Local politicians call for dropping charges against protesters who blocked ICE in Manhattan

Sheetal Banchariya and Roni Jacobson, New York Daily News on Nov 30, 2025

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After more than a dozen protesters were arrested for blocking a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdown in lower Manhattan, local politicians gathered Sunday to praise the dissenters and call for all charges against them to be dropped.

Politicians including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, city Comptroller Brad Lander and City Council members Sandy Nurse and Crystal Hudson were among those who spoke up in support of the protesters at a rally at Howard and Centre Sts. in Chinatown, near the garage where activists on Saturday temporarily blocked ICE agents from leaving.

The agents called in the NYPD, and officers arrested protesters after giving multiple warnings to stop blocking the sidewalk and garage entrance. The NYPD did not immediately disclose how many protesters were arrested, but sources told the Daily News there were at least 16 arrests, with those arrested given desk appearance tickets or summonses.

Nurse and others called on police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to drop all charges against those arrested.

“There is no reason they should be charged standing up for our constitutional rights, standing up for our First Amendment rights, and standing up for vulnerable New Yorkers,” Nurse said, echoing the refrain of several speakers and protesters.

Williams vowed that “we will not apologize for stepping up each and every time you come into our city and try to take our neighbors. We will not apologize for stepping up and protecting one another.”

On Saturday, protesters located ICE’s rallying point—the garage—and swooped in to block them, standing in front of their vehicles and dragging planters and city garbage cans into the street, obstructing their path. Other protesters linked arms in front of the garage, chanting, “ICE out of New York!”

NYPD officials said they received a call for a disorderly group on Centre St., blocking egress from a building. Cops made multiple arrests as they tried to move the protesters away from the garage entrance, the NYPD confirmed.

After the caravan of ICE agents exited the garage, NYPD officers were recorded pepper-spraying demonstrators as they tried to chase the departing motorcade, throwing debris and garbage from a nearby dumpster at the vehicles. Some of those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct for jumping barricades and throwing garbage.

The departing ICE agents drove to New Jersey to regroup, a law enforcement source told The News.

“Yesterday, I felt the call to come down here when I heard that ICE was mobilizing,” said Jay Walker, 58, who was at the Saturday demonstration. “What I saw disgusted me, because what I saw was the NYPD behaving like handmaidens to these ICE terrorists.”

“They are terrorizing our New York City communities daily,” he charged.

Because of New York’s sanctuary city law, the NYPD is barred from helping the feds with civil immigration enforcement, but cops can be called in if a crime or violation is being committed, such as protesters blocking sidewalks or stopping traffic.

The ICE operation comes in the wake of one last month, when agents conducted a surprise raid on Canal St., targeting illegal street vendors. Nine people were detained.

Last month, The News reported that Tisch received several hours’ advance notice from the Trump administration before the October raid. In response, sources say, Tisch directed NYPD officers to stay away from the ICE agents as they arrested vendors along the busy shopping street — a move praised by Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

In the latest clash, Ricky Patel, Department of Homeland Security special agent in charge of the New York field office, called Tisch and apologized over the way the situation unfolded, a source with knowledge of the conversation told The News.

“She told him that what happened today is unacceptable,” the source said. “ICE has tried this twice with these shows of force that are intended to cause chaos and disorder on our streets, but all they are doing is putting the public, federal agents and her cops in harm’s way. She warned them that this needs to stop because, if it happens again, someone will get hurt and it will be entirely on them.”

In a statement, Emily Covington, an ICE spokeswoman, said that “when individuals broadcast the location of ICE, they are putting a target on the backs of officers.”