Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were forced to retreat from a roofing job site in Rochester, New York, on Tuesday after protesters slashed the tires of a Border Patrol SUV during a tense standoff that lasted hours.
Newsweek has contacted ICE and the New York Governor’s office for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The incident in Rochester comes as confrontations between immigration agents and protesters have been intensifying nationwide, prompting President Donald Trump‘s administration to send National Guard troops to cities including Los Angeles.
The New York Times reported last week that officials are preparing a broader enforcement surge and have signaled plans to “crack down” on sanctuary cities, which bar local police from aiding federal immigration authorities.
What To Know
More than 100 demonstrators gathered in the Park Avenue neighborhood in Rochester on Tuesday as ICE agents detained an immigrant worker, identified by his employer only as “Chino,” according to local radio station WXXI.
His boss, roofing contractor Clayton Baker, told WXXI that Chino has lived in the United States for 25 years, has work authorization, and is expecting a child. “He’s never even had a speeding ticket. He goes to church every Sunday, he pays his taxes,” Baker said. “But you want to come get him off a hard-working job? It’s inhumane and it’s sad.”
Immigrant advocates, clergy, and city leaders quickly arrived at the scene. As Chino was detained, demonstrators chanted “shame” and “Gestapo” and slashed the tires of an ICE vehicle, which was driven away on four flats.
The crowd cheered as agents abandoned the scene, leaving several roofers still working atop a house. Irene Sanchez, executive director of the Western New York Coalition of Farmworker Serving Agencies, said the group pressed ICE to leave once it became clear further arrests were unlikely. “Our role is to make sure people know their rights and to safeguard their due process under the law,” she said.
Local lawmakers condemned the raid, with Assemblymember Harry Bronson calling it an attempt to “pit one group of people against another,” while Assemblymember Jen Lunsford warned that recent Supreme Court rulings have eroded constitutional protections.
Baker said he remains worried for Chino’s family. “I’m just going to sacrifice the money and give it to the family,” he said. “I’ll figure something else out.”
Tuesday’s raid followed another at a New York candy factory this week when ICE agents arrested 57 illegal immigrants. New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul blasted the operation as “cruel.”
What People Are Saying
Irene Sanchez, executive director of the Western New York Coalition of Farmworker Serving Agencies, said in a news release: “The coalition is committed to standing alongside farmworkers, immigrants, and migrants to ensure dignity, fairness, and access to justice. In moments like this, our role is to make sure people know their rights and to safeguard their due process under the law.”
Assemblymember Jen Lunsford said: “Every single one of us here have ancestors that at one point wouldn’t have been American enough. And I’m waiting for the day that it comes back around and some of us are declared not American enough.
“No matter where we were born, we have to make sure that we are standing firm for what the Constitution actually says at this point, not what our Supreme Court is saying it means, because I am watching the erosion of the rule of law every single day.”
Assemblymember Harry Bronson said: “This is pitting one group of people against another group of people. This is an attempt to attack our democracy, because a democracy can only operate under the rule of law and can only operate if our leaders are following the law. And they’re not doing this, they’re pushing the envelope, and they’re doing this because they want to have a boogeyman out there, and for them, the boogeymen are people of color and people who aren’t originally from the United States.”
What Happens Next
It remains unclear what charges, if any, the worker known as Chino will face, or whether he will be held in federal detention pending immigration proceedings.
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