Councilmen cuffed protesting arrest of immigrant-rights activist
Two City Council members were among nearly a dozen people arrested Thursday morning in lower Manhattan while protesting the detention of an immigrant-rights activist who’s battling deportation, a council staffer said.
Council members Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn) and Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan) were busted while blocking an ambulance holding Ravi Ragbir on Broadway near City Hall, said Sebastian Maguire, an aide to Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Queens).
Williams breathlessly said, “Freedom. Resist. Freedom. Resist. We are going to resist,” while a cop held him face down on the hood of a gray car, according to video posted on Twitter by BuzzFeed News.
The 39-second clip also shows cops grappling with several protesters sitting on the street.
Ragbir, executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials during a “routine check-in” at 26 Federal Plaza, according to a statement issued by the group.
He was put in the ambulance after fainting, Maguire said.
An immigrant from Trinidad, Ragbir was ordered deported in 2006 for committing wire fraud, but has reportely remained in the US by repeatedly obtaining a “stay of removal” pending appeal of his conviction.
“A longtime New Yorker, a husband and a father, Ravi is beloved by all of us who have had the privilege of working with him to make New York a welcoming community for all of its residents,” said the Rev. Kaji Dousa, co chair of the New Sanctuary Coalition.
“The fact that ICE has taken him as if his spirit, family ties, and contributions to the community mean nothing is inhumane.”
Neither ICE nor the NYPD immediately responded to requests for comment.
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