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Police and anti-ICE protesters clash outside immigration court in New York

Posted on by neversleep

May 29, 2025

The Department of Homeland Security said a demonstrator attempted to disrupt a federal immigration arrest in New York City on Wednesday.

Nearly two dozen anti-ICE protesters were also detained in another part of the city later that day. 

Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told [news source] that ICE agents contacted Federal Protective Service (FPS) on Wednesday morning and “requested assistance as their officers were conducting arrests” in the lobby of a federal immigration court building.

McLaughlin said FPS officers responded and saw several protesters filming and taking pictures of law enforcement personnel in the lobby. She said that at approximately 11:45 a.m. a person attempted to forcibly interfere with ICE agents attempting to place someone in custody.

McLaughlin said ICE reported the incident to FPS as “an assault on one of their officers.” The person was briefly taken into custody, issued a U.S. district court violation notice and released, according to McLaughlin.

Later that day, nearly two dozen anti-ICE protesters were detained by the New York Police Department outside a federal building in Manhattan on Wednesday night after a chaotic protest led to police struggling with demonstrators.

Protests erupted into chaos as officers and members of the crowd clashed over barricades. Protesters were taken into custody for charges that include obstruction of government administration.

“People say, ‘Oh, let them come in legally,’ and when they try to come in legally and follow court proceedings they’re being kidnapped,” a woman named Mariposa said.

The demonstrations happened hours after witnesses reported several people were taken into custody inside the ICE field office in SoHo.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve been working here for a couple years and I’ve never seen this many agents, let alone agents dressed in plain clothes, wearing masks, pulling people out of line. It’s totally out of the ordinary,” a man named Ben said.

Found on mainstream news.

ICE detention of New York City public school student sparks protests

Posted on by neversleep

May 30, 2025

There is growing outrage over the detention of a young Venezuelan immigrant who advocates say was duped into giving up his asylum status.

The 20-year-old New York City public school student named Dylan was taken into custody by ICE agents who were waiting after a hearing in federal immigration court.

The outrage reached the steps of the city’s education department in Lower Manhattan Thursday evening, where demonstrators rallied and demanded Dylan’s release.

“Dylan has been tricked, trapped and kidnapped,” said immigrant rights activist Power Malu. “He was doing everything the right way.”

Malu has been in touch with Dylan’s mother, who’s now in hiding.

In just eight days, ICE has shuttled Dylan around to four different states across the country, including as far away as Texas. He’s now locked up in western Pennsylvania.

Earlier Thursday, demonstrators held a vigil outside immigration court. It was the same federal building where Dylan was taken into custody last week.

Clergy and immigrants’ rights activists circled the building, marching in silent protest over the nation’s deportation agenda — policies they insist are racist and inhumane.

“Nothing can change unless the people stand up, we know that what we are doing is on the right side of justice, soon people will understand this and will stand up,” said Ravi Raragbir with New Sanctuary Coalition.

Unlike others arrested in the city earlier this year, Dylan had no criminal record and was in the U.S. legally. He, his mother and his siblings had been granted temporary protected status (TPS) under the Biden Administration’s asylum program.

Found on mainstream news.

New York GOP headquarters defaced with Nazi imagery

Posted on by neversleep

April 30, 2025

The New York state Republican Party’s Albany headquarters was vandalized and defaced with Nazi imagery for the second time this month as GOP leaders criticized Democrats for ratcheting up political tensions.

Vandals taped swastikas to the doors and windows of the GOP’s offices and a message that read, “If this is not what you stand for, prove it,” according to the Albany Police Department, which is investigating the crimes. It was the second such incident at the party’s headquarters in the past two weeks, authorities said. No arrests have been made.

New York GOP chairman Ed Cox blasted the “hateful vandalism,” saying it “invites political violence and threatens the wellbeing of our employees and guests.”

“This is not only an attack on our party, it is also an attack on the values of civil discourse, democracy and decency.”

Found on mainstream news.

NYPD arrests pro-Palestinian protesters after Columbia University library takeover

Posted on by neversleep

Police arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who took over part of Columbia University’s main library on May 7.

Ahead of finals week at the Ivy League campus, student activists clashed with campus public safety officials and contracted security guards inside and outside Butler Library.

Videos posted to social media showed confrontations between university officials at the entrance to a reading room inside the library. Outside, scores of students gathered, with some trying to force their way into the building.

Dozens of people donning masks and keffiyehs could be seen chanting and hoisting signs in support of Palestinians and Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student who has been held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention over his pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Claire Shipman, Columbia University’s acting president, said in an update that the university asked New York City police to assist in securing the building.

In the evening, the university sent a campus text alert that the library is closed and the area must be cleared. Shipman said two campus public safety personnel were injured in a crowd rush. The student radio news station WKCR reported demonstrators had also been injured.

NYPD officers wearing helmets and face shields entered the campus from a closed-off street.

An NYPD spokesperson said police made multiple arrests but declined to provide an exact amount. Police officers escorted dozens of people cuffed in zip ties onto NYPD buses and vans, Reuters reported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted that officials would review visa statuses for those who took over the library.

Just outside campus gates, another group of demonstrators gathered in support of those arrested.

University officials earlier said there was a disruption in a reading room, and people were asked for identification. They were then asked to disperse. The protesters were told that failing to comply would result in violations of university rules and policies, and possible arrest. None chose to identify themselves and depart, university officials said.

In a blog post earlier in the afternoon, student demonstrators said they entered the library, dubbing it “Basel Al-Araj Popular University,” named for a Palestinian activist and writer.

“Repression breeds resistance,” the post said, “if Columbia escalates repression, the people will continue to escalate disruptions on this campus.”

In March, the Trump administration gave the university an ultimatum to adopt a set of policies to quell pro-Palestinian protests in order to receive federal funds. The policies included adopting rules around masks, protests and allowing law enforcement to arrest demonstrators.

Just over a year ago, hundreds of NYPD in riot gear entered the campus after a group of student demonstrators took over a building. More than 100 people were arrested, though prosecutors dropped charges for most.

Found on mainstream news.

Vandalism of NYPD Cars in Queens During Rockaway Boulevard Sideshow

Posted on by neversleep

March 31, 2025

Chaos erupted in Queens yesterday morning when a group of individuals vandalized three NYPD vehicles. The incident occurred around 1 a.m. along Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park and involved damage such as broken windows and dented doors, inflicted, at least in part, by traffic cones.

Video footage from the scene showed several individuals surrounding the police vehicles, with some even going so far as to mount the cars and smash the windows. Amidst the chaos, police sirens blared and attempts to quickly back away were made by the battered vehicles. [News source] described one person using a traffic cone to crack the windshield of an unmarked car, while others joined in to cause further damage. The NYPD has confirmed that three of their cars suffered from broken windows and dents.

No injuries were reported during this incident, but authorities are still actively searching for more individuals involved in the vandalism and the reckless driving that took place the night prior. Footage provided by [news source] shows most of the suspects wearing masks, adding a layer of difficulty to their identification and capture.

Among the individuals arrested were [name] of Massachusetts and two teenagers from New Hampshire and Queens. Charges against them range from criminal mischief to reckless endangerment. One of the accused was specifically charged with stealing a bag from the back of a police car, which contained paperwork.

Found on mainstream news.

Tesla vandalism incidents in New York City and New Jersey

Posted on by neversleep

March 29, 2025

The NYPD is searching for the vandals who carved a swastika on a parked Tesla in Brooklyn.

It’s part of a growing number of attacks against Teslas amid CEO Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency and the slashing of thousands of federal jobs.

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is now investigating the Cybertruck that was vandalized in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Video released by the NYPD shows one suspect crouch down next to the Cybertruck and allegedly carve a swastika and the word “Nazi” onto the door while another suspect looked on.

It happened on Monroe Street early Thursday morning.

Another incident was reported Thursday, which happened on March 13.

A 38-year-old man found a sticker with a swastika and “Musk” written on it affixed to the driver’s side rear bumper of his Tesla sedan, parked at Hawthorne Street and Rogers Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn.

This follows another similar act of vandalism in the city. Police say two suspects painted a red swastika on a Cybertruck near the intersection of Rivington and Chrystie streets on the Lower East Side.

It happened on March 6 after 10 p.m. The Hate Crimes Task Force is also involved in that investigation.

In South Jersey, neighbors are on alert after they say a man aggressively pursued several Tesla owners over the weekend.

This was in the Cherry Hill neighborhood Saturday evening, when the driver of a red Acura SUV was spotted antagonizing Tesla drivers.

“He was driving on the wrong side of the road and driving very erratically,” a victim said. “The person driving the red SUV blocked us from pulling out of the driveway, rolled down his window, and said, ‘You know why, right?’ And flipped us the middle finger.”

Found on mainstream news.

Vandals splash Columbia University president’s home with red paint as protests rage over ICE arrest of Mahmoud Khalil

Posted on by neversleep

Vandals targeted the home of Columbia University’s president, splashing the historic residence with red paint and scrawling the words “Free Them All,” as protests rage this week over ICE’s arrest of former protest ringleader Mahmoud Khalil, cops said.

The side of the building at 60 Morningside Drive appeared to have been pelted with red paint balloons — with the urgent message scrawled in black marker — when Columbia’s public safety officers spotted the damage around 12:50 a.m., police said.

Columbia’s current interim president, Katrina Armstrong, lives in the building, sources said.

Continue reading “Vandals splash Columbia University president’s home with red paint as protests rage over ICE arrest of Mahmoud Khalil”

Rage Against Elon Musk Turns Tesla Into a Target

Posted on by neversleep

March 8, 2025

Tesla charging stations were set ablaze near Boston on Monday. Shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon after midnight on Thursday. Arrests were made at a nonviolent protest at a Tesla dealership in Lower Manhattan on Saturday.

The electric car company Tesla increasingly found itself in police blotters across the country this week, more than seven weeks after President Trump’s second inauguration swept Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, into the administration as a senior adviser to the president.

Mr. Musk, 53, is drawing increasing backlash for his sweeping cuts to federal agencies, a result of the newly formed cost-cutting initiative Mr. Musk has labeled the Department of Government Efficiency.

During a demonstration on Saturday at a gleaming Tesla showroom in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, protesters joined in chants of “Nobody voted for Elon Musk” and “Oligarchs out, democracy in.” One held a sign saying, “Send Musk to Mars Now!!” (Mr. Musk also owns SpaceX.)

Continue reading “Rage Against Elon Musk Turns Tesla Into a Target”

Columbia University Student Activist Detained by Department of Homeland Security Following Threats of Deportation of Pro-Palestinian Students

Posted on by neversleep

The arrest comes on the heels of the Department of State’s announcement that it plans to deport students affiliated with pro-Palestine protests. The student, who is Palestinian, is a lawful permanent resident of the United States.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK—On March 8, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and recent graduate student at Columbia University, at his place of residence, an apartment building owned by the university.

The DHS agents said that the U.S. Department of State had revoked Khalil’s green card.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. ET, Khalil and his wife, a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant, had just unlocked the door to their building when two plainclothes DHS agents forced their way in behind them. The agents initially refused to identify themselves, instead asking Khalil to confirm his identity before detaining him without explanation. The agents proceeded to threaten his wife, telling her that if she remained by his side, they would arrest her too.

Later, the DHS agents stated that the U.S. Department of State had revoked Khalil’s student visa, despite the fact that he has a green card, not a visa, and is a lawful permanent resident. An agent showed Khalil what he claimed was a warrant on his phone. Khalil’s wife went into their apartment to retrieve his green card while the agents remained with Khalil downstairs. When she returned, advising them of Khalil’s legal status and presenting them with Khalil’s green card, one agent was visibly confused and said on the phone, “He has a green card.” However, after a moment, the DHS agents stated that the State Department had “revoked that too.” Khalil’s wife then phoned his attorney, who spoke with the agents in an attempt to intervene. When Khalil’s attorney requested that a copy of the warrant be emailed to her, the agent hung up the call.

Continue reading “Columbia University Student Activist Detained by Department of Homeland Security Following Threats of Deportation of Pro-Palestinian Students”

Nine arrested at New York Tesla dealership as anti-Musk protests break out

Posted on by neversleep

Nine people were arrested during a raucous demonstration outside a New York City Tesla dealership on Saturday, protesting owner Elon Musk’s role in sweeping cuts to the federal workforce at the behest of President Donald Trump.

The protest, which police said involved hundreds of people, was one of a wave of “Tesla Takedown” demonstrations staged across the country targeting billionaire Musk, who is spearheading the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Throngs of protesters also descended on the electric vehicle maker’s showrooms in Jacksonville, Florida, Tucson, Arizona, and other cities, blocking traffic, chanting and waving signs reading “Burn a Tesla: Save Democracy,” and “No Dictators in the USA.”

Continue reading “Nine arrested at New York Tesla dealership as anti-Musk protests break out”