At least 15 New York elected officials were arrested at the federal building in lower Manhattan on Sept. 18 while attempting to conduct oversight and confirm Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) compliance with new court orders requiring humane conditions for people detained at the facility. On Sept. 17 U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered the Trump administration to abide by a series of strict and stringent rules if it were to continue to use the federal office building as a makeshift immigration detention facility at 26 Federal Plaza. By law ICE is required to allow access to facilities to any member of Congress, but not to local officials.
Eleven officials were arrested on the 10th floor at the ICE holding room and another four officials were arrested outside the federal building at the scene of pro-immigrant protests. Inside the officials knocked on the door to the holding cells for about 20 minutes but were denied entry. They made it clear that they were not leaving and sat on the floor around a banner reading, “NYers against ICE,” and chanted, “No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here!” After about one hour they were all arrested and issued misdemeanor charges of obstructing entrances and corridors. Those arrested inside included, Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller; State Senators Julia Salazar, Jabari Brisport and Gustavo Rivera; and State Representatives Jessica González-Rojas, Marcela Mitaynes, Emily Gallagher, Claire Valdez, Tony Simone, Robert Carroll and Steven Raga.
