Locals Rush to Defend Neighbors From ICE in Bushwick and Fort Greene

by Dean Moses, amNY

Chaos unfolded in Brooklyn on Tuesday evening when ICE agents showed up and tussled with local residents who sought to prevent them from detaining a man.

The incident began unfolding at around 6 p.m. on February 24 near the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Suydam Street in Bushwick, and marks one of the most dramatic ICE raids on a New York street since federal agents swept through Chinatown late last year.

According to a source with direct knowledge of the incident, several ICE agents and a federal enforcement and removal officer (ERO) were spotted in the area detaining a man outside of an apartment building, leaving his wife and two children behind.

“The person lived in the building, and unfortunately, they left behind a wife and two kids. One, I think, being two or three, and the other one being three months old,” said Neil Constantine, who came to document the interaction. “She was bawling.”

When neighbors in the building got wind of what was taking place, sources said, they notified one another through a group chat and attempted to rally around the man whom ICE targeted for arrest. According to an eyewitness, about 15 people converged outside the building on the street, but it was already too late.

The crowd then began blowing whistles when they noticed an unlicensed vehicle with tinted windows lurking about a block away in order to warn others of ICE’s presence. As they drew closer, it sounded its sirens and flashed its lights.

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“That’s when the people were trying to stand in the way, at the front of it, and also started to pull things from the street,” Constantine said. “And the car was still doing what has been a noticeable commonplace thing among ICE agents, which is slowly still pushing the car forward, even if people are pushing back against it, and there’s three or four people at the front of the car.”

The crowd looked to prevent the vehicle from making a getaway by not only standing in its path as it continued to chug along, but also by pulling debris into its path, such as construction barriers.

Video from the scene showed the car continuing to drive even as New Yorkers threw themselves onto it. Eventually, the vehicle’s driver found a gap in the human blockade, hit the accelerator and sped away.

According to a spokesperson for NYC ICE Watch, a group documenting immigration enforcement sightings, activists caught up to ICE agent vehicles near Washington and Willoughby Avenues in Clinton Hill at around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night, when they again tried to block their path.

During the chaos, at least one ICE agent deployed pepper spray, injuring a civilian. Still, people remained steadfast.

Meanwhile, police sources reported that the NYPD received a 911 call reporting a disorderly group blocking traffic at the location and later arrived to investigate. The sources said officers approached the Clinton Hill intersection and, thereupon, found 15 to 20 people blocking one ICE vehicle in the roadway using bicycles, including other traffic behind them, with some even sitting on top of ICE’s car. Cops say they were unaware that ICE was on the scene until they arrived.

Police demanded that the individuals leave the road and made one arrest when one of the protesters did not comply and swatted at an officer with their bike. They were issued a criminal summons.

“This seems to us to be a violation of the sanctuary city policy, and something that the mayor has to answer for,” the spokesperson for NYC ICE Watch told amNewYork. “This goes to show that federal agents are still abducting people in New York City.”

amNewYork reached out to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office for comment and is awaiting a response. Mamdani has been an outspoken opponent of ICE activities and a supporter of the city’s sanctuary city policies prohibiting city cooperation with federal immigration agencies.

Police sources disputed claims of a collaboration with ICE agents in speaking with amNewYork on Wednesday.

“There was no collaboration between the NYPD and ICE,” an NYPD spokesperson said.

Editor’s note: A version of this story originally ran in amNY. Click here to see the original story.

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