{"id":189423,"date":"2026-04-08T11:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189423\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:16:09","slug":"upper-west-sides-community-board-takes-symbolic-vote-to-abolish-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/189423\/","title":{"rendered":"Upper West Side’s Community Board Takes Symbolic Vote to Abolish ICE\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Eric Schmidt (left) and Hayden Brockett presenting the resolution calling for abolition of ICE. Photo by Laurie Mermet<\/p>\n

By Laurie Mermet<\/p>\n

The Upper West Side\u2019s Community Board 7 voted overwhelmingly Monday night to call for the abolition of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The resolution calling for an end to ICE, with 34 board members voting in favor and two abstaining, has no practical effect but is aimed at putting the neighborhood on record in opposition to ICE operations under the Trump administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cICE is not a monolithic federal agency,\u201d said CB7 member Hayden Brockett, a former federal prosecutor and cosponsor, with board member Eric Schmidt, of the resolution.<\/p>\n

Brockett noted that ICE was created by Congress in 2003 as part of the Homeland Security Act<\/a>, consolidating law enforcement duties that had previously been handled by other agencies. \u201cThose law enforcement functions were accomplished very differently before ICE was created, and they can be done differently again,\u201d Brockett told the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A sign on Book Culture\u2019s storefront at Broadway and West 114th Street says ICE is not welcome there. Photo by Ann Cooper<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s resolution <\/a>declares ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents \u201cunwelcome\u201d in the neighborhood and calls on Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council to direct the NYPD to push back against federal agents. It also asks state officials in Albany to let New Yorkers sue federal agents for civil rights violations and urges Congress to defund both ICE and the Border Patrol.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve helped enforce federal laws, including immigration laws,\u201d Brockett told a full room of about 85 attendees. \u201cThis background is important for why I think ultimately it\u2019s important to call for the abolition of ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resolution points to a string of incidents that Brockett said shows ICE has become dangerous to both new immigrants and American citizens. Among them are the January shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis: Renee Good, killed by an ICE agent, and Alex Pretti, shot to death by Border Patrol officers during a protest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The resolution also points to what has been happening in the board\u2019s own backyard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Federal agents arrested <\/a>Columbia University student Ellie Agheyeva in February, using the false pretense of searching for a missing child to gain entry to an apartment building on campus, according to an email by the school\u2019s acting President Claire Shipman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ICE has also been at the center of student activist arrests. In March 2025, agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student and lead negotiator during the Gaza Solidarity Encampment protests there. Khalil was taken from his campus apartment in Morningside Heights. A month later Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi \u2013 a Palestinian permanent resident \u2013 was arrested during what he believed was a routine citizenship interview in Vermont.<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s resolution cites statistics from The American Prospect reporting that 46 people died in ICE custody in 2025 and 27 more were killed as a direct result of ICE and Border Patrol actions. In the first month of 2026, eight <\/a>more people died in DHS custody or at the hands of its agents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In its conclusions, the resolution says CB7 members believe \u201cthat the current mass deportation policy being carried out by ICE at the direction of the Trump Administration is \u2018ethnic cleansing,\u2019 because it is disproportionately targeting multiple ethnic groups, that it is causing grave harm to families and communities in our district and across the country, and that it must be halted immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vote puts CB7 in company with several elected officials who have made similar calls to end ICE or curb its authority, including District 7 City Councilmember Shaun Abreu, New York State Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, New York State Assemblymember and congressional candidate Micah Lasher, and New York City Comptroller Mark Levine.<\/p>\n

In his presentation to CB7 members, Brockett was careful to draw a distinction between getting rid of the agency and ending immigration enforcement altogether. Combating human trafficking, money laundering, and narcotics still needs to happen, he said; it just shouldn\u2019t continue to be carried out through this agency.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eric Schmidt (left) and Hayden Brockett presenting the resolution calling for abolition of ICE. Photo by Laurie Mermet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,75975,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-189423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-cb7","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-the-bronx","14":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","15":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}