Nine people were arrested Saturday night after an anti-ICE protest took place outside of the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, according to the NYPD.
The Department of Homeland Security told ABC News that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials apprehended Chidozie Wilson Okeke, a Nigerian national who had previously been arrested for assault and felony narcotics possession.
According to the DHS statement, during the arrest, Okeke “weaponized his vehicle” in an apparent attempt to attack ICE officials and became physically confrontational, attempting to punch and elbow ICE personnel. “Okeke also requested ‘medical assistance’ during his arrest, according to DHS, and was transferred to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center for examination.
The NYPD responded shortly before 10:30 p.m. to reports of “multiple disorderly groups” near the hospital. Officers arrived at the hospital and saw numerous people becoming disorderly, disrupting vehicular traffic and blocking emergency entries and exits, according to an NYPD statement to ABC News.
The NYPD reported that as ICE officials sought to leave the hospital with Okeke, protestors blocked the entrance and refused to disperse. According to the NYPD, one protestor began assaulting the ICE agent and eventually broke his back window.
After “repeated verbal warnings” to disperse, police detained nine people, eight of whom were arrested and charged with resisting arrest, impeding governmental administration, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief, according to the NYPD. According to the NYPD, a ninth person was summoned and later released.
According to the NYPD, one of the reckless endangerment arrests involved someone apparently throwing rubbish at a car unrelated to the ICE investigation.
Several ICE vehicles were damaged during the protest and an unspecified number of ICE officers were assaulted by the protestors, resulting in minor injuries to the officers, according to DHS.
“The NYPD does not conduct or participate in civil immigration enforcement,” the NYPD said in its statement to ABC News, adding that it “had no prior awareness or coordination regarding the ICE operation that took place” Saturday night.
Okeke entered the United States on a tourist visa in 2023 and reportedly remained in the nation after his visa expired on February 26, 2024, according to DHS.
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