ICE agents assaulted the head of the police section of our sister publication, Amnewyork, Dean Moses, and allegedly attacked another journalist on Tuesday morning while documented the arrests of people attending immigration audiences in the 26th Federal Plaza, in the Lower Manhattan.
Masked officers grabbed Moses when he tried to photograph how they stopped an immigrant within a public elevator around 10:15 am on September 30.
The incident occurred five days after an ICE agent was captured in video violently pushing a woman to the ground after chasing her husband, who had been arrested after an audience. ICE suspended the agent still not identified on Friday, but according to CBS News, he returned to work on Monday.
For months, Moses and other photojournalists have exercised their rights of the first amendment to document Masked ICE agents outside the immigration rooms, where many individuals have been arrested after attending compulsory judicial audiences.
On Tuesday morning, ICE agents toured the 12th aisle and briefly followed a woman who left the room. Suddenly, they stopped chasing her and let her go to a public elevator, where she approached the cabin.
“A couple of seconds after she entered the elevator, two ICE agents enter her,” said Moses. “They never identified, they did not ask for their papers or identification.”
Moses said he entered the elevator to document the apparent arrest, at which time the agents directed their attention to him.
“I entered the elevator behind them and they started shouting: ‘Get out of here!’ Then they pushed me, they grabbed my arms and tried to get me out of the elevator.
Moses managed to take a picture of the agents who pushed him out of the elevator. Do not distinguish who they are due to the coverage on the face and head they carried.
During the episode, another photojournalist, Olga Fedorova, independent worker at Associated Press, was pushed to the ground by another ICE agent. In the fall, a photojournalist behind her, L. Vural Elibol of Anadolu Agency, hit her head against the floor and was seriously injured.
“People started screaming immediately because they were seriously injured,” said Moses. “I was semiconscious and remained motionless for 35 to 40 minutes.”
The National Security Department (DHS) sent medical assistance and a nurse attended ELIBOL. EMS placed a collar, uploaded it to a stretcher and transferred it to a local hospital; It is expected to recover.
Chaos caused immediate criticism of the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander, who was brutally arrested in Federal Plaza in June.
“Another violent attack of an ICE officer to a civilian in the federal 26th place – this time to a journalist, who had to be taken out on a stretcher,” Lander wrote in X. “Another attack on the first amendment, to our neighbors and our democracy.”
Moses indicated that he suffered mild pain in armpits and shoulder for the struggle with the agents, and although he is well, he will look for a medical exam to rule out serious injuries.
Despite the incident, Moses remains determined to continue covering the audiences in the 26th Federal Plaza. “The tension has been increasing for months, not only between ICE and photographers, but also with other staff members and immigrants who attend. It has reached a critical point; I am surprised that it has not passed before,” he concluded.
