New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani branded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as “cruel and inhumane” after about 200 anti-ICE agitators rioted outside a New York City hospital Saturday night where a criminal illegal alien with previous arrests was being held.
Whistle-blowing, profanity-spewing rioters damaged several ICE vehicles and assaulted ICE officers, resulting in minor injuries, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“They [ICE] do nothing to serve in the interest of public safety, and I’ve said that even directly to the president,” the Communist NYC mayor told Gothamist reporter Liam Quigley on Sunday when asked about the melee.
Mamdani said he hadn’t yet seen videos of the incident but that ICE raids are “cruel and inhumane.”
At least eight agitators were arrested in the chaotic scenes outside Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Bushwick, Brooklyn, after they rioted in support of Chidozie Wilson Okeke, a Nigerian national with prior arrests for assault and criminal drug possession.
Earlier Saturday, ICE had conducted an enforcement operation in Brooklyn targeting Okeke, who had overstayed his tourist visa.
Okeke resisted arrest and “weaponized his vehicle to attempt to hit ICE officers,” DHS explained in a statement posted on X.
Okeke became physically combative attempting to punch and elbow ICE officers. Our officers followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to make the arrest.
After his arrest, Okeke requested medical assistance, so ICE officers escorted him to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center for a medical evaluation. Okeke remained non-compliant during the medical evaluation throwing himself to the floor and screaming. The medical staff cleared him.
During the medical evaluation, a significant crowd of anti-ICE agitators gathered at the hospital and became violent. The protestors damaged several ICE vehicles and assaulted ICE officers, resulting in minor injuries to the officers. Assaulting law enforcement is a felony and crime.
Officers from the New York Police Department (NYPD) responded to the scene and arrested multiple rioters.
Footage shared on social media in the early hours shows clashes between cops and rioters with trash and garbage cans spilling onto the street outside the center.
At one point, ICE officers can be seen dragging the uncooperative illegal out of the building and shoving him into a vehicle, flanked by half a dozen NYPD officers and surrounded by an angry mob.
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