New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and other local officials on Monday condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after federal officers dragged a man out of a hospital building where he had been taken following an arrest, prompting a crowd of protesters to gather outside, where they clashed with police.
The incident over the weekend has also drawn scrutiny from critics questioning the New York police department’s response at the scene, in relation to New York City’s sanctuary laws, which bar local police from assisting federal immigration authorities in civil immigration enforcement.
The incident unfolded on Saturday night outside the Wyckoff Heights medical center in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, where dozens began gathering after reports that ICE officers had brought in a man they had detained.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent agency of ICE, said in a statement on Sunday that agents had been conducting “a targeted enforcement operation” in Brooklyn that “resulted in the arrest of Chidozie Wilson Okeke”, a Nigerian citizen. The agency said he had overstayed a tourist visa and also had been previously arrested for assault and drug possession, though it did not provide further details.
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