{"id":361124,"date":"2026-09-30T20:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361124\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T20:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T20:32:19","slug":"pure-cruelty-how-ice-crackdowns-on-african-immigrants-in-nyc-are-leaving-families-in-fear-and-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361124\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Pure cruelty\u2019: How ICE crackdowns on African immigrants in NYC are leaving families in fear, and tears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of New York\u2019s African immigrant population say they are living under fear and heartache as they fall into the crosshairs of ICE.\n<\/p>\n

A young woman broke down in tears outside of 26 Federal Plaza<\/a> on Wednesday as she recounted the moment her mother was detained at an ICE checkpoint amid what advocates charge is a federal attack on the African community.<\/p>\n

According to immigrants who are the subjects of the Trump Administration\u2019s latest rollout of ICE enforcement, and advocacy groups who are working to defend them, federal immigration agents have stepped up their detainment of those who hail from across West Africa.<\/p>\n

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams deemed the crackdown racist.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told everybody about the worst of the worst; they told everybody it was just about legal versus illegal. They are now doing everything they can to change people\u2019s legal status to not being here legally,\u201d Williams said. \u201cPresident Trump and his MAGA leaders seem to want to remove all Black and Brown people from this nation, and today he\u2019s targeting Africans, particularly from West Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

This comes as the Supreme Court said it is allowing the United States to deport detainees to Africa and what they described as \u201cthird-world countries,\u201d even if the person they are deporting does not hail from those nations<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And while the uptick in federal activity has been felt on the streets across the five boroughs, arrests are still being made inside New York\u2019s immigration court, according to those with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s ICE doing with immigrants on the third floor of 26 Federal Plaza?<\/p>\n

Legal counselors representing immigrants told amNewYork that respondents are still attending their legally mandated court hearings on the 12th and 14th floors. However, some immigrants who come to 26 Federal Plaza to answer court mandates for appearances are nonetheless sent to the facility\u2019s third floor, where they are detained out of sight of any observers.<\/p>\n

\"\"They are now doing everything they can to change people\u2019s legal status to not being here legally,\u201d Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said.Photo by Dean Moses \"\"This mysterious floor is made up of offices belonging to several different agencies and rooms transformed\u00a0 into makeshift courtrooms.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

The third floor of 26 Federal Plaza is made up of offices belonging to several different agencies and rooms that have been transformed into makeshift courtrooms. What specifically happens on the floor, however, is not always known to those representing immigrants.<\/p>\n

Williams himself attempted to gain access to the floor and was met with immediate resistance by the onsite security staff. They prevented him from walking through hallways, even though it is considered public space. <\/p>\n

After a standoff for several minutes, a supervisor allowed Williams to inspect the hallways, provided he did not enter agency space.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually made it to the third floor as well, which people haven\u2019t been able to get access to. So, at first they said no, and then they allowed us in. We\u2019re not sure why, but the cases that were being heard normally on the third floor were changed to another floor, but we were able to explore and see what\u2019s there,\u201d Williams said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the 12th floor saw an overflow of immigrants in what has become known as mega master hearings, with 100 or more unrepresented people together to speed up deportation cases. Families could be observed packed together in a room that did not have a physical judge present; instead, he appeared on a TV screen from Florida. <\/p>\n

Many of those who attended ICE check-in on the first floor and the hearings on Sept. 30 were people of color with ties to Africa.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are too many people in there,\u201d a security guard scoffed as he pushed his way through the huddled mass.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\"\"ICE check-in on the first floor of 26 Federal Plaza. Photo by Dean Moses \"ICE\"ICE check-in on the first floor of 26 Federal Plaza.Photo by Dean Moses \"\"Meanwhile the 12th floor saw an overflow of immigrants in what has become known as mega master hearings.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

For Amadou Ly, a Senegal native who has faced deportation himself, the conditions at Federal Plaza and treatment of immigrants by the Trump White House are cruel \u2014 and that seems to be the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re dealing with massive abuse, racism coming from this administration, unfair treatments, not even the most decent treatment of human beings. What we are seeing in this administration is pure cruelty,\u201d Amadou Ly said, a Senegal native who has faced deportation himself. \u201cWhat we are seeing in this administration is pure cruelty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The emotional impact of detentions at Federal Plaza was again on full display outside the facility Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n

Tears for detained and deported mother<\/p>\n

A young woman who only identified herself only as Madeline wept profusely as she shared that her mother, who was born in Gambia, was detained at a check-in on Sept. 22 after being in the country for more than two decades. Tears fell down her cheeks as she recalled arriving at the courthouse with her mother at just before 6 a.m. that day, then waited for hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt around 12:30 she called me and told me that she would be staying in ICE detention, and that they will be sending her to Ghana. I never imagined to get back on the 5 train without my mother,\u201d Madeline said. \u201cDuring that time, she barely slept, she barely ate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cAt around 12:30 she called me and told me that she would be staying in ICE detention, and that they will be sending her to Ghana. I never imagined to get back on the five train without my mother,\u201d Madeline said. Photo by Dean Moses \"\"As Madeline recounted her traumatic experience, her father also broke down and bawled uncontrollably \u2014 holding his face in his hands.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

As Madeline recounted her traumatic experience, her father also broke down and bawled uncontrollably \u2014 holding his face in his hands. Nearby, several African women \u2014 who also had been the subjects of ICE detention \u2014 welled up with tears as they looked on.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would describe that she would be shackled at her hands and her feet, like she was a criminal, and my mom\u2019s been here for 23 years. She\u2019s never done a single terrible, bad thing, and she has to be treated like she was a criminal,\u201d Madeline added. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna do everything we can to bring her back home with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"As Madeline recounted her traumatic experience, her father also broke down and bawled uncontrollably \u2014 holding his face in his hands.Photo by Dean Moses \"\"New York\u2019s African population says it is living under fear and heartache as they fall into the crossbars of ICE.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of New York\u2019s African immigrant population say they are living under fear and heartache as they fall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8068,2035,2301,9,56,63,65,64,613],"class_list":["post-361124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-26-federal-plaza","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-pm-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361124","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=361124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}