Eleven New York City elected officials were arrested Thursday afternoon after staging a sit-in at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Lower Manhattan, demanding access to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding rooms for detained immigrants.
The officials — mostly members of the state Senate and Assembly — refused to leave after being denied entry to the 10th floor, where immigrants are held after court hearings. Homeland Security officers placed the group in zip-tie restraints and escorted them out of the building following an hour-long standoff. All were released shortly after their arrests.
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The protest was part of growing pressure on federal authorities over conditions inside the temporary holding cells. Immigrant rights advocates have described them as cramped and “inhumane.” Just a day earlier, a federal judge extended an injunction requiring ICE to provide detainees with additional meals and confidential legal calls — orders first issued under a temporary restraining order in August.
City Comptroller Brad Lander, who has been arrested before during immigration protests, was among those detained. “Our neighbors are disappearing,” Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes said tearfully in Spanish as officers prepared to take her into custody. “We can’t let this continue.”
Other elected officials arrested included State Sens. Julia Salazar, Jabari Brisport, and Gustavo Rivera, along with Assemblymembers Robert Carroll, Emily Gallagher, Jessica González-Rojas, Claire Valdez, Tony Simone, and Steven Raga.
Outside the building, dozens of protesters blocked ICE vans from leaving, resulting in 66 additional arrests. Among them were faith leaders, immigrant advocates, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and City Councilmembers Sandy Nurse and Tiffany Cabán.
Federal officials condemned the demonstration. “Another day, another activist politician pulling a stunt in an attempt to get their 15 minutes of fame while endangering DHS personnel and detainees,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, singling out Lander for “obstructing law enforcement.” The building was also briefly locked down after a bomb threat was phoned in, McLaughlin added.
The Javits Building, which houses immigration court and federal offices, has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration enforcement. Advocates say ICE agents routinely detain immigrants immediately after court hearings at the site, before transferring them to the 10th-floor cells.
Even members of Congress have been denied access to inspect the holding areas, despite their legal authority to enter detention facilities. Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Dan Goldman, Nydia Velázquez, and Jerry Nadler have all been turned away in recent months. Espaillat, Goldman, and others are now suing the Trump administration for access — a case still pending in federal court. ICE maintains that the floor in question is not a detention center but a “processing facility” exempt from oversight rules.
The arrested officials called on their colleagues to advance state and city legislation to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. They urged passage of the New York for All Act, which would bar local and state police from collaborating with ICE, and the New York City Trust Act, which would allow residents to sue the city if sanctuary laws are violated.
For many of those arrested, the protest was not only about the conditions inside 26 Federal Plaza, but about a broader resistance to immigration policies they say are tearing families apart. As Assemblymember Mitaynes put it before being led away: “This is about protecting our communities — because if we don’t stand up now, who will?”
