What to know about the immigration enforcement raids in and around NYC

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and federal drug agents launched a series of raids in New York City on Tuesday morning.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rode along with the federal law enforcement officials, who have broadly stated that their targets are “criminals.”

Here’s what to know about the operation and the broader context of immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump.

What happened on Tuesday?

ICE officers targeted at least two locations, including on Ogden Avenue near West 170th Street in Highbridge, and arrested at least one immigrant without legal status.

“Here in New York City this morning, we are getting the dirtbags off these streets,” Noem said in a video she posted on X. One person who was among those arrested had kidnapping, assault and burglary charges, she said in another post.

ICE arrested 969 people nationwide on Tuesday morning, according to a social media post from the agency. It wasn’t clear how many of those arrested were in New York City.

Why all the activity now?

The arrests in New York City follow Trump’s pledge to conduct “mass deportations” throughout the country.

ICE conducted similar targeted operations in Chicago on Sunday. That day, the agency announced the arrest of nearly 1,000 immigrants nationwide, significantly more than is typical.

Who is being targeted?

Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan has said criminals and gang members would be the first targets of the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.

In an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, he said people who threaten public safety and national security remain a “priority,” but that others without criminal records could also be arrested.

What’s different about these ICE raids under Trump?

Despite Noem’s presence, there’s no immediate indication that the New York City raids were out of the ordinary. Federal immigration enforcement officers routinely conduct actions in the city.

Under Trump, however, ICE arrests have ramped up in recent days.

Homan has also warned that ICE will make “collateral arrests” — that is, arrests of individuals who weren’t the initial targets of enforcement operations. Such arrests were banned under the Biden administration.

Have ICE arrests increased in NYC?

ICE has yet to release details about the number of arrests it’s made in New York City or regionally since Trump took office.

But the number of daily ICE arrests nationwide has spiked significantly. In the first few days after Trump took office, ICE arrested several hundred people each day across the country. That number surged to 956 on Sunday and 1,179 on Monday, according to social media posts from the agency.

The daily average was about 415 in 2023, according to ICE data. On Saturday, ICE implemented quotas for its 25 field offices, with each expected to make 75 arrests each day.

Where is ICE arresting people?

While there hasn’t been an official accounting, ICE arrested at least three people at a seafood distributor business in Newark last Thursday, according to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and advocates who responded shortly after the raid.

Surveillance video obtained by ABC7 shows immigration officers searching an apartment building in West New York, New Jersey.

ICE officers are now allowed to enter areas that were previously off-limits, such as schools, churches and hospitals, under a directive from Benjamine Huffman, who served as the acting homeland security secretary in the first few days of Trump’s second term.

Prior to Tuesday’s enforcement actions, ICE had also been spotted conducting enforcement actions in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and West New York, among other venues.

How do the city’s sanctuary laws play into the enforcement actions?

New York City law prohibits city resources from being used in immigration enforcement.

Local police also can’t cooperate with ICE to help detain immigrants unless that person has been convicted of one of about 170 “violent or serious” crimes.

Mayor Eric Adams said he directed the NYPD to coordinate with the federal Homeland Security Investigations task force and other law enforcement agencies to arrest a suspect “connected with multiple violent crimes” on Tuesday.

The charges included burglary, kidnapping, extortion and illegal firearms possession, among other charges, both in New York and Aurora, Colorado, according to Adams and an NYPD spokesperson.

Such NYPD actions were “allowed by law,” according to Adams, because of the suspect’s criminal history. In a statement, the NYPD spokesperson said the department does not “assist in any manner with civil immigration enforcement, or allow any department resources to be used.”

“As I have repeatedly said, we will not hesitate to partner with federal authorities to bring violent criminals to justice — just as we have done for years,” Adams said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our commitment to protecting our city’s law-abiding residents, both citizens and immigrants, remains unwavering.”