On Tuesday at approximately 6 a.m., the manager of a building in the Bronx was awakened by phone calls from occupants at an apartment complex who were worried.
The building manager, who did not want to be named, said, “They were telling me that ICE was there.”
New York was one of the most recent cities where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out raids. This surprised residents and business owners who were not expecting to see such activity at that early hour. These raids are part of the Trump administration’s intensified efforts to increase deportations and make them more visible by targeting major cities and publicizing the actions.
Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, revealed on social media that she was present when officers from ICE and other law enforcement agencies apprehended at least one undocumented immigrant in an apartment complex in the Highbridge district of the Bronx.
After talking to seven employees and business owners in the vicinity late Tuesday morning, while police officers from New York City were still at the site.
The majority of them were taken aback and stated that, although crime has been an issue in the neighborhood for a long time, attempts to enforce immigration laws are infrequent.
A 28-year-old company owner, who requested to remain anonymous due to fear of repercussions, stated in Spanish, “I think it’s OK if they need to arrest somebody because they committed a crime, but I worry that with ICE, they may also arrest others that haven’t done anything bad.”
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The Furman Center at New York University, which studies housing and urban affairs, has found that the rate of severe crime in Highbridge is greater than the rate for the entire city.
The police department is part of the Homeland Security Investigations task force, which investigates violations of federal criminal law, even though city and state regulations ban New York police from getting involved in civil immigration enforcement.
Police officers were present for the “criminal enforcement action” early Tuesday as members of the task team. According to them, the undocumented individual who was apprehended was wanted for significant crimes, such as kidnapping, assault, and burglary.
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According to Mayor Eric Adams, the Department of Homeland Security was in charge of the immigration enforcement operation, with assistance from other federal agencies including the New York Police Department.
