Immigration advocates and local officials are decrying tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who allegedly called themselves "local police" in a raid on Thursday in Inwood.
Around 6 a.m. Thursday, plainclothes ICE agents allegedly tried to enter the Thayer Street apartment of Fernando Santos-Martinez and told his partner they were “local police,” according to City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez.
Santos-Martinez’s partner opened the door and provided the ICE agents with his phone number, where they contacted him and detained him at his workplace in Harlem, according to a press release from Rodriguez on Saturday.
Santos-Martinez was taken to an ICE facility in Hudson County in New Jersey where he is currently being held. ICE did not immediately respond Saturday to a request for comment.
New York City law specifically stipulates city employees do not enforce federal immigration law. “That is the responsibility of the federal government. In cases where there is a threat to public safety, local law enforcement will work with federal partners to protect the public,” according to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
In an interview on Saturday, Rodriguez said he was calling on ICE to release Santos-Martinez, and said he doesn’t know why he was targeted by immigration authorities.
“Based on what she says, Fernando has been living here for 30 years, raising his family in the community as a productive citizen,” Rodriguez said, after holding a press conference with Councilmember Carlos Menchaca and other elected officials and activists at Foley Square on Saturday demanding accountability from ICE.
In a tweet, state Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa -- who represents Inwood -- called for the complete abolition of ICE.
“A family left (devastated) after ICE showed up at their door, identified as local police officers and later proceeded to arrest their father at work. This practice threatens NYC as a sanctuary city,” she tweeted Friday.
Santos-Martinez’s alleged encounter with ICE does not appear to be an isolated incident. Mayor Bill de Blasio sent a letter the next day to ICE pointing out a number of similar reports, though he didn’t mention Santos-Martinez by name.
“The Mayor’s Office has received numerous reports of ICE enforcement activity, conducted earlier this year, that indicate a pattern of ICE agents making representations that erroneously suggest they are local police, in order to gain access to homes or otherwise make an arrest,” the mayor’s letter said, with officers calling themselves “police” or “detectives” conducting an investigation.
ICE officers have also used names of specific precincts or squads during investigations, including “narcotics squad” or a particular local precinct, and at one point told a man that he had to come “to the precinct” where they would “figure this out,” de Blasio’s letter said.
“Clearly stated, the NYPD does not want ICE agents stating or implying that they represent the NYPD. Such behavior negatively affects the public safety mission of the NYPD and erodes trust in our communities. Accordingly, we ask that you immediately issue guidance to your agents prohibiting them from stating or implying that they represent the NYPD,” the letter said.
NYPD referred questions to the Mayor’s office on Saturday.
Rodriguez said the federal authorities need to respect that New York City is a “sanctuary city” -- “We need make sure...to do what we can to get Fernando out of ICE,” he said. “And we're calling at this time for ICE to be abolished.”
