Congressman Representing Lower Manhattan Calls Upon NYPD to Arrest Federal Agents
U.S. Congressman Dan Goldman is predicting that last week’s raid by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Canal Street is a part of a stratagem by the administration of Donald Trump to justify a military presence on New York streets.
“This is a militarized effort to incite tension passion and inflame the communities in New York City and elsewhere,” Mr. Goldman said at a Wednesday press conference in front of the government office building at 26 Federal Plaza, a day after the surprise ICE raid, which ensnared dozens of sidewalk vendors, as well as bystanders who attempted to intervene. “And it is surely a pretext to incite violence, so that this administration can then say that it needs to bring in the military to stop violence that they have created.”
The “military-style raid on Canal Street was an outrageous and unnecessary abuse of power,” he said. “Dozens of masked federal agents stormed Lower Manhattan, roughing up protestors and indiscriminately arresting people – including four U.S. citizens. After my office intervened, all four were released without charges, but their freedom should never have depended on congressional action.”
Mr. Goldman also responded to the October 21 Canal Street raid by urging the New York City Police Department “to strictly enforce state and local laws and hold federal immigration agents accountable for unlawful conduct, including potentially arresting federal officers who illegally assault or detain New York residents.”
This call echoed a letter Mr. Goldman sent to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch on October 16, a week before the Canal Street raid, saying, “it is abundantly clear that the Trump administration is unwilling to police its own officers or hold them accountable for gross misconduct. Accordingly, NYPD – pursuant to the Department’s own mission, values, and oath of office – has an obligation to intervene and take appropriate action, including arrest, when federal immigration officers engage in conduct that is unlawful under state law and beyond the scope of their federal enforcement authority.”
In words that would come to seem prescient a few days later, the Congressman continued, “in advance of a federal immigration operation in New York City similar to those occurring around the country, it is imperative that NYPD officers receive proper training and instruction on the bounds of federal civil immigration authority so they can be prepared to enforce state laws prohibiting criminal conduct, including through detention and arrest where appropriate.”