Two people were pinned to the ground and arrested by ICE agents who were waiting in the hallways outside federal immigration courtrooms as a blitz of migrant arrests at courthouses continued in lower Manhattan Friday.
Over a dozen federal agents, some hiding their faces with neck gaiters or medical masks, stood talking in small groups on the 12th floor at 26 Federal Plaza for several hours Friday morning.
When Dominican migrant Joaquin Rosario Espinal left the courtroom after a routine check-in, at about 12:35 p.m., at least six agents waiting outside swarmed him. Two agents grabbed Rosario Espinal by his shirt collar, before one tumbled to the ground with him.
“Stop fighting! Stop resisting! Stop resisting!” an agent yelled.
Multiple agents then turned Rosario Espinal around, pinning him to the ground before handcuffing him.
Federal agents have been rounding up migrants in lower Manhattan all week, focusing on both the courthouse and a nearby migrant service center on Elk Street. The arrests are part of a national effort under the Trump administration to ensnare migrants in deportation roundups as they appear for various routine check-ins.
The crackdown, dubbed “Operation At Large” comes after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said recently that the administration was setting a goal of 3,000 arrests by ICE each day and that the number could go higher, according to the Associated Press. CBS reported ICE has been logging about 2,000 daily arrests this week, with a total of more than 100,000 migrants taken into custody so far.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
Two people are detained by plainclothes officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the hallway outside of a courtroom at New York-Federal Plaza Immigration Court inside the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in Manhattan on Friday.(Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
As Friday’s arrests unfolded in New York, a close friend of the man’s, who accompanied him to court, said he was stunned by the rough arrest.
“I feel bad you know. I feel really bad,” Julian Rodriguez, 40, said. “I don’t have any idea now. I have to figure out what happened [to him.]”
Rodriguez said the judge dismissed Rosario Espinal’s case before he was arrested outside, a tactic that has become increasingly common.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
Two people are detained by plainclothes officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the hallway outside of a courtroom at New York-Federal Plaza Immigration Court inside the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in Manhattan on Friday. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
As ICE agents whisked Rosario Espinal away to an elevator, he turned to Rodriguez confused, asking him what was going on.
“He don’t even know what’s going on. He asked me, ‘Oh what happened?’ He didn’t even know because all of them weighing on him, throwing him on the floor,” Rodriguez said. ““I didn’t have no time to say nothing.”
Rodriguez said the man came from the Dominican Republic and crossed the southern border alone roughly a year ago. He added that his friend came for a better life, and that he “feels more safe here.”
A second person, who appeared to be attempting to block the ICE agents from Rosario Espinal was also pinned to the floor and arrested. This person told the Daily News they were “a citizen” but it was not immediately clear who they were.
— With the Associated Press
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