ICE agents rounded up a group of illegal migrants who were summoned for appointments in Lower Manhattan Wednesday – and also attempted to arrest an accused Venezuelan shoplifter but were blocked by a state judge.
Nolveiro Vera Ordonez’s defense attorney asked for him to be sent to Rikers Island on “voluntary” bail – as five masked ICE agents waited for him outside the tightly secured courtroom at Manhattan Criminal Court.
Just a couple of blocks away, masked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were also seen detaining at least four people near Federal Plaza.
The individuals had apparently reported to the nondescript building for scheduled appearances with Homeland Security’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program.
The program targets immigrants at various stages of deportation proceedings and typically requires check-ins every few weeks or months – with several weeks’ notice given in advance.
One photo captured a distraught woman collapsed on the ground, crying, as the raid unfolded around her. Another photo showed a father kissing his daughter on the forehead as he is hauled away by agents.
Additional footage showed a distressed woman looking back at her daughter as she was being placed into a vehicle by agents.
Later in Manhattan Criminal Court, Ordonez appeared for an arraignment on charges of fourth-degree criminal mischief, petit larceny and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, which typically do not require for bail to be set.
But the accused shoplifter’s lawyer, Elizabeth Fischer of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, said her client was “voluntarily” requesting to be locked up.
Judge Rachel Pauley agreed to set his bail at $100 – effectively blocking the federal arrest and prompting ICE agents to scatter out of the courthouse.
Pauley, a former Columbia Law Director of Government Programs, noted the bail application was “highly unusual.”
“Mr. Rivera Ordonez, at your request… I’m setting bail on what is otherwise a bail ineligible offense,” she told him.
The large-scale roundups outside federal courts and offices have become a regular occurrence nationwide as the Trump administration hones in on migrants with final removal orders, sources told The Post.
Last week, as many as 10 migrants were detained while leaving the federal immigration courthouse at 26 Federal Plaza.
Another 16 immigrants were detained from a nondescript office building in the same area Tuesday afternoon, The City reported.
The outlet reported that masked agents placed the handcuffed individuals into SUVS parked in a garage across the street from the federal courthouse approximately 15 minutes past each hour throughout the day.
The sweeping arrests come after President Trump instructed ICE agents to wait outside federal immigration courts across the country to handcuff illegal migrants as soon as they receive a deportation order from a judge, sources told The Post.
ICE shares an office with the immigration court in downtown New York City, allowing federal agents to make such arrests easily.
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