A federal immigration operation that began on Saturday in New York City was disrupted by a group of roughly 200 protesters; several participants were detained after scuffles with the police. The episode became another example of citizen activists pushing back against Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda, which his administration has pursued through targeted raids across U.S. cities since the start of his second term in January.
Similar federal operations in other regions, including Charlotte, North Carolina, and Chicago, Illinois, have likewise met resistance from those opposing the administration’s expanding program of arrests and deportations.
According to reporting by The New York Times, Saturday’s confrontation unfolded on the edge of Manhattan’s Chinatown, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, alongside staff from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, were preparing for the raid. The paper noted that clashes with the police began close to noon inside a parking garage in Lower Manhattan, as protesters attempted to block the departure of government vehicles using improvised barricades made of garbage bags and metal fencing.
By early afternoon, around 200 people had gathered, chanting slogans and shouting at the agents. When several vehicles tried to leave the garage and moved onto Canal Street, the situation turned violent: protesters chased the vans, and some hurled planters and garbage bins at them. One passenger, the newspaper reported, wore a mask and sprayed what appeared to be a chemical irritant toward the crowd.
According to reporting by Time, federal agents halted the operation, which could have become the second major raid in the area in six weeks. In October, dozens of federal officers carried out a sweep in Chinatown, detaining nine people whom the Department of Homeland Security considered to be in the country unlawfully. That sudden action triggered a new wave of protests and criticism from leading New York Democrats, including Zohran Mamdani, elected mayor in November.
A spokesperson for Mamdani, who will take office on January 1, condemned the federal authorities’ actions in a comment to Time, calling them “cruel and inhumane.” Monica Klein of the mayor-elect’s transition team stressed: “More than three million immigrants in New York City are the foundation of our strength, vitality, and success, and the mayor-elect remains a steadfast supporter of protecting the rights and dignity of every resident, upholding our sanctuary city laws and pursuing de-escalation instead of unwarranted force.”
In a statement provided to Time, the Department of Homeland Security placed responsibility for the violence on the protesters and noted that arrests were carried out by the New York City Police Department, which was managing crowd control. “After social media posts urged agitators to gather at the ICE office in New York City, individuals dressed in black with backpacks, masks, and protective goggles arrived and began obstructing federal agents, including by blocking the parking garage,” the statement said. “Police were called in and encountered hundreds of aggressive violators, resulting in arrests.”
The involvement of the NYPD and its Strategic Response Group drew criticism from local officials, who emphasized that city law prohibits police from assisting federal agencies in immigration detentions. “It’s truly disgusting,” Democratic Councilmember Christopher Marte told The New York Times. “It creates the impression that the NYPD, especially the SRG, is essentially clearing the way for ICE agents, enabling them to carry out arrests and initiate deportation proceedings.”
After his election, Mamdani confirmed that he would retain Jennifer Tish as NYPD commissioner, a post she was appointed to by Eric Adams a year earlier. According to The New York Times, Tish spoke by phone on Saturday with Ricky Patel, head of the Homeland Security Investigations office. A source said Tish described the actions of federal agencies as “unacceptable” and stressed that they jeopardize the safety of New Yorkers, federal agents, and NYPD officers themselves.