24 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 16, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
ICE raids in Qns. skyrocket under Trump
BY RYAN KELLEY
rkelley@qns.com
Twitter @R_Kelley6
Raids conducted by Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in
Queens have increased dramatically since
President Donald Trump took offi ce,
according to research conducted by a pair
of legal rights advocacy organizations.
Th e Immigrant Defense Project (IDP)
and the Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR) released the fi ndings in July in
the form of an interactive map called
ICEwatch that shows nearly 700 ICE raids
in the New York area since 2013. In
Queens alone, there have been 131 incidents
during that time, the highest number
in the fi ve boroughs.
Th e map also shows that 94 of those
Queens raids, or 72 percent, have taken
place since Jan. 20, 2017, when Trump’s
term offi cially began.
In a press release coinciding with the
launch of the map, IDP Senior Staff
Attorney Genia Blaser said that its purpose
is to expose the questionable tactics
used by ICE agents when arresting illegal
immigrants.
“ICE relies on fear-mongering, secrecy,
deceit, manipulation and force to enact
its devastating deportation mandate to
deport as many people as possible,” Blaser
said. “By making the reports of their dehumanizing
tactics widely available through
ICEwatch, we aim to inform the public
and community members around the
escalation of ‘unshackled’ ICE policing.”
Th e map includes options for the user
to fi lter the incidents shown by date, type
of incident, county, location and ICE tactics
used, which reveal more trends in the
data. Th ere are 698 incidents included
on the map, and 462 of them, or 66 percent,
have taken place since the president
took offi ce.
In Queens, 50 percent of all incidents
on the map have been home raids and 30
percent have occurred at a courthouse.
In addition, 40 percent have involved
the surveillance of a suspected immigrant
while 28 percent have involved a ruse, or a
deceptive tactic meant to trick the suspect
into an arrest.
A description of each incident is also
available when a user clicks it on the map.
During a February incident in Maspeth,
for example, three ICE agents dressed as
police showed up at a individual’s home
and demanded to see his identifi cation
aft er he let them inside. Aft er he showed
his ID, the agents arrested him in front of
his 10-year-old autistic son.
In January, ICE agents showed up to a
Corona man’s home and his wife let them
inside because they said they were police,
the map states. Th e agents arrested the
individual and threatened his wife while
their four minor children were awoken
by the commotion. Since the man’s arrest,
his wife and children have been evicted
and are currently living in a homeless
shelter.
In December of 2017, multiple ICE
agents pretending to be police started
banging on the door of a Woodside man’s
apartment before 6 a.m., according to
the map. Th rough the closed door, the
agents told the man’s sister that they
were police and were looking for someone
named “Vasquez.” Th e man’s sister
told the agents that nobody by that name
lived in the apartment, but the agents stated
they had a warrant.
Th e man’s sister asked the agents to
slip the warrant under the door but they
refused, only fl ashing something quickly
by the peephole, the map describes.
Th e man then woke up and went to the
door and opened it to tell the agents that
they had the wrong apartment. His sister,
whose three children were now awake and
watching the situation unfold, began arguing
with the agents saying that she needed
to see the warrant. She eventually let
the agents inside and upon requesting to
see everyone’s identifi cation, the agents
arrested the man without ever identifying
themselves as ICE agents.
“ICEwatch shines a light on ICE’s program
of terrorizing communities through
raids, ruses, home invasions, courthouse
arrests and other forms of coercion,” said
Ghita Schwarz, Center for Constitutional
Rights senior attorney. “By demonstrating
the wide reach of ICE’s destructive and
Photo courtesy of ICE
unlawful tactics, we hope to educate and
empower immigrants and allies.”
When reached over the phone on Aug.
14, IDP spokesperson Alejandra Lopez
said that the incidents included on the map
were verifi ed through the organization’s
partnerships with Regional Immigration
Assistance Centers and the New York
Immigrant Family Unity Project. Firsthand
accounts from witnesses who called
IDP’s hotline have been vetted through
the attorneys representing those who have
been arrested, Lopez explained.
While there are incidents that were left
off the map because they could not be verifi
ed, Lopez added that there are also raids
that go unreported so the map should not
be seen as comprehensive.
ICE has not yet responded to a request
for comment about the map.
22 busted in latest crackdown on Queensbridge Houses drug deals
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
Detectives slapped the cuff s on 22
Queens residents for illegal drug dealing
charges following a yearlong investigation
at NYCHA’s Queensbridge Houses
in Long Island City.
On Wednesday, Aug. 8, 19 Long Island
City residents, two from Jackson Heights
and one individual from South Ozone
Park were variously charged with crimes
of criminal sale of a controlled substance,
including heroin, cocaine and marijuana,
criminal possession of a weapon and
other charges.
Th e investigation into the case began
in September 2017 and was conducted by
the NYPD’s Narcotics Borough Queens
Division and District Attorney Richard A.
Brown’s Narcotics Investigation Bureau.
Over the course of a year, investigators
conducted extensive physical surveillance
and undercover police offi cers posed as
narcotics customers.
In addition, nine court-authorized
searched warrants executed at nine locations
within the Queensbridge Houses
and four handguns were seized during the
course of the investigation.
“Th is investigation is another example
of police and prosecutors working
together to reduce drug dealing that too
oft en plagues our neighborhoods,” Brown
said. “We are committed to continue to
employ aggressive and innovative tactics
to track down and prosecute drug dealers
and other criminals who seek to terrorize
our communities. It is imperative
that we stop those who would fl ood our
streets with drugs and lure our children
into lives of crime.”
Th ese arrests are not the fi rst of their
kind at the Queensbridge Houses, which
is the largest public housing development
in New York City. In December 2017,
a 43-year-old man was sentenced to 10
1/2 in prison aft er he was caught running
a drug-traffi cking operation out of
the housing complex. A year before in
December 2016, seven individuals were
arrested and charged with traffi cking
large amounts of crack cocaine, fentanyl
and oxycodone.
Police Commissioner James O’Neill
thanked the Queens DA’s Offi ce and cops
who were involved in the investigation
and spoke about the importance of catching
illicit drug traffi cking operations.
“To keep driving crime and disorder
down past already record-lows in New
York City, it is imperative that we identify
and dismantle illegal narcotics organizations
like this one,” O’Neill said. “Th e
people who live and work in all of our
neighborhoods deserve to be safe from
drug-dealing and its associated violence.”
If found guilty of their crimes, many of
the defendants could face prison sentences
ranging from one to 12 years.
Photo via Shutterstock
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