Cold As ICE

January 11, 2018

The day began with a confrontation between NYPD and protesters near Federal Plaza following the detention of immigration rights activist Ravi Ragbir by ICE. More than a dozen arrests were made including two members of NYC City Council.

It concluded with a non confrontational pop up rally at ICE Headquarters on Varick Street attended by about a hundred people including Borough President Gale Brewer, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Council Member Brad Lander, and political activist Linda Sarsour. NYPD was there mainly to keep them all on the sidewalk as evening rush hour traffic whizzed by on the avenue.

In between, President Trump reportedly asked in an Oval Office meeting about Haitian and African immigration, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” leading Rev. Al Sharpton to ask, “Do you have to spray paint the n-word in the Oval Office or have a hood in the Lincoln bedroom to be a racist? If, at every opportunity, you disparage people of color, you are dealing from a racist and bigoted point of view. And the danger is that he is now putting that into policy in America.”

Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday.