ICE storms Sunset Park
Immigrant neighborhood turned into ghost town ahead of weekend raid
Expert advice: What to do if
ICE agents comes knocking
Getty Images
COURIER LIFE, J M BR B G ULY 19–25, 2019 3
BY ROSE ADAMS
The threat of raids by federal
immigration agents have left
Sunset Park a ghost town,
with locals heading indoors
and store owners closing up
shop as fear grips the neighborhood,
according to a local
civil rights advocate.
“The park is completely
empty,” said Dennis Flores,
the co-founder of a civil
rights organization in Sunset
Park called El Grito.
“Several parts of the neighborhood
would be packed
with street vendors, but it’s a
ghost town,” he said.
Immigration agents attempted
two raids on undocumented
residents in Sunset
Park on Saturday, neither of
which led to to an arrest, the
Mayor’s offi ce confi rmed.
The Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement offi -
cers began the raids at about
6:30 a.m., knocking on the
door of a residence on 60th
Street between Second and
Third avenues. The agents
then headed to another
home on 56th Street between
Fifth and Sixth avenues at
about 7:30 a.m., according to
Flores.
None of the residents
opened their doors to ICE
offi cials, according to the
Mayor’s Offi ce of Immigrant
Affairs. One man refused to
allow the federal agents access
to his 56th Street home
without a warrant, but the Gmen
vowed to return, according
to a Pix 11 report .
“It’s scary because it’s my
home and I know I don’t have
to open the door, but they
told me I did,” the man told
PIX 11.
The homeland security
agents also tried and failed to
raid a home in East Harlem
on Saturday, the Mayor’s offi
ce reported. The attempted
arrests came a day before ICE
was scheduled to sweep the
country , conducting repeated
raids across 10 US sanctuary
cities from last Sunday
through the end of this week.
In preparation for the ICE
raids, the Mayor’s offi ce and
several community organizations
have been trying to inform
residents of their rights
and to spread the word about
the ICE.
“We are working both on
the ground and with numerous
community partners to
monitor, share, and respond
to ICE activities throughout
the fi ve boroughs as they
are reported through multiple
rapid response hotlines,”
said Bitta Mostofi , the Commissioner
of the Mayor’s Offi
ce of Immigrant Affairs.
Immigration experts told
residents to refuse entry to
immigration agents, and that
residents should reach out
to an immigration attorney
should residents face a removal
warrant against them.
But not all city employees
plan to cooperate with the
mayor’s anti-ICE approach.
In a letter to his constituents
on July 12, Edward Mullins,
the president of the police
union Sergeants Benevolent
Association, urged cops to
“NOT leave any ICE Agent
abandoned if in need of assistance
and to stand shoulder to
shoulder with each agent so
that they too can return home
safely to their families.”
ICE SCARE: Locals observed as immigration offi cials knocked on the
door of a house on 56th Street. The residents did not open the door to
the agents. El Grito
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Kings County immigrants,
regardless of their
legal status, are protected
by many of the same rights
that safeguard U.S. citizens
against harassment by law
enforcement.
As President Trump directs
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents to
conduct raids throughout
the borough, locals should
seek to arm themselves
with knowledge of their
own rights, and use the
law to protect themselves
against the federal operatives.
ICE agents are not entitled
to enter your home, and
must come equipped with a
warrant signed by a federal
judge in order to invade
your property, according
to a senior immigration expert,
who said that anyone
confronted by ICE at their
door should demand a copy
of the warrant and seek to
confi rm its validity — before
opening their door.
“If ICE comes to the door
in the middle of the night
— usually at 4 a.m. — you
should ask them, ‘do you
have a warrant,’ and if they
don’t have a warrant you
don’t have to let them in,”
said Hasan Shafi qullah, Legal
Aid Society’s chief immigration
lawyer.
Trump’s G-men attempted
to gain access to a property in
Harlem, along with two properties
in Sunset Park, and in
at least one of the Brooklyn
cases, the feds were thwarted
when a local man refused to
allow them entrance for lack
of a warrant, according to a
Pix 11 report .
And, while federal judges
may issue warrants at their
discretion, history has
shown that — in the case of
immigration enforcement
— they do so only rarely, according
Shafi qullah.
“It’s up to federal district
court judges whether
they will issue the order,”
he said. “In my experience,
it’s been very rare that
ICE agents have a judicial
warrant, but it’s unclear
whether they will start doing
that more in the future.”
However, Shafi qullah
noted that locals should
watch out for ICE agents attempting
to mislead them by
offering so-called “administrative
warrants,” which are
not signed by a judge and
do not entitle them to enter
your home. Judicial warrants
typically feature the
name of the federal court
prominently on the document,
while ICE’s administrative
warrants do not.
Other tricks employed
by ICE include telling people
they have to open the
door without a judicial warrant,
or wearing police department
jackets, the lawyer
said.
“ICE uses all kinds of
ruses to gain access and
get people to cooperate with
them,” he said.
He noted that people unsure
about their immigration
status should phone the
United States Department
of Justice’s toll-free number
at (800) 898-7180 to see if
they have a removal order
against them, adding that
there is no risk in calling.