Throughout the second presidency of Donald Trump, the president's mass deportation campaign and deployment of ICE agents in New York City has been a contentious topic in city politics. Hundreds of anti-ICE protesters have been arrested by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and their controversial Strategic Response Group (SRG).
In 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided street vendors at Canal Street. In 26 Federal Plaza, ICE agents arrested immigrants at mandatory check-ins, clashed with journalists, and arrested elected officials trying to access immigrants detention facilities inside the building. The SRG arrived at request of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and arrested protesters for obstructing an ICE vehicle from leaving the facility.
In the wake of military deployments in the nation's capital and threats from Trump to deploy the National Guard in NYC, many New Yorkers feared they would be next. Mayor Eric Adams, who previously cooperated with ICE, asked Trump not to send the military to the city. In late 2025, then-mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani promised to uphold the city's sanctuary status when elected, accusing Trump of being a fascist and pledging to prohibit the NYPD from assisting ICE. Trump threatened to arrest Mamdani if Mamdani passed sanctuary laws and released misinformation about Mamdani's immigration status on social media. During his mayoralty, Mamdani has engaged in cordial meetings in the Oval Office with Trump, despite the two continuing to publicly trade attacks.
After Renée Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE agents in January 2026 during Operation Metro Surge, NYC activists organized protests as part of the 2026 nationwide protests against ICE. The day after the killing of Good, former DHS secretary Kristi Noem visited the One World Trade Center where she announced Operation Salvo, an NYC prolonged ICE operation that has led to increased ICE presence in the city. Later that month, peaceful protesters occupied a Hilton Hotel accused of housing ICE agents, and the SRG arrived and arrested dozens of protesters who refused to leave. In May, hundreds of activists rapidly organized and prevented ICE agents from leaving a hospital with an injured undocumented immigrant, but when the NYPD arrived, they arrested protesters and made room for ICE agents to leave unobstructed. Following the hospital incident, Senior ICE official Tom Homan has repeatedly threatened to "flood" the city with ICE agents.
NYPD interactions with ICE agents have sparked outrage from advocates and elected officials who claim the NYPD has facilitated ICE arrests and therefore is not upholding NYC's status as a sanctuary city, contrary to Mamdani's promises otherwise. Mamdani has praised both protesters, for exercising their First Amendment rights, and police officers, for their presence at protests.
Background
Timeline
Adams and ICE February 2025 On February 13, 2025, shortly following Trump's January 20 inauguration, New York City mayor Eric Adams announced he would allow ICE agents to operate out of Rikers Island, a prison island in the Bronx. This was censured by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who accused Adams of "shameful flirtation" with ICE. The New York City Council later filed a lawsuit against Adams seeking an "immediate halt of activity" and accusing Adams' orders of being illegal under the city's sanctuary laws.
It was reported on February 14 that the efforts by Trump to dismiss the case into New York City Mayor Eric Adams, which caused the resignation of seven government prosecutors, came in the same week as the administration was negotiating with the mayor over immigration enforcement initiatives and Trump's "border czar" Tom Homan made reference to an "agreement". Earlier, Adams had agreed with Homan to give access to the city's Rikers Island jail for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without—via a "loophole... [Adams] appears to have found"—violating the city’s sanctuary laws, and joined Homan in a joint interview conducted by Phil McGraw, among one or more other joint interviews.
The report came after February 10, 2025, when the DOJ under Trump instructed federal prosecutors to drop charges against Adams, citing concerns that the case had been affected by publicity and was interfering with his ability to govern. The memo directing this move, written by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, stated that the prosecution had limited Adams' capacity to focus on issues such as immigration and crime. The Justice Department's decision did not assess the strength of the evidence or legal arguments in the case. The memo was issued months before the city's Democratic primary, where Adams is seeking reelection. The charges were to be dropped "as soon as is practicable" pending a further review of Adams' case following the general election in November 2025. Danielle Sassoon, the US attorney in charge of the case, refused to dismiss the charges, telling Attorney General Pam Bondi that "I cannot agree to seek a dismissal driven by improper considerations". Sassoon later resigned, accusing Bove and the Trump administration of making an illicit deal with Adams to dismiss the charges, becoming the first of seven prosecutors to resign due to the order to dismiss charges.
26 Federal Plaza clashes June 17, 2025 On June 17, 2025, Comptroller Brad Lander attempted to observe immigration hearings in 26 Federal Plaza, which serves as an immigration court, an ICE staging facility, and ICE's New York City headquarters. After one immigrant defendant's hearing, plain clothes Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers (some wearing masks) surrounded the defendant, prompting Lander to link arms with him. DHS officers tried to force the two men apart as Lander implored the officers as to whether they possessed an arrest warrant. One officer appeared to attempt to show Lander a judicial warrant, but other officers pinned Lander against the wall and handcuffed him as an onlooker cheered on the officers. Lander was the taken into an elevator by ICE agents who detained him for "assaulting law enforcement" and "impeding a federal officer," according to a DHS spokesperson. New York governor Kathy Hochul later visited and lambasted DHS agents for arresting an elected official, exclaiming "What the hell is happening to this country?" The incident was emblematic of instructions given to ICE officers to "arrest people immediately after a judge has ordered them to be deported."
Trump threatens military action On August 11, Trump threatened to send the National Guard to New York City following his deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC. Trump exaggerated NYC crime rates to justify his threats. Mayor Eric Adams responded "I'm not part of the group that says we don't want to work in coordination with the federal government, but we don’t need anyone to come in and take over our law enforcement apparatus."
August 14, 2025
September 18, 2025 On September 18, 2025, inside 26 Federal Plaza, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers wearing vests reading "Homeland Security" arrested 11 local elected officials — all members of the Democratic Party — who were demanding access to immigration enforcement's holding area on the building's 10th floor, which The City characterized as "shadowy." The local officials protested, refusing to leave the hallway outside, banging on locked doors, and sitting down to chant and sing before being "hauled off in zip ties." All 11 were later released, including Comptroller Brad Lander, state senators Jabari Brisport, Gustavo Rivera, and Julia Salazar, and state assembly members Robert Carroll, Emily Gallagher, Jessica González-Rojas, Marcela Mitaynes, Steve Raga, Tony Simone, and Claire Valdez. Four other officials were detained outside the building.
At around 4PM, protesters outside crowded together and blocked a garage that an ICE vehicle was attempting to exit. The DHS contacted the NYPD, who sent the Strategic Response Group (SRG) to move in and arrest protesters blocking the garage who chose to remain after receiving dispersal orders from the NYPD. Activist and politician Jumaane Williams was the first to be detained outside. A DHS spokesperson claimed 71 "agitators" and "sanctuary politicians" had been arrested following the incident. Lander's office claimed more than 75 arrests were made.
September 30, 2025
On September 30, 2025, journalists were in a hallway outside the immigration courtroom in 26 Federal Plaza, where ICE agents grabbed and shoved journalists.
One journalist, Dean Moses of amNewYork, was pushed off a public elevator while trying to take a photograph of a woman from Peru being arrested who had just left the immigration court. One agent wearing a mask and bulletproof vest labeled "police" grabbed Moses and told him "get the fuck off the elevator." Moses later claimed "I walked into the elevator behind them, and they started screaming at me... Then they pushed me, grabbed me by my arms, and started pulling me out of the elevator. I tried to hold on, but I got shoved out." Moses also alleged it seemed like the agents "didn't want to be seen taking this person."
A freelance journalist who had previously done work for the Associated Press, Olga Fedorova, was shoved to the floor during the struggle between police and Moses. Fedorova claimed no limits were announced on where journalists could go and that there was no warning issued to press not to go on the elevator.
A third journalist, L. Vural Elibol of Turkish news agency Anadolu, sustained injuries after hitting his head against the floor due to being pushed by an ICE agent. Paramedics put him in a neck brace and escorted him out of the building on a stretcher.
A later statement by Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin asserted officers were "swarmed by agitators and members of the press," whom she claimed they warned to move back and get off the elevator citing "concerns with our officers' safety." Democratic politicians denounced the incident, including Kathy Hochul and Hakeem Jeffries. Then-candidate for mayor Zohran Mamdani said "we cannot accept or normalize what has now become routine violence at 26 Federal Plaza." Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition also criticized the conflict as indicative of violence becoming the norm in places where due process is upheld. The incident was also condemned by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Canal Street raid October 21–23, 2025 On October 21, 2025, ICE and other federal agencies conducted a coordinated raid on Canal Street in Manhattan, which is historically known as a gathering point for immigrant street vendors of Asian and African descent. One black street vendor who claimed to have been questioned by ICE agents said the agents were approaching black vendors and asking for proof of birth, but they were not doing the same for white ones.
On October 23, The New York Times published a piece critical of the raid called Fear and Anger Fill New York’s Canal Street After Immigration Raid, where they said "People across New York City appeared on edge after the raid, seemingly bracing for the activation of President Trump’s threat to deploy military personnel and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to New York City."
On the same day as the raid, protesters assembled at Foley Square outside 26 Federal Plaza, the New York City headquarters of ICE. They chanted slogans such as "vendor power!" One protester climbed on top of a police car in front of a courthouse.
Following the raid, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced she launched an online portal for people to submit photos and videos of ICE agents to help determine whether they are breaking the law.
Mamdani's first meeting with Trump November 21, 2025