Protesters clashed with NYPD officers Wednesday outside immigration court in Manhattan where several immigrants were detained.

“There’s no way we can stay silent,” said one protester and immigrant activist who chose not to share her name. “There’s no way that we can trust the officials, the government. They have betrayed citizens and the people who have followed the legal court proceedings. This is not OK.”

What You Need To Know

  • Cellphone video obtained by New York Legal Assistance Group shows federal ICE agents arrest a man inside immigration court

  • According to multiple reports, an immigrant family was also taken into ICE custody inside 201 Varick St. Wednesday

  • The NYPD says at least 20 people were arrested during Wednesday’s protest

According to multiple reports, an immigrant family was taken into ICE custody inside 201 Varick St. Wednesday. Later that night, demonstrators were wrestled to the ground, pepper sprayed and handcuffed by officers.

“This is disgusting,” said Ace Sutherland with the New York Immigration Coalition. “We say to these people that they can come to this country, my people, we can come to this country, do it the right way, and then they do, and you stop them from getting there.”

Cellphone video obtained by New York Legal Assistance Group — or NYLAG — shows Federal ICE agents arrest a man inside another immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza where immigrants go for check-ins with ICE.

The video shows a masked man, believed to be a plainclothes ICE agent, checking another man’s papers before handcuffing him. He’s then surrounded by several other masked men and taken into an elevator.

“I am hearing from reports that people show up for appointments, not just here but all over, are being arrested by ICE and I’m not sure what the grounds are,” said Congressman Jerry Nadler, whose office is in 201 Varick St.

These arrests come one week after a 20-year-old Venezuelan national and public school student from the Bronx was arrested by federal immigration authorities. According to NYLAG, the student was detained in court last Wednesday after his immigration case was dismissed.

“What we’re seeing is that ICE is trying to entrap people, asking for cases to be dismissed so they can arrest them immediately after in the courthouse, to detain them for expedited removal. And this is incredibly shocking to see happen,” said Murad Awawdeh of the New York Immigration Coalition.

The NYPD said at least 20 people were arrested during Wednesday’s protest.