Fil-Am assemblyman arrested amid attempt to inspect ICE facility

NEW YORK - Filipino American New York State Assembly Member Steven Raga was among those arrested at the Federal Plaza Immigration Court in Lower Manhattan as he and other elected officials attempted to inspect an immigration detention facility.

Raga and other elected officials from the state and New York City Hall were seeking oversight after the U.S. District Court granted a preliminary injunction requiring improved conditions for detainees at 26 Federal Plaza.

“ICE is starving people, denying them medical care, and cramming them into cage-like conditions. No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, we can all agree that inhumane treatment of anyone in New York cannot be excused by political ideology,” Raga said in a statement.

New York State Assembly member Jessica González-Rojas told GMA Integrated News in an email that officials attempted to access the 10th floor, where the detention facility is located, when they were arrested.

“We attempted to conduct oversight of the 10th floor to ensure compliance with this preliminary injunction ruling. We put our bodies on the line for the lives and freedom of thousands of New Yorkers who have been illegally kidnapped and detained by ICE. Many of us, myself included, were arrested,” González-Rojas said.

In addition to the 11 New York elected officials, Homeland Security also arrested dozens of protesters outside the Federal Plaza building, including doctors, community members, and religious leaders.

Raga said they are fighting for the human rights of people detained at the facility.

“We have a duty to hold the government accountable when unalienable rights are at risk. That’s why I peacefully sat alongside my elected colleagues and religious leaders to show that New Yorkers will not stand idly by as human rights and the U.S. Constitution are continuously violated. Our message is clear — get ICE out of New York and release all the detainees at 26 Federal Plaza.”

Photo Courtesy: Brittney Monique Walker

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused the politician of being an agitator and attempting to obstruct law enforcement inside Federal Plaza.

"Here are the facts: Brad Lander showed up at 26 Federal Plaza unannounced, accompanied by agitators and media, and proceeded to obstruct law enforcement and cause a scene. He shouted inside the building that he was ‘not leaving’ until detainees were ‘released.’

As a result of the chaos caused by Lander, the Federal Protective Service called the NYPD. Local police, along with federal law enforcement, arrested 71 agitators and sanctuary politicians—including Brad Lander, two New York State Senators, and nine New York State Assembly Members. The building is now on lockdown after a bomb threat was called in.”

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested last June at federal plaza after questioning the arrest of an undocumented immigrant. —VAL, GMA Integrated News