Retiring U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez said Mayor Zohran Mamdani must do more to restrict NYPD cooperation with ICE, calling videos of police officers aiding immigration agents “disgusting.”
The episode at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center last week, where protesters clashed with ICE and NYPD agents, has become an issue in the Democratic primary to succeed Velázquez in Congress.
In an interview with Gothamist, Velázquez did not hide her frustration that Mamdani endorsed his fellow democratic socialist, Assemblymember Claire Valdez, in the race. Velázquez made the case that her preferred successor, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, is the best candidate to restore trust with immigrants frightened by the incident.
“New York City is a sanctuary city and that requires the police not to coordinate with [ICE], but after watching some of those videos, I was convinced that they were there to assist ICE,” Velázquez said.
She described viral videos of the incident, which show officers throwing a person to the pavement and assisting ICE agents in changing a tire.
“It was just really disgusting,” she said.
NYPD officers respond to anti-ICE protesters outside out of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
Police said eight people were arrested during the nearly six-hour ordeal in Bushwick after ICE agents took a Nigerian citizen accused of overstaying a tourist visa to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center for treatment.
Velázquez was one of the six elected officials who co-signed a letter organized by Reynoso, calling on Mamdani to take steps to ensure the NYPD is not assisting ICE agents in their pursuit of New York City residents. Politico New York first reported the letter.
She said last week’s events have left many immigrants confused about how the NYPD will interact with federal immigration authorities.
“ When you have ICE agents coming to instill fear, stopping people, dragging them from a car without a judicial warrant. And look, the mayor made commitments when he was running for office,” Velázquez said. She said NYPD officers should receive additional training on the restraint they must use when interacting with ICE.
She argued Reynoso was the best candidate for the district, which she said has seen an uptick in ICE operations. The representative nicknamed "La Luchadora" spoke dismissively about Mamdani's endorsement of Valdez.
“ He made a decision based on his relationship with Claire [Valdez]. I made my decision based on the needs of the district,” said Velázquez, who is the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress.
Councilmember Sandy Nurse, whose district includes Wyckoff Hospital, also signed the letter to Mamdani. She was on the scene at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center the night the incident occurred. She noted she’s told Latino, West Indian and Bangladeshi immigrants in her district that the NYPD does not cooperate with ICE.
“That message becomes undermined when the community sees all over the internet and WhatsApp chats and all over community chats and in the block association chats that our local precincts and officers from surrounding precincts are helping ICE leave with someone who is detained from our neighborhood,” Nurse said.
Nurse said she was at Wyckoff Hospital until 3 a.m. on Sunday. When she woke up the next day, exhausted by the chaotic events, her first call was to Reynoso, whom she had also endorsed.
Assemblymember Claire Valdez criticized the city's sanctuary laws as too weak.
“I knew he would get everyone in motion,” Nurse said.
While speaking to Gothamist, Nurse received another report that the NYPD’s 77th Precinct stationhouse was allowing ICE to use its parking lot in Brooklyn after neighbors trailed them there.
An NYPD spokesperson said that on Tuesday an "unknown individual" pulled into the parking lot of the stationhouse and left after five minutes, without ever interacting with police.
Speaking at the Association for a Better New York on Tuesday, Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the NYPD does not engage in civil immigration enforcement. But she cast the incident outside the hospital as something different.
“That is the men and women of the NYPD fulfilling their primary duty as members of service: to prevent chaos, to maintain order and to protect human life,” Tisch said, recalling the deadly incidents that have taken place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where two U.S. citizens were killed by ICE agents during protests.
Sam Raskin, a spokesperson for the mayor, said the city is reviewing the lawmakers’ letter. He noted Mamdani signed an executive order earlier this year that required agencies to conduct an audit related to their policies for interacting with federal immigration authorities.
"We will be releasing a report summarizing the results of that audit in the coming weeks and the agencies will ultimately make public all changes to policies and practices in keeping with the Executive Order,” Raskin said. “The Mamdani administration is committed to improving city agency policies, guidelines and procedures related to interactions with federal immigration enforcement."
The leading candidates in the race have raised serious concerns about the NYPD’s response to the Wyckoff incident.
"The fact is, people in this community are still afraid, and they haven't gotten enough information from city leaders. Too much has gone into a black hole over the last week,” Reynoso said. “The city needs to do more to ensure we live up to our sanctuary city status because right now, too many people are still scared to go to a police precinct or a hospital because they're worried about ICE.”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso organized a rally in the wake of the clash with ICE.
Valdez said the activities at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center made clear that the “strongest sanctuary laws have gaps wide enough to walk through” and called for a full investigation into what happened there.
“Mayor Mamdani should issue clear NYPD guidelines so that officers protect New Yorkers' First Amendment right to protest ICE and never end up assisting a federal detention. Governor Hochul should stop sitting on New York for All and embrace one uniform sanctuary standard for the entire state,” Valdez said, referring to the stalled state legislation. “And no New Yorker should be discharged from a hospital bed into a deportation van.”
Councilmember Julie Won, who is also running in the Democratic primary, pointed to an on-duty NYPD captain's comments caught on video calling Mamdani “expendable” and “temporary.”
“ICE sees the NYPD as a potential collaborator,” Won said.
But Won also took aim at Mamdani for what she characterized as an inadequate response.
“What happened at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center is a flashpoint moment when the needs of the community were in conflict with a federal policy of cruelty, and it is disappointing to see a mayor not stand up for immigrant New Yorkers,” Won said.
