More than two dozen federal law enforcement officials descended on Canal Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown on Tuesday afternoon, detaining at least four people as part of an apparent raid that later escalated into street clashes with bystanders.
Two Gothamist reporters witnessed federal agents restraining several individuals and questioning one man who was later released after showing identification.
“I just seen them swarm,” delivery driver Reese Galleria said of the federal agents. “It’s chaotic.”
Officers were wearing vests that read “police federal agent,” “police,” and that identified them as members of Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
City officials say they weren’t involved
Late Tuesday evening, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that the raid was “a targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation” that was “focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods.” McLaughlin said the effort included multiple federal agencies, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS-CI and Customs and Border Protection.
“During this law enforcement operation, rioters who were shouting obscenities, became violent and obstructed law enforcement duties including blocking vehicles and assaulting law enforcement,” she said. “Already one rioter has been arrested for assault on a federal officer.”
A spokesperson for the NYPD said the department was not involved in the operation.
A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said the city had no role in the raid and, under local law, does not cooperate with federal authorities on civil immigration enforcement.
“Mayor Adams has been clear that undocumented New Yorkers trying to pursue the American Dream should not be the target of law enforcement, and resources should instead be focused on violent criminals,” City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement.
She added that senior city officials were monitoring the protests near 26 Federal Plaza and the NYPD was on the scene to maintain order. If circumstances escalate, she said, the mayor has instructed police to intervene when individuals interfere with lawful enforcement actions.
The action comes amid rising tensions between federal immigration authorities and New York City officials over enforcement tactics and jurisdiction.
Officials make an arrest during Tuesday’s raid.
Giulia Heyward/Gothamist
Social media spotlight precedes federal action
On Sunday, Savanah Hernandez, a contributor to the far-right group Turning Point USA, posted a video on X alleging a “huge group of African illegal immigrants” were operating a black market at the corner. “Perhaps @ICEgov should go check this corner out,” she wrote.
By late afternoon, the operation expanded east toward Walker and Lafayette streets, where additional arrests were made. A crowd of bystanders began chanting and banging on unmarked vans as agents loaded detainees inside.
Around 2 p.m., reporters from several news outlets arrived along Canal Street, where the commercial corridor, normally bustling with vendors selling purses and sunglasses, was quieter than usual. Federal agents fanned out across the area shortly after, questioning and detaining people on the street.
Agents were seen taking people into custody at 26 Federal Plaza, the federal building in Lower Manhattan that houses immigration court and ICE offices, before returning to Canal Street. Some federal officers were wearing military fatigues, adding to the visible show of force that drew growing crowds and vocal pushback from bystanders.
Federal agents were seen using batons and threatening to use pepper spray as they attempted to control the crowd. One officer appeared to pull a woman by the hair while dispersing people from the street.
City Councilmember Christopher Marte, who represents the area, condemned the operation as a “horrifying display of federal overreach,” accusing federal agents of “terrorizing our immigrant neighbors with military vehicles and masked agents.”
Before the arrests, a street vendor selling bags ran up and down the street yelling “ICE is here,” pointing to unmarked cars, reporters observed. Meanwhile, dozens of bystanders flanked the federal agents, yelling expletives, including repeated chants of “f— ICE!” Others held out cellphones and recorded the encounters as federal agents continued to handcuff and detain men.
A federal agent checks a phone during an apparent immigration enforcement action on Canal Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown on Tuesday.
Giulia Heyward/Gothamist
Part of a broader federal crackdown
The enforcement action comes just days after federal agents arrested two men outside the Row Hotel in Midtown, a city-run migrant shelter. Officials said the men were allegedly tied to a Venezuelan gang, part of what McLaughlin described as a broader effort to “restore law and order” in New York City. That operation also appeared to take place without city involvement.
The activity recalled recent immigration enforcement actions in California, where ICE agents were accused of stopping people based solely on their appearance, language, location or type of employment — often work associated with immigrant communities.
After labor and the immigrant advocates sued, a federal judge issued a temporary order barring the federal agencies from stopping people based solely on those reasons. The Trump administration then secured an emergency order from the Supreme Court that barred the lower court’s restrictions from taking hold – effectively letting the challenged tactics continue – pending further court action.
Muzaffar Chishti, senior fellow and director of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute at NYU Law School, said at the time, “If this becomes the ruling, the mere appearance of a person would be a defensible basis for making an immigration arrest.” In theory, he added, “every New Yorker would be suspected of being here illegally [for purposes of being stopped and questioned] – anybody other than the Robert Redford-looking could be subject to arrest.”
The raid also coincides with renewed political tensions over federal immigration enforcement in the city. U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, who represents parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, this week called on the NYPD to arrest federal immigration agents if they violate state laws while conducting detentions, a move that has drawn both support from civil rights advocates and skepticism from legal experts over whether it would hold up in court.
Traffic was partially blocked on Canal Street as federal agents continued to operate in the area into the early evening. A large green Homeland Security vehicle was also seen near the scene, flanked by officers in riot gear.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
