Federal agents inside of a Manhattan immigration court building on Wednesday made numerous arrests of migrants and observers including a pastor from Queens.
A reporter for THE CITY witnessed around two dozen masked officers, dressed in plainclothes, staking out the lobby of 26 Federal Plaza, where immigrants go for check-ins with ICE as well as court dates with USCIS, on Wednesday afternoon.
Some wielded pictures of their targets on their phones while others held print-outs of people’s faces, as they looked around for their targets. Over the course of several hours, THE CITY witnessed seven arrests: six men and one woman.
Federal agents wait in the lobby of 26 Federal Plaza to detain people after immigration hearings, May 28, 2025. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
As targeted individuals exited the elevator at the ground floor, they would be surrounded by plaintclothes officers in masks. Some of the people detained in this fashion were handcuffed white others were simply surrounded by agents who escorted them back into the elevator.
The Queens pastor attempting to observe the arrests was themself detained by the Department of Homeland Security, according to a video shared with THE CITY. The pastor wasn’t immediately available for comment and a spokesperson for DHS didn’t immediately return a request for comment on their detention.
Several of the agents in plainclothes also declined to comment but one male agent confirmed that they were with ICE, and directed THE CITY to contact the federal enforcement agency’s press office.
ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson declined to provide specifics on the New York City arrests but said the operation continued the Trump administration’s policy of pursuing “expedited removal” for people who had entered the country within the last two years. Many of those people had arrived under systems created or expanded by the Biden administration.
“ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been,” Ferguson said. “If they have a valid credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.”
Federal agents detain a person after they finished an immigration hearing at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, May 28, 2025. Credit: Gwynne Hogan/THE CITY
Immigration attorneys and activists started noting agents making arrests inside immigration court houses nationwide last week. Earlier this week, Chalkbeat reported on one such arrest in New York City, of a 20-year-old public school student.
A 24-year-old truck driver named Singh was pulled aside by three agents inside the courthouse on Wednesday, his hands shaking as he produced identification and was questioned on his identity. After several minutes, he was allowed to leave when officers determined he wasn’t who they were looking for.
“What the heck is going?” Singh said to a reporter after his release, while declining to provide his full name out of fear of retaliation from federal authorities.
“They just made me so nervous. ‘Oh no, I’m about to be arrested.’ Thanks to God I had my paperwork.”
The new Trump administration tactic has immigration attorneys at a loss.
“Normally we tell people you have a legal obligation to go to your court hearing, and in fact, if you do not go to your court hearing there are severe consequences. You could be ordered removed in absentia,” said Harold Solis, attorney at Make the Road New York.
“What’s happening right now might have the counterintuitive impact where people will suddenly start wondering whether it’s even OK to attend their court hearings if in fact what might happen is that.”
Jessica Olive, an immigration attorney with Unlocal, said she was representing a Venezuelan asylum seeker who had entered the country through Biden’s CBP One App, was released on parole, and had applied for asylum within the required one-year time period.
He, like the 20-year-old public school student, was arrested inside the immigration courthouse at 290 Broadway on Wednesday as he was leaving the building after government prosecutors dismissed his immigration case. He is currently being held in ICE detention in Pennsylvania, she said.
“This is an extremely scary time. This is unprecedented,” Olive continued. “We have never had this happen before where the government is seeking to dismiss the case and then picking people up and disappearing them into this detention vacuum.”
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The post Migrants, and a Pastor, Arrested Inside Manhattan Immigration Courthouse appeared first on THE CITY – NYC News.
