'It Felt Like ICE Gone Rogue': The Masked Men of Lower Manhattan
A masked man at 26 Federal Plaza. (Stephanie Keith / Hell Gate)

'It Felt Like ICE Gone Rogue': The Masked Men of Lower Manhattan

Longtime immigration court observers say that federal agents working for ICE have created an unprecedented atmosphere of terror in their quest to deport as many New Yorkers as they can.

Longtime immigration attorneys like Stefi Bastiaensz know that dealing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is just part of the job.

"For a lawyer to navigate the systems available to us to help our clients, we have to negotiate and talk with ICE and ICE attorneys," Bastiaensz said. "We can’t always have our fists up. Sometimes we do, and it is an aggressive relationship, and sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's transactional. It's wise for us to always leave the door open for negotiation." 

But starting in May of this year, that relationship between ICE agents and immigration attorneys completely broke down. ICE agents began making arrests in courthouses, sometimes tackling people after their court hearings. The hallways of the courthouse, which had once been a more neutral space, were now a hunting ground for ICE agents looking to meet detention quotas, with many of them now using neck gaiters and face masks to cover up their identity.

"It felt like ICE gone rogue. It felt very inappropriate for a government agency which for the most part, I work with on a day-to-day basis," Bastiaensz told Hell Gate.


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