Prism\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

For Crye Precision, Morales wants City Hall and the mayor\u2019s office to step in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to look at their bylaws. They need to look at their mission statement,\u201d Morales said. And if the companies don\u2019t align, she argued, \u201cthat is a way to terminate their lease. \u2026Where there is a will, there is a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morales also criticized the recent approval of another tenant at the Yard, Radical AI, which is a material science company. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced<\/a> on Jan. 27 that the company would build an AI robotics-driven facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.<\/p>\n

Crye\u2019s ties to DHS and Israel<\/p>\n

Crye Precision built its reputation designing the \u201cMultiCam\u201d camouflage now widely used by U.S. and allied militaries. A company profile<\/a> from the Cooper Union describes Crye\u2019s rise through its camouflage innovations, including the development of MultiCam, and states that the company moved operations to the Navy Yard in 2002 before planning in 2014 to consolidate its headquarters into a single 85,000\u2011square\u2011foot space in the renovated Yard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company employs <\/a>over 250 people at Yard headquarters. It also has an office in New Jersey, according to federal spending<\/a> records.<\/p>\n

Federal procurement records show Crye products appearing in purchases connected to DHS components, including immigration enforcement. A 2019 <\/a>notice explicitly referenced Homeland Security Investigations\u2019 SRT and a planned purchase of Crye tactical jackets.<\/p>\n

DBNY organizers also argue that Crye\u2019s supply chains extend overseas. Crye\u2019s ties to Israel are mostly through MultiCam<\/a>. The MultiCam website lists Agilite<\/a>, an Israeli tactical gear company, among brands licensed to sell products made with \u201cgenuine MultiCam printed materials.\u201d Agilite\u2019s website<\/a> states that some of its camouflage gear is used by Israeli forces.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Drop Site reported<\/a> that Crye-made gear supplied to Agilite was being used by the Israeli military in Gaza.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crye disputed that this amounts to supplying to the Israeli military. In a statement to Hyperallergic<\/a> last year, a company spokesperson said Crye has \u201cno contracts with the IDF or any Israeli manufacturers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crye\u2019s filings show<\/a> 238 U.S. government contracts<\/a> since 2008, including with Defense and Homeland Security agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A September solicitation from DHS also requested 200 Crye AVS and JPC plate carriers<\/a> coded as personal armor for Border Patrol\u2019s SRT, and DBNY highlighted additional plate carrier orders routed through distributors such as Goldbelt Security<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sanctuary city<\/p>\n

DBNY\u2019s campaign comes as immigration enforcement has accelerated statewide. In New York, according to the Deportation Data Project, ICE made thousands of arrests statewide in 2025, with a large share of arrests involving people without criminal convictions<\/a> and heavy enforcement concentrated around the New York City area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City officials say they have tightened limits on when city agencies and city property can be used for immigration enforcement, including a Feb. 6 executive order<\/a> from Mamdani aimed at reinforcing sanctuary protections.<\/p>\n

The fight over Crye\u2019s presence also exposes a longer history of oversight questions at the Yard. A 2006 audit<\/a> by the New York City Comptroller found serious weaknesses in BNYDC\u2019s leasing records and internal controls, including missing or expired leases in a sample reviewed and a lack of written leasing policies. The city comptroller\u2019s office did not respond to Prism\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n

BNYDC\u2019s current real estate policy, according to the oversight memo, evaluates new tenants based on job creation, financial viability, and fit with the Yard\u2019s industrial mission, as well as Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise participation\u2014not on who a tenant sells to or how its products are used.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morales said the city needs to pause and thoroughly research who it\u2019s bringing into the Yard to see if it aligns with the mission statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if it does not, they need to put a stop to it,\u201d Morales said.<\/p>\n

Editorial Team:
Sahar Fatima, Lead Editor
Lara Witt, Top Editor
Rashmee Kumar, Copy Editor<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

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