After Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents dragged a detainee out of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn Saturday night, local leaders hosted a rally Monday to demand ICE leave the community.
The rally, organized by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, NYC councilmember Sandy Nurse, and a coalition of local advocacy organizations came two days after ICE transported a detainee to the hospital’s emergency room for care, setting off an hours-long confrontation with hundreds of community members who showed up in response.
“This is our hospital in Bushwick… This is our public safety net hospital, and that’s why so many people showed up here,” Nurse said. “The idea that ICE was at this location was outrageous.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE officers arrested Chidozie Wilson Okeke, a Nigerian national who allegedly overstayed his tourist visa, after he supposedly “became physically combative” during the arrest.
Video obtained by The City shows an ICE agent tasing Okeke multiple times during the arrest as he screamed in pain and repeatedly asked for a lawyer. After requesting medical assistance, Okeke was taken to Wyckoff for evaluation. DHS says he was cleared by medical staff before being discharged into ICE custody, but video captured at the scene showed agents dragging him out of the hospital.
Nine protesters were arrested outside the hospital. Eight were charged with resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief. A ninth was issued a summons and released, according to the NYPD.
The incident was the latest in an escalating pattern of ICE enforcement across New York City. A class action lawsuit filed in April in the Eastern District of New York alleged that ICE has conducted a “surge in the shadows” driven by racial profiling, targeting Latino residents and other immigrants of color across the city—including in Bushwick.
The suit cited nearly 3,000 street arrests in the New York City area in the first six months of 2025. In February, reports indicated ICE doubled its activity at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, and community members in Queens reported a shift toward more targeted encounters in immigrant neighborhoods—a characterization ICE has denied.
Nurse was on the ground at Wyckoff from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday night. She told Courier New York that what she witnessed during the discharge appeared to be direct coordination between the NYPD and ICE.
“What I saw right here at the ambulance bay was that the NYPD coordinated so that ICE could leave with the person in custody,” she said. “They very clearly staged there so ICE officers could move directly from the ambulance bay into a car.”
The NYPD has denied any coordination with ICE in a statement to ABC News, saying it had no prior awareness of the operation and was focused on clearing the crowd so ambulances could access the emergency room.
At Monday’s rally, Reynoso called out the federal government directly.
“Every harm and hurt and unsafe moment that you’re in comes because of what the federal government is doing, what the Republicans and Trump are doing, not because of what an immigrant that works hard in New York City is doing,” he said. “In New York City, we want to abolish ICE.”
New York City Council Member Jen Gutiérrez, who represents the 34th District, said she heard from constituents who told her they were avoiding Wyckoff after what they witnessed Saturday night.
“While Wyckoff is a safety net hospital, it’s a community hospital. It’s been invested in and built by people right here in the neighborhood,” she said. “To hear from them that they can no longer seek service at Wyckoff because of what they saw on Saturday, it’s a slap in the face.”
Gutiérrez called out NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch directly. “We’ve heard her at hearings say they will not collaborate, they will not coordinate—while we saw that happening,” she said. “We also want to ask Commissioner Tisch why officers are not identifying themselves, why they are not saying that they are with the [NYPD].”
Rob Solano, executive director and co-founder of Churches United For Fair Housing (CUFFH), told Courier New York that many of his organization’s members, mostly Latino residents of Bushwick, couldn’t attend Monday’s rally out of fear of being deported.
“A lot of them couldn’t come because they were worried about ICE being around,” Solano said. “They were scared that they would get deported if they came to this action.” Solano added that ICE has repeatedly come to CUFFH’s office. “We had to put signs on our doors to say ICE is not allowed,” he said.
Nurse, addressing the crowd, framed Saturday night’s turnout as proof of what organized communities can do.
“We do not want ICE in our neighborhood,” she said. “And not only are we saying it, we are organized. That is why 200 to 300 people showed up here on a Saturday night at the drop of a hat to show up for our neighbors.”
