Big Apple chaos: Democrat officials arrested for obstructing ICE agents in NYC
It’s become a popular political statement these days – as Democrats flail against the voter-endorsed MAGA and border security agenda of President Donald Trump – for Democrats to obstruct federal law enforcement.
It’s happened again, as about a dozen New York state and local elected Democrats were arrested Thursday for blocking work by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in in Manhattan.
According to a Reuters report, “NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, New York Democratic State Senator Julia Salazar and New York Democratic State Representative Robert Carroll attempt to gain access to inspect the conditions of detention cells at U.S. immigration court in Manhattan.”
They banged on pans, screamed, shouted, refused to leave and eventually, “New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and 10 state lawmakers were taken into custody inside 26 Federal Plaza.”
They claimed to be there to “ensure compliance” with a court order on Thursday requiring ICE to improve conditions at the lockup.
Outside of 26 Federal Plaza, PSC members and allies from across New York— including elected leaders— are blocking ICE vans to prevent the tranfer of kidnapped immigrants to detention centers and elevate our urgent demands. #NYvsICE #ICEoutofNY pic.twitter.com/xGw0gKRlgG
— PSC/CUNY (@PSC_CUNY) September 18, 2025
The report said, state Reps. Marcela Mitaynes, Emily Gallagher, Robert Carroll, and Steven Raga, New York Democratic State Sens. Julia Salazar, Gustavo Rivera and Jabari Brisport, and Lander, all Democrats, attempt to gain access to inspect the conditions of detention cells at U.S. immigration court in Manhattan,.
The city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, led another group of several dozen anti-ICE protesters who blocked the building’s garage entrance, sitting on the pavement with signs and chanting, “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here,” the report explained.
In all, 71 individuals were arrested.
Last May, Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, was arrested during a pitched battle outside an immigration detention center in Newark. And she was charged.
Tricia McLaughlin, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is ICE’s parent organization, said of Lander, “He yelled inside the building that he was ‘not leaving’ until detainees were ‘released.'”
The resulting chaos ended up with the arrests.
We refuse to stand by while ICE abducts our neighbors. Neither should our leaders.
We’re making three demands of our leaders to get ICE out of New York. #NYvsICE #ICEoutofNY pic.twitter.com/8OBAa7iAn3
— NYS Senator Julia Salazar (@SalazarSenate) September 18, 2025
And shortly after, the building was locked down because “someone called in a bomb threat,” McLaughlin said.
A report at Red State said the 71 arrests included 15 elected Democrats “for illegally blocking entrances to a federal building … and obstructing law enforcement.”
The report added, “Allegedly, the demonstrators were ‘attempting to conduct oversight and confirm ICE compliance with [a] new court order requiring humane conditions for people detained at the facility.’ It seems that no one told them that local officials have no right to conduct inspections or oversight in federal buildings, and if they spent as much time trying to make New York safe and clean as they devote to making it into a Third World crap hole, everyone would be happier.”
Red State added, “I’m sure this kind of activity plays well with the far left in New York now and will probably play even better when crypto-Communist Zohran Mamdani takes charge. It will not play that well at the polls. While Trump is pushing several 80-20 issues, two of which are closing the border to illegal immigration and deporting illegals.”