Department of Homeland Security police officers arrested 11 local elected officials inside Lower Manhattan’s federal building after they had demanded access to immigration enforcement’s shadowy holding area on the building’s 10th floor.
The arrests at 26 Federal Plaza happened after an hour-long standoff, with the lawmakers refusing to leave the hallway outside the lockup, banging on the locked doors, and eventually sitting down to chant and sing before they were hauled off in zip ties. All 11 have been released.
Those arrested were city Comptroller Brad Lander along with state Senators Jabari Brisport, Gustavo Rivera and Julia Salazar and Assemblymembers Robert Carroll, Emily Gallagher, Jessica Gonzalez Rojas, Marcela Mitaynes, Steve Raga, Tony Simone and Claire Valdez.
“I’m here for my neighbor Dino,” Gonzalez Rojas said in tears, pointing to the recent arrest of a beloved restaurant worker from The Queensboro restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens…