Arrest ICE? Congressman Demands NYPD Arrest Feds

Dan Goldman Asks NYPD to Bust Feds if They Step out of Line

 

The Democratic Congressman wants the police here to hold the national police force now patrolling courthouse buildings and other corners of the city to account.

 
This article originally appeared in The City.

By Gwynne Hogan

Bronx Voice

October 21, 2025

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NEW YORK - Rep. Dan Goldman is calling on the NYPD to arrest and even charge federal agents working in the city if they break New York’s laws.

 

In a letter sent to NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and first reported here, the Democratic congressmember representing parts of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan points to recent reporting in ProPublica identifying 170 cases where ICE agents detained U.S. citizens, which they have the authority to do only under limited circumstances.

The letter, sent Thursday evening and first reported on here, also points to an incident that occurred inside 26 Federal Plaza, where an agent pushed a woman who fell to the ground and slammed her head, one of many alarmingly violent confrontations by federal agents in the Manhattan immigration court building that have triggered national uproar.  

“I write to request that the New York City Police Department be prepared to strictly enforce state and local laws in order to hold federal agents accountable for any unlawful actions they engage in, including potentially through arrest and prosecution for felony violations,” Goldman wrote.

 

“When they are acting outside the scope of their legal authority, they are no different than anyone else and their conduct is subject to New York criminal laws, including felony assault,” he wrote. “In advance of a federal immigration operation in New York City similar to those occurring around the country, it is imperative that NYPD officers receive proper training and instruction on the bounds of federal civil immigration authority so they can be prepared to enforce state laws prohibiting criminal conduct, including through detention and arrest where appropriate.”

DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about Goldman’s letter. The department previously attacked him for saying masked ICE agents were deploying “getstapo-like behavior.” It’s also barred him and other members of Congress from inspecting the detention facility inside of 26 Federal Plaza despite those lawmakers having the legal right to make unannounced visits to all immigration lock-ups for oversight purposes.

Spokespeople for the NYPD and the mayor’s office also didn’t immediately return requests for comment, and the mayoral campaigns of Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa didn’t say how each of them would handle federal officers breaking local laws at City Hall. 

As federal agents have surged into other cities like Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago, their militarized and often masked presence has been met by protests that agents have responded to with rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray. In Chicago, federal agents shot at least two people, killing one of them. Advocates say a similar crackdown in New York City is only a matter of time.

Thus far, federal agents in New York City have focused their enforcement efforts inside government buildings at immigration courthouses and at ICE-check-ins, though street raids appear to be increasing. 

The Department of Homeland Security responded to ProPublica’s reporting by saying its “enforcement operations are HIGHLY TARGETED and are not resulting in the arrest of U.S. citizens.”

In the case of the agent who shoved a woman inside 26 Federal Plaza, DHS announced he was being taken off duty only to quietly return him to work days later, following leaked signal messages from one of Stephen Miller’s top deputies discussing the need to have him reinstated.

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