ICE Plans Increased Immigration Enforcement Operations in New York City

The acting director said ICE is targeting ‘criminal illegal aliens’ released into New York, saying the new operations are to ’make the city safe again.’

Federal agents walk down Lafayette Street as demonstrators follow behind after an immigration enforcement operation on Canal Street through Chinatown in New York City on Oct. 21, 2025. Jake Offenhartz/AP Photo

New York City will see an increase in immigration enforcement following news of protesters confronting officers, according an administration official.

Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons said in an Oct. 22 interview that New York City will see more immigration arrests in the coming days.

“You will see an increase in ICE arrests because there are so many criminals and illegal aliens that have been released in New York, specifically,” Lyons said in a Fox News interview.

“You will see us making those criminal arrests to make New York safe again. It’s definitely intelligence-driven, it’s not random. We aren’t pulling people off the street. There was a specific reason based on criminal intelligence and criminal activity that we showed up on Canal Street.”

This announcement came just two days after federal agents began an operation that detained a street vendor in Manhattan’s Chinatown and were met with obstruction from protesters.

The demonstrators, shouting, “ICE out of New York,” encircled officers and attempted to prevent their vehicles from leaving.

ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal officers attempted to break up the crowd, but the protesters grew in number, and agents were forced to retreat, causing cheers from the protesters.

Later, Federal reinforcements arrived with long guns and tactical gear, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that rioters became violent and assaulted law enforcement.

Eventually, federal authorities arrested 14 people, including demonstrators. Among those detained were illegal immigrants from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, and Guinea. Some had prior criminal arrest histories.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a press release the following day, “Despite violent rioters who assaulted and obstructed law enforcement by blocking vehicles, nine criminal illegal aliens were arrested.”

Four of those arrested were accused of assaulting law enforcement, and another for obstruction of justice.

McLaughlin stated that some of those arrested had previously been accused of crimes, including robbery, domestic violence, assaulting law enforcement, counterfeiting, and drug offenses.

“The majority of those arrested were released into the country by the Biden administration,” McLaughlin said.

Just a day after the event, New York Attorney General Letitia James called on the public to send in photos and other documentation of the immigration operations for review.

James said her office would review any footage and photos of federal immigration operations via a “Federal Action Reporting Form,” saying that “every New Yorker has the right to live without fear or intimidation.”

McLaughlin said James’s call for videos and photos “looks like obstruction of justice.”