ICE Agents Blamed After Journalist Injured While Arresting Migrant

A photojournalist with Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, L. Vural Elibol, was hospitalized on Tuesday, September 30th, after an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents inside 26 Federal Plaza. The incident occurred around 10:15am on the 12th floor of the building where reporters were present to document ongoing arrests.

Video from journalists shows two women entering an elevator followed by masked plainclothes ICE agents. Dean Moses, amNewYork’s police bureau chief, attempted to step into the elevator when agents intervened. One agent inside the elevator was heard shouting, “Get out of the fucking elevator,” as reported by Documented. In the commotion outside, freelance photographer Olga Fedorova, on assignment for the Associated Press, was pushed to the ground. Her fall knocked into Elibol, who struck his head on the tile floor.

“People immediately started screaming because he was seriously injured,” Moses told amNewYork. He added that Elibol was “semiconscious, but he didn’t move for 35 to 40 minutes.” Photos published by Documented showed Elibol lying on the ground before being carried out on a stretcher with a neck brace.

The Department of Homeland Security released a statement offering its perspective on the events. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “officers were swarmed by agitators and members of the press, which obstructed operations” to arrest “an illegal alien from Peru.” She emphasized that officers “repeatedly told the crowd of agitators and journalists to get back, move, and get out of the elevator.” McLaughlin also criticized outside interference, stating that “rioters and sanctuary politicians who encourage individuals to interfere with arrests” were “actively creating hostile environments that put officers, detainees and the public in harm’s way.”

Some journalists present disputed that account. Moses told amNewYork that there were “no agitators or any members of the press preventing them from doing anything.” Fedorova also said to the Associated Press that ICE agents had not established a media perimeter or clarified that an arrest was underway as they entered the elevator. “If they tell us to get out, to not cross a certain line, we follow their orders. In this case, it was not clear to anyone that this was a detention at all,” she explained.

The incident came just days after another video from the same building showed a federal officer pushing an Ecuadorian woman against a wall as she asked about her detained husband. That officer was briefly suspended before being reinstated on Monday, according to local reports.

Reactions to Tuesday’s episode spread quickly on social media. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander posted, “Another violent attack by an ICE officer on a civilian at 26 Federal Plaza — this time on a journalist, who had to be carried out on a stretcher.” He described the event as “another attack on the First Amendment, our neighbors, and our democracy.”

Governor Kathy Hochul also weighed in, saying, “This abuse of law-abiding immigrants and the reporters telling their stories must end,” and adding, “What the hell are we doing here?”

ICE Agents Blamed After Journalist Injured While Arresting Migrant