Federal Agents Detain Mix of Protesters and Migrants in Massive Manhattan Sweep 

NEW YORK – At least five federal agencies were involved in a massive immigration raid on Canal Street in Manhattan on Tuesday. The huge, heavily armored federal law enforcement presence included masked agents who arrested a mix of migrants and protesters in what both activists and local elected officials are calling an ominous escalation.

“The coordinated effort of having federal agents en masse in New York City should worry  everyone,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams (D) told TPM in an interview on Wednesday morning. 

Multiple demonstrators who said they witnessed the raid told TPM four protesters were taken by federal law enforcement along with several people who seem to have been targeted for immigration enforcement. TPM reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not provide a total number of migrants or demonstrators who were arrested.  

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin provided a statement to TPM detailing the number of agencies involved in the sweep, which included the Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division. She also confirmed at least one person who she described as a “rioter” was arrested during the operation for “assault on a federal officer.” 

“ICE and its federal partners, including FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS-CI and CBP conducted a targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation on Canal Street in New York City, focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods,” McLaughlin said in an email. “During this law enforcement operation, rioters who were shouting obscenities, became violent and obstructed law enforcement duties including blocking vehicles and assaulting law enforcement. Already one rioter has been arrested for assault on a federal officer.” 

McLaughlin did not provide further information on the total number of migrants or alleged “rioters” who were detained or arrested, but said more details would be provided “as soon as they become available.”

Williams, who is the city’s second-ranking elected official, said he believed there were “around nine arrests” made by federal law enforcement during the sweep. However, he said even elected officials had not been able to obtain specific information about the total number of migrants and demonstrators who were detained or the reasons for their arrests. He described this situation as alarming and “authoritarian.” 

“Unfortunately, we don’t have much information about what happened with the federal government. … I spoke to a congressman, I spoke to [Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)], I spoke to the police commissioner, and everybody’s trying to figure out what information they can get,” Williams said, adding, “I don’t know how many people were actually detained versus let go. I heard it was a mix of vendors and just New Yorkers who were there.” 

Williams described the lack of clarity as disturbing. 

“Part of an authoritarian regime is this kind of obscurity and not providing information to anyone outside of the regime,” he said.

Gillibrand’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about her efforts to obtain information. 

Local outlets including The City and Hell Gate documented the raid, which featured armored vehicles and masked agents. 

Fallout continued for hours after agents swarmed lower Manhattan. TPM was on the scene as protesters subsequently gathered outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in nearby Foley Square, which is about six blocks from Canal Street.

Many demonstrators were masked and declined to give their full names, citing fear of federal crackdowns. According to several who said they had been present on Canal Street, over a dozen migrants were detained and four demonstrators were taken by members of the Department of Homeland Security’s investigations unit.

“I think there were four main people and they were all detained by HSI,” one woman told TPM. 

A second woman piped in and agreed that it was “HSI specifically” that detained the protesters.  

“They were so fucked. It was so fucked,” she said. “People were just doing what any normal person would do if they saw masked people taking people off the street.”

Fox News has reported that the sweep “resulted in the arrests of nine migrants” and that “four protesters were also taken into custody.”

Canal Street, one of the main thoroughfares in the Chinatown neighborhood, has long been home to a mix of licensed street vendors and unlicensed ones who sell knockoff goods. Local law enforcement regularly engages in crackdowns on the area’s bootleg scene. 

Williams said he believed there was “no excuse” for the level of force deployed in the sweep. He also noted it does not appear in line with Trump’s insistence that dangerous criminals are the focus of his deportation push. 

“The fact that you needed a military-style — it looked like a tank — and armed agents to deal with street vendors, it’s not the hardened criminals we were told,” Williams said. “This is about fear, and causing chaos, and harm. … It’s not about public safety and it’s about causing fear and chaos.”

At points, other elected officials including Comptroller Brad Lander and multiple members of the City Council also joined protesters. The crowds stayed well into the night to provide jail support for people, preparing food and other resources to provide to those who were released. Officers with the New York City Police Department made what Williams and demonstrators who spoke to TPM described as multiple arrests during the demonstration in Foley Square. One protester provided TPM with footage showing one person being taken in cuffs. The video also showed officers pushing the crowd back. An NYPD spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. 

“They were just shoving women around. It’s all so very fucking bizarre,” a woman named Marti said of the local police. 

Another person at the Foley Square protest who asked to be called “A” said the NYPD had made “a few arrests because there were some people who were actively blocking cars.”   

“Most of the people here were not doing anything illegal, and people who were arrested — that was civil disobedience, not violence,” they said. 

Williams, a longtime police reform advocate whose role involves serving as a watchdog for city agencies, said he believed the NYPD was directed to take a light touch.  

“I do know that the word from on top was to show as much restraint as possible,” Williams explained. 

One of the buildings off the square, 26 Federal Plaza, is home to an ICE detention facility and immigration court where masked agents have regularly been taking people from the halls as they show up for appearances. While Williams is among the many local Democrats who do not want to see the NYPD actively aiding ICE and the federal deportation efforts, he said there is “some logic” to NYPD protecting the plaza “so that there’s no further excuse for the federal government to come in and cause harm.”

As the evening went on, a large contingent of police officers had barricaded the streets surrounding Federal Plaza as about 50 demonstrators remained on jail support in the square.

One man who declined to give his name said they were present “just to oppose ICE, and be bodies in a space, and try and slow down the fascist takeover of this country.” Many of the protesters who responded to the situation on Canal Street and came to Foley Square said they had learned of the situation through online rapid response networks. Following Tuesday’s events, calls are circulating online for another anti-ICE protest in Foley Square on Wednesday evening.

The tense scenes echo those that have taken place in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon where police and federal agencies have engaged in a violent crackdown against people protesting ICE and President Donald Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda. Protesters have also been detained by federal law enforcement in these locales, and Trump has promised a heavy-handed response to resistance in cities, particularly those that are led by his political opponents. 

The vast majority of New York’s voters and elected officials are Democrats who are opposed to Trump. While Williams said the city has “some systems trying to prevent the worst,” he described the chaos that unfolded on Tuesday as foreshadowing of what’s to come amid Trump’s promise of further crackdowns on blue cities. 

“I think, sadly, it is about how long we can prolong the inevitable,” Williams said, adding, “I think this simple-minded president is, at some point, going to flood our streets with federal agents and that should concern everybody.”

Williams speculated that the initial raid was driven by Savanah Hernandez, a right wing influencer. Hernandez, who works with Turning Point USA, the organization founded by the late pro-Trump activist Charlie Kirk, posted a video on X.com on Oct. 19 decrying the conditions on Canal Street.

“A huge group of African illegal immigrants are operating a black market on the corner of Broadway and Canal St in New York City,” wrote in her introduction to the clip. 

Hernandez, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, concluded her post by tagging the official ICE account. 

“Perhaps @ICEgov should go check this corner out,” she wrote. 

On Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the raid, Hernandez posted another message taking credit for inspiring the sweep. 

“I just got word that the illegal immigrant vendors on Canal street were raided about an hour ago by HSI and arrests were made,” she wrote. “This comes after my video went viral this weekend showing huge groups of African illegals selling fake goods along the entire sidewalk.”

In an email to TPM on Wednesday, Hernandez described the situation as “normal.”

“I haven’t been in touch with law enforcement,” she wrote. “Regarding my video, I’ve been covering the illegal immigration crisis since 2023 so this coverage is normal for me.”

When asked if she had any concerns about the level of force or the arrests of protesters, Hernandez responded by citing reporting indicating five of the migrants had prior arrests. She also pointed to a claim from ICE that the — as yet unnamed — protesters “who were arrested had criminal histories as well.”

For his part, Williams said he was “hoping people will be astonished” by what took place. 

“The level of coordination and might that came down from the federal government targeted at some Black street vendors based on a tweet … It has to shock the conscience at some point,” he said.