11 N.Y. Officials Arrested Trying to Access ICE Detention Cells
“Eleven Democratic officials, including the city comptroller and public advocate, were arrested in New York after attempting to access ICE detention cells and protesting against the agency’s practices. The arrests were part of a coordinated protest against President Trump’s immigration policies.
Brad Lander, the city comptroller, was arrested again. Jumaane D. Williams, the public advocate, was among protesters detained outside.
Federal officers arrested 11 Democratic elected officials inside a federal building in Lower Manhattan on Thursday after the officials demanded access to cells used by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to detain migrants.
The officials, including Brad Lander, the city comptroller, and city and state lawmakers, were arrested after they showed up at 26 Federal Plaza and sought to inspect the 10th-floor holding cells, which are operated by ICE and closed to the public. The cells have drawn scrutiny following complaints of unsanitary and overcrowded conditions, leading a federal judge to order ICE to improve the conditions last month.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, denied the elected officials access and arrested them shortly after 3:45 p.m., following a one-hour standoff during which the officials sat down on the floor, refused to leave and began to chant after unfurling a banner that read: “NYers against ICE.”
At about the same time, another group of Democratic elected officials was arrested after the officials joined about 40 protesters outside 26 Federal Plaza attempting to block the garage doors typically used by ICE as it moves vans carrying detained immigrants. The arrested officials, including Jumaane D. Williams, the public advocate, sat down on the ground, chanting for the release of everyone in ICE custody.
Police officers urged the officials to move before advancing to arrest them.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE, said 71 people had been arrested on Thursday.
The coordinated displays of protest on Thursday, planned largely by members of the Democratic Party’s left flank, were the latest signs of opposition to President Trump’s pledge to carry out mass deportations, including in liberal, immigrant-heavy cities such as New York.“
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