New York, New York – Earlier this evening, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials and NYPD officers arrested more than 75 elected officials, everyday New Yorkers, advocates, and faith leaders at 26 Federal Plaza, where ICE has cruelly detained immigrant New Yorkers attending their scheduled hearings.  ICE arrested more than 3,300 New Yorkers this year, continuously targeted anti-war protesters, and the Trump administration has made it clear it will continue to escalate its efforts.

Those arrested have three demands:

• For Federal Gov’t: Get ICE out of New York and release all immigrants detained at 26 Federal Plaza
• For State Gov’t: Call lawmakers back to Albany to pass New York for All
• For City Gov’t: Pass the NYC Trust Act to prevent New York City agencies from collaborating with ICE 

What Happened Inside 26 Federal Plaza: The following 11 elected officials were arrested by DHS officials: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, State Senator Julia Salazar, State Senator Jabari Brisport, State Senator Gustavo Rivera, Assembly Member Robert Carroll, Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, Assembly Member Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Assembly Member Marcela Mitaynes, Assembly Member Claire Valdez, Assembly Member Tony Simone, Assembly Member Steven Raga

Yesterday, the courts ruled that the 10th floor must significantly improve conditions for people detained by ICE at 26 Federal Plaza. ICE officials denied entry to the group after attempting to conduct oversight of the 10th floor to ensure compliance with the latest preliminary injunction ruling. ICE previously denied multiple requests from elected officials to access the 10th floor. Last Friday, Judge Kevin Castel ruled that ICE can continue making arrests in courthouses – a decision that enables this dangerous practice. 

What happened outside of 26 Federal Plaza: 66 New Yorkers, faith leaders, doctors, and electeds, were arrested for peacefully blocking a garage that serves as a key entry and exit point for ICE vehicles, including four elected officials: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Assembly Member Phara Souffrant-Forrest, Council Member Sandy Nurse, Council Member Tiffany Caban. 

They’re calling for City and State leaders to do everything in their power to protect immigrant New Yorkers, instead of allowing abductions to become the status quo. 

Call to Action for New Yorkers: Now is the time to make your voice heard. Show up for immigrant New Yorkers on September 25th at 6PM at Foley Square. 

Statements:

“Immigration courts should be places of justice, but in reality, have become abduction traps,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “Each week, I witness ICE agents become brownshirts, conducting more abductions and becoming increasingly violent as they detain our immigrant neighbors in deplorable conditions or ship them to far away places. The federal government needs to stop targeting new New Yorkers and must allow oversight of their facilities to ensure immigrants’ rights are not being infringed.”

“We cannot allow ICE to normalize its brutal attacks against immigrant communities. Trump is dehumanizing our immigrants, abducting New Yorkers from their court hearings, deporting workers without due process, and ripping high school students away from their families,” said State Senator Julia Salazar. “Today makes it clear that New Yorkers are not going to stand by while ICE kidnaps their immigrant neighbors, but it’s also clear that all of us leaders have an obligation to take action – sharp language is not enough. This means calling state lawmakers back to Albany to pass New York for All. It means ensuring the City Council passes the NYC Trust Act. It means we actually fight for New Yorkers.”

Assemblymember Emily Gallagher said, "The criminalization, demonization, and state-sponsored violence against immigrants in this country has reached a fever pitch under this administration. All of us, and especially elected leaders, must do more to protect New Yorkers, regardless of when they arrived. At the state level, this means calling legislators back to Albany to pass New York for All. I will not stop fighting for immigrant New Yorkers, and I encourage everyone who is concerned about what's happening in this country to consider this your invitation to join us."

Assemblymember Robert Carroll said, “ICE’s aggressive tactics are dangerous, inhumane, and counter to our values and the right to due process. All New Yorkers should oppose the Trump administration’s authoritarianism. Governor Hochul needs to call a special session and the legislature should pass the New York For All Act (A.3506/S.2235), which would prohibit New York state and local government agencies, including police and sheriffs, from cooperating with ICE.”

“Today, I stand in solidarity and put my body on the line for the lives and freedom of thousands of New Yorkers who have been illegally kidnapped and detained by ICE. One of my beloved community members, Dino—who works at The Queensboro—was recently kidnapped by ICE, shackled hand and foot, and deported. He was torn away from his wife and three children, who now live in constant fear for their safety. And the terror doesn’t end there. Children who attend schools in East Elmhurst and Elmhurst have been ripped from their community by ICE, instilling a sense of fear and helplessness in their teachers and classmates,” said New York State Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas. “This inhumanity and brutality—carried out under the Trump Administration through its attack dogs in ICE—must end. If we sit idly by and wait, we will all soon find ourselves under the heavy foot of fascism, struggling to break free. We must rise up and fight back now. That means putting our bodies on the line. End ICE’s reign of terror. End ICE occupancy now.”

Council Member Sandy Nurse said, “New Yorkers know that ICE does not keep our communities safe. Instead, ICE is tearing families apart and terrorizing our neighborhoods, operating like masked vigilantes who hide their faces in cowardice. Today, we are putting our bodies on the line to resist Trump’s white nationalist agenda because lip service is not going to cut it.”

Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez said, “There is nothing more un-American than the illegal arrest and detention of people that ICE is doing every day in our city. As the daughter of Colombian immigrants, I know exactly what it means to be American: it means showing up for your neighbors, protecting families, and standing up against injustice. Make no mistake—my colleagues were arrested today because they are fighting for due process and basic human rights. They are using their platforms to make sure we don’t look away. Do not be fooled. We cannot allow this campaign of intimidation to go unchecked.”

“ICE’s violent targeting of immigrant communities is an attack on our city’s values and our neighbors’ humanity,” said Council Member Shahana Hanif. New Yorkers should be able to attend court hearings, go to school, and live their daily lives without the threat of abduction. We must meet this moment with action — passing the NYC Trust Act, demanding transparency and oversight, and pushing back against every effort to criminalize and deport our communities. Our message is clear: New York will remain a sanctuary for all.”

"We are standing up and fighting back against ICE because hate has no home in NY. Nearly 40% of our city's residents were born in another country. The very fabric of our city is built on the contributions of our immigrant communities. The violent deportations must stop. And I will continue fighting alongside my fellow elected officials and all New Yorkers until they do," said Council Member Alexa Avilés, Chair of the NYC Council’s Immigration Committee.

State Senator Jabari Brisport said, “This is how New Yorkers respond when you come for our neighbors and loved ones: we don’t stay quiet; we don’t stay home — we rise up together and we fight for each other.”

“New Yorkers are being kidnapped by ICE and detained in deplorable conditions where they are deprived from their basic rights. ICE cannot continue to operate unchecked,” said Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes. “We have a responsibility to one another to act when our rights and dignity as humans are violated. New York State must act, state legislators must be called back to Albany and pass the New York for All Act. To do otherwise is to condone the human rights violations occurring in our state.”

“As an elected official, it is my duty to protect my constituents from cruelty and violence. ICE is cruel and violent. ICE puts New Yorkers and our democracy in danger. ICE is kidnapping my neighbors and sending them to cruel for-profit detention camps. We must pass New York for All and the NYC Trust Act and get ICE out of New York for good. ICE has terrorized over three thousand New Yorkers this year. Kidnapping them as they attempt to attend court dates and immigration check-ins. Holding them in inhumane conditions, without medicine, changes of clothing, adequate food, beds, or contact with the outside world. Snatching away due process. Sending them to prisons in countries they have never been to. Abolish ICE," said Councilmember Tiffany Cabán.

"Today’s arrests make one thing clear: the violence of ICE doesn’t stop at deportations—it extends to the silencing of elected officials, advocates, and everyday New Yorkers who dare to stand up. We are witnessing a system desperate to hide its abuses, but we refuse to be intimidated. ICE has no place in New York, and the abuse of this rogue force must end now. From inside detention centers to the streets of New York, our communities are rising up with courage and clarity. We demand respect, not detention. We demand protection, not persecution. And we won’t stop until ICE is out of New York and out of our lives,” said Jorge Torres, Organizing Director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

Luba Cortés, Civil Rights and Immigration Lead Organizer, Make the Road New York, said, “For months, we have seen ICE agents terrorize our immigrant neighbors, violently separate families and detain people in horrific inhumane conditions. We commend the New Yorkers and elected officials who put their body on the line to send a clear message: We want ICE out of courtrooms, our schools, our neighborhoods and out of our state.”

Carly Shaffer of Sunrise Movement NYC, said, “Donald Trump is unleashing unaccountable, masked ICE agents in a show of authoritarianism, tearing apart families and terrorizing communities across the country. New York City is on the frontlines, and instead of standing up to Trump’s authoritarian agenda, Eric Adams is siding with him every step of the way. We are not backing down, because our city, our families, and our future are worth fighting for.”

“We at JFREJ stand in solidarity with the elected officials, advocates, and faith leaders who are courageously putting their bodies on the line to defend immigrant New Yorkers. Immigrants are our neighbors and immigrant communities are the foundation of our city's strength. When ICE terrorizes our neighbors, we have a moral obligation to act. These officials and advocates are showing the kind of principled leadership we need - refusing to stand by while federal agents target the very communities that make New York home for all of us,” said Rabbi Ellen Lippmann, a Board Member with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.

“As Jewish New Yorkers we are appalled the federal government is using ICE to suppress the Palestinian freedom movement by deporting our neighbors who courageously oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We call for the immediate release of all antiwar activists. Together we must build a New York for All,” said Jay Saper, Jewish Voice for Peace organizer.

Gustavo Gordillo, NYC-DSA Co-Chair said, “When agencies break the law, our communities pay the price. The NYC Trust Act would finally give communities the power to fight back and hold city agencies accountable when they violate the law. And every day Albany refuses to act, our immigrant neighbors are forced to live under the shadow of fear. That is unacceptable. State leaders must reconvene now to pass New York for All and end New York’s collaboration with ICE. Our message to lawmakers is clear: do your jobs, call the session, pass these bills, and stand with immigrant New Yorkers.”

Yasmine Farhang, Executive Director, Immigrant Defense Project said, “We applaud the faith leaders and elected officials who recognize the urgency of this moment and stood up today for immigrant New Yorkers who ICE is abducting. This federal administration is committing egregious abuses of power at immigration courts that should alarm us all. But our city and state governments are not off the hook because they are wasting valuable resources on the separation of families by colluding with ICE openly and behind closed doors—creating chaos in our communities and making us less safe. Outrage must materialize into legislative solutions—anything less would be a failure to New York families. The solutions are clear - the state legislature must pass the New York for All Act immediately to bring an end to the collusion between ICE and local and state agencies, and city lawmakers must pass the NYC Trust Act to ensure that our city sanctuary laws are protected. We also implore Governor Hochul to use her clemency power to protect New Yorkers seeking pardons with urgency in the face of cruel double punishment by our immigration and criminal legal system. New York leaders cannot let this cruelty go unchecked. The moment to act is NOW.”