BY ROSE ADAMS, JESSICA
PARKS & MARK HALLUM
Offi cers with the US Postal
Inspection Service raided a
Sunset Park home and arrested
a man on narcotics
charges on Wednesday morning,
setting off fears among locals
that federal border patrol
agents were detaining undocumented
immigrants.
The cops — who say they
obtained a warrant for the resident’s
arrest after he allegedly
transported narcotics through
the mail — broke down the
door of the 46th Street house
at around 7 am, before interrogating
the non-English speaking
Chinese man, according to
a local organizer.
“They proceeded to go into
the room and interrogate a
Chinese man with no interpreter,”
said Jorge Muñiz-
Reyes with the local activist
group Protect Sunset Park.
“Some people from the neighborhood
said, ‘You know what,
whatever kind of police this is,
whether it is US Postal Inspector
or not, it’s doing something
that needs to be checked.’”
COURIER L 18 IFE, OCT. 23-29, 2020
ICE was not involved, according
to local offi cials.
The commotion drew neighbors
and members of Sunset
Park’s ICE watch — a group
that patrols the neighborhood
to protect locals from federal
immigration agents — after
fears over the purpose of the
raid. Thinking the agents were
with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, protesters
gathered around the postal inspector
agents as they left the
home to demand that they identify
themselves and show their
warrant, activists said.
“Unfortunately, as the
agents were leaving, they refused
to show an arrest warrant,
they refused to show any
of the neighbors anything,”
Muñiz-Reyes said.
The US Postal Inspector
called the local police precinct
for backup, and offi cers from
the 72nd Precinct swarmed
the scene. A video shows one
offi cer grabbing a megaphone
out of the hand of an ICE
watch protester identifi ed as
Brian G, and a group of police
violently handcuffi ng him.
Police said the protester
would be released Wednesday.
Locals slammed the US
Postal Inspector for arriving to
the heavily-immigrant community
in unmarked cars and refusing
to identify themselves or
show a warrant — arguing that
their tactics resemble ICE’s.
“These are patterns that
we’ve seen already, and these
patterns come from ICE agents,”
said witness Aidee Canongo
with the grassroots group Mexicanos
Unidos. “This happened
two weeks ago. They come at
fi ve, six, four in the morning
terrorizing folks, people just getting
up trying to go to work.”
Residents of Sunset Park
have been on edge after locals
recently reported several possible
ICE arrests in Red Hook
and Fort Greene.
Muñiz-Reyes urged the
agents to increase transparency
to assuage fears of locals.
“We know Trump’s agents
lie all the time, we just want
to see who these people are,
Cops arrested a protester in Sunset Park on Oct. 21 after offi cers with the
US Postal Inspection Service raided a Sunset Park home. Jorge Muniz
what they’re looking for and
they refused to do that. NYPD
then arrested someone who
was simply trying to ask those
agents for the warrant.”
Local Councilman Carlos
Menchaca said that federal
agents are targeting New
Yorkers because of the city’s
sanctuary laws, which limit
local authorities’ compliance
with ICE.
“ICE yesterday … basically
said that if New York City
doesn’t remove their sanctuary
laws, they’re going to keep
escalating what we’re just seeing
right now — that federal
agencies will come in and do
what they want to do without
any sense of respect for law,
decency, or morality,” he said.
Menchaca, state Senator Zelnor
Myrie, and Congresswoman
Nydia Velázquez are drafting a
letter to the federal government
with a list of questions about
the arrest, Menchaca said.
A spokesperson from the
Postal Inspection Service later
confi rmed that the agency was
responsible for the raid.
Feds raid Sunset, sparking
fear, protests over ICE
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