The NYPD is barred from coordination with ICE, but some think cops should actively intervene to stop immigration agents

The swarming of federal agents on Manhattan’s busy Canal Street last month quickly became a preview of what President Donald Trump’s mass deportation initiative could look like in New York City. But a smaller Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Washington Heights last week exposed a “dangerous gap” between the local and federal government that could continue to impact how the arrests play out on the city’s streets, multiple experts and former officials told City & State. 

Masked plainclothes federal agents descended upon the Upper Manhattan neighborhood Wednesday morning, making at least one arrest. Residents called 911 to ask the NYPD to intervene, reporting armed men pulling people out of cars. The NYPD responded to the call, witnessing a group of people chasing someone in the neighborhood, according to the NYPD. The police officers stepped in until they realized that the people targeting residents – chasing and pulling some out of cars – were in fact Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. The scuffle left two NYPD officers with minor injuries, according to the NYPD. 

New York City’s sanctuary city laws prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agents on immigration-related detainment, but the laws don’t prohibit communication. The confusion on Wednesday signals that without communication between local and federal authorities, the arrests and raids could become chaotic and dangerous, for both local residents and local authorities. That communication, however, may become more strained if Trump follows through on his renewed threats to target New York City with the deployment of federal agents once Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes office.  

“Fundamentally … the feds have to be willing to have some kind of sensible operating structure,” said Scott Shuchart, a senior ICE official during the President Joe Biden administration. “What I'd be worried about if I were a city official, is … I don't think it's any secret that the White House would love to have an enemy in New York to fight against.”

Ahead of the controversial immigration enforcement raid on Canal Street last month, the federal government did show signs of this “operating structure,” communicating with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch before its agents fanned out on the street to arrest nearly a dozen undocumented street vendors, according to reporting by the Daily News. The call allowed Tisch to direct NYPD officers to steer clear of the area as the federal agents carried out the raid. While the advance notice was in line with the city’s sanctuary laws, it drew criticism from anti-ICE Mamdani supporters as the mayor-elect has said he plans to keep Tisch on as police commissioner come January.  

Mamdani, however, signaled a departure from Tisch’s approach the day after his election earlier this month. He seemed to support a more interventionist NYPD as he vowed in a message to ICE that “everyone will be held to the same standard of the law.” Tisch has agreed to remain in her post once Mamdani takes office, she announced in an internal-memo Wednesday. Mamdani’s team did not respond to questions from City & State about the mayor-elect’s stance on how the NYPD should interact with federal immigration enforcement officers. “What I’ve shared with the commissioner and what I’ve also shared publicly, is the fact that we can never go back to the days where Eric Adams would go on national television, open the door to the NYPD handling civil immigration enforcement,” Mamdani told Pix11’s Dan Mannarino on Wednesday. “I want (Tisch) to assure that no officers are assisting with the actions of ICE.”

Last month, Rep. Dan Goldman formally called on the NYPD to arrest federal agents if they violate local law while carrying out Trump’s mass deportation initiative in New York City. The Congress member, who represents parts of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, made the request in a letter sent to Tisch on Oct. 16. Goldman told City & State Tisch did not respond to his letter. 

Goldman, who praised the NYPD for responding to the “legitimate 911 call” on Wednesday,  said in an interview that the instance demonstrates that New York must change its sanctuary city laws to empower the NYPD to intervene during ICE operations and protect New Yorkers.

“The most important thing is for the NYPD to change its approach,” Goldman said, arguing that NYPD should be allowed to legally “intervene to protect New Yorkers from the lawlessness that ICE is repeatedly and consistently demonstrating as part of Donald Trump's fascist immigration dragnet.” 

However, Molly Bilken, interim legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said that the chaos of the ICE arrests in Washington Heights on Wednesday proves even further that sanctuary city laws are necessary for safety.

“There are very important reasons for the NYPD not to get involved with ICE's dragnet,” Bilken said. 

Two retired NYPD officers and current professors at John Jay College of Criminal Justice also disagreed on who the NYPD should align with in moments of chaos during ICE arrests – fellow law enforcement or fellow New Yorkers? 

Micheal Alcazar, retired NYPD detective and professor at John Jay, said that if ICE agents are using excessive force or violating rights, NYPD “should be able to protect civilians.” Jillian Snider, retired police officer and adjunct lecturer at John Jay, said that although the NYPD legally cannot intervene, in moments of chaos “law enforcement has to still stick together.” 

Last week’s scuffle also comes after ICE targeted NYPD officers to join the federal enforcement agency in recently released social media ads. “Join an agency that respects you, your family and your commitment to serving in law enforcement,” reads the ad, posted on ICE’s official social media accounts, suggesting that the NYPD does not respect its officers. 

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, reinforced this sentiment in a statement following the arrests last week, criticizing Council Member Shaun Abreu, who represents the Washington Heights neighborhood, for condemning the ICE presence. "Council Member Shaun Abreu should stop fearmongering and smearing our brave law enforcement who are facing 1000% increase in assaults against them and an nearly 8000% increase in death threats," McLaughlin wrote and Gothamist reported. 

As Tisch will soon serve in Mamdani’s administration, the debate over how local law enforcement can and should operate during federal immigration enforcement will be an important test. The mayor-elect is balancing committing to his campaign promises and ensuring that the raids do not result in chaos or danger, like the one last Wednesday.   

Lily Burd, a Washington Heights parent who lives near the site of the arrests, said that her community is both hopeful and wary of Mamdani’s ability to keep their neighborhood, which has seen increased targeting by ICE, safe.  

“When he won, his statement of ‘if you're going to get through any one of us, you have to get through all of us,’ that means so much to so many people,” Burd said. “And also we're all really scared of what the federal government is going to do when he takes office on Jan. 1.”