NY leader asks public to report ICE activity
By: Ted Hesson
and David Dee Delgado
Reuters
NEW YORK - New York's attorney general on October 22 [2025] urged the public to submit photos, videos and other documentation of federal immigration operations to her office for review, a day after a high-profile raid targeted Manhattan street vendors.
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Attorney General Letitia James said her office would review footage and other information from operations shared through a "federal Action Reporting Form," saying in a statement that "every New Yorker has the right to live without fear or intimidation."
..... President Donald Trump has launched an aggressive mitigation crackdown in major cities, including Los Angeles; Chicago; Portland, Oregon; and Washington, D.C.
..... The San Francisco Chronicle reported on October 22 [2025] that the Trump administration would send more than 100 federal agents to the city to ramp up enforcement, citing an unnamed source.
..... Protesters in the cites have used phones to record ICE operations, which critics say have employed racial profiling and swept up many immigrant with no criminal records. The immigration raid on New York City's Canal Street, a prominent shopping area known for bargain prices and imitation goods, trigged push-back in the street from residents in the vicinity.
..... When asked for comment on James' oversight effort, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said it "Looks like obstruction of justice."
..... The new effort to record possible abuses by Immigration and Costumes Enforcement officers and other federal agents is part of a broader resistant by Democrats. Representative Robert Garcia, a Democrat based in Los Angeles, said on October 20 [2025] that he and other Democrats would launch an Online site to track the agency's operation and urged the pubic to record ICE activity.
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The Trump administration in March [2025] gutted the DHS offices charged with monitoring civil rights abuses as part of its government downsizing efforts.
..... The ICE monitoring effort by James, a longtime Trump foe, could further inflame political tensions with the White House. James, who brought a civil fraud case against Trump in 2022, was charged earlier this month [10/2025] with lying on a mortgage application, as the Trump administration stepped up its use of government power against perceived political enemies.
..... DHS said the October 21 [2025] operation targeting Canal Street resulted in nine arrests of alleged immigration officers from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea, including some with prior criminal arrests. Four people were arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and another for obstruction of justice, DHS said.
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Representative Dan Goldman, D-New York, whose district includes Canal Street, said his office had helped secure the release of four U.S. citizens detained by ICE.
..... "Dozens of masked federal agents stormed Lower Manhattan, roughing up protectorates and indiscriminately arresting people," Goldman said in a statement.
..... The Canal Street raid came after at least two prominent pro-
Trump influencer posted videos in recent weeks focusing on African immigrants selling goods along the busy thoroughfare. One of the influencer, Savanah Hernandez, said in an October 19 [2025] post on X that African immigrants without legal status were operating a black market there and urged ICE to visit the area and arrest the vendors.
..... "I don't know hat ICE officials saw my post," Hernandez said in an email. "However, the White House has been very responsive to on the ground reporters who have utilized X to share their stories."
..... The normally busting street was largely empty of street vendors on October 22. [2025] a Reuters witness said.