{"id":56687,"date":"2025-12-01T00:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T00:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/56687\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T00:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T00:18:13","slug":"local-pols-call-for-dropping-charges-against-protesters-who-blocked-ice-in-manhattan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/56687\/","title":{"rendered":"Local pols call for dropping charges against protesters who blocked ICE in Manhattan"},"content":{"rendered":"

After more than a dozen protesters were arrested<\/a> for blocking a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdown in lower Manhattan, local politicians gathered Sunday to praise the dissenters and call for all charges against them to be dropped.<\/p>\n

Politicians including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, city Comptroller Brad Lander<\/a> and City Council members Sandy Nurse and Crystal Hudson were among those who spoke up in support of the protesters at a rally at Howard and Centre Sts. in Chinatown, near the garage where activists on Saturday temporarily blocked ICE agents from leaving.<\/p>\n

The agents called in the NYPD, and officers arrested protesters after giving multiple warnings to stop blocking the sidewalk and garage entrance. The NYPD did not immediately disclose how many protesters were arrested, but sources told the Daily News there were at least 16 arrests, with those arrested given desk appearance tickets or summonses.<\/p>\n

\"Immigration<\/p>\n

Stephanie Keith\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Immigration activists block a Manhattan parking garage being used by ICE vans during a protest against a planned ICE operation on Saturday. (Photo by Stephanie Keith\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Nurse and others called on police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to drop all charges against those arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no reason they should be charged standing up for our constitutional rights, standing up for our First Amendment rights, and standing up for vulnerable New Yorkers,\u201d Nurse said, echoing the refrain of several speakers and protesters.<\/p>\n

Williams vowed that \u201cwe will not apologize for stepping up each and every time you come into our city and try to take our neighbors. We will not apologize for stepping up and protecting one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Public<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams speaks at a rally Sunday outside a lower Manhattan parking garage where protesters were arrested for blocking a planned ICE operation. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

On Saturday, protesters located ICE\u2019s rallying point\u2014the garage\u2014and swooped in to block them, standing in front of their vehicles and dragging planters and city garbage cans into the street, obstructing their path. Other protesters linked arms in front of the garage, chanting, \u201cICE out of New York!\u201d<\/p>\n

NYPD officials said they received a call for a disorderly group on Centre St., blocking egress from a building. Cops made multiple arrests as they tried to move the protesters away from the garage entrance, the NYPD confirmed.<\/p>\n

After the caravan of ICE agents exited the garage, NYPD officers were recorded pepper-spraying demonstrators as they tried to chase the departing motorcade, throwing debris and garbage from a nearby dumpster at the vehicles. Some of those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct for jumping barricades and throwing garbage.<\/p>\n

The departing ICE agents drove to New Jersey to regroup, a law enforcement source told The News.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, I felt the call to come down here when I heard that ICE was mobilizing,\u201d said Jay Walker, 58, who was at the Saturday demonstration. \u201cWhat I saw disgusted me, because what I saw was the NYPD behaving like handmaidens to these ICE terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are terrorizing our New York City communities daily,\u201d he charged.<\/p>\n

\"Elected<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Elected officials and immigration advocates hold a rally Sunday outside a lower Manhattan parking garage where protesters were arrested for blocking a planned ICE operation. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Because of New York\u2019s sanctuary city law, the NYPD is barred from helping the feds with civil immigration enforcement, but cops can be called in if a crime or violation is being committed, such as protesters blocking sidewalks or stopping traffic.<\/p>\n

The ICE operation comes in the wake of one last month, when agents conducted a surprise raid<\/a> on Canal St., targeting illegal street vendors. Nine people were detained.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, The News reported<\/a> that Tisch received several hours advance notice from the Trump administration before the October raid. In response, sources say, Tisch directed NYPD officers to stay away from the ICE agents as they arrested vendors along the busy shopping street\u2014a move praised by mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n

In the latest clash, Ricky Patel, Department of Homeland Security special agent in charge of the New York field office, called Tisch and apologized over the way the situation unfolded, a source with knowledge of the conversation told The News.<\/p>\n

\"Local<\/p>\n

Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n

Local politicians and immigration advocates hold a rally Sunday outside a lower Manhattan parking garage where protesters were arrested for blocking a planned ICE operation. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told him that what happened today is unacceptable,\u201d the source said. \u201cICE has tried this twice with these shows of force that are intended to cause chaos and disorder on our streets, but all they are doing is putting the public, federal agents and her cops in harm\u2019s way. She warned them that this needs to stop because, if it happens again, someone will get hurt and it will be entirely on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, Emily Covington, an ICE spokesperson, said that \u201cwhen individuals broadcast the location of ICE, they are putting a target on the backs of officers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After more than a dozen protesters were arrested for blocking a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdown in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,75,84,83,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":["post-56687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56687","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=56687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}