Weekend of ICE detentions shakes Sunset Park

On Jan. 7, 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renée Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Video shows Good in her vehicle as it begins to move away, and an officer standing close by firing into the car. Her death has drawn national attention to ICE tactics and their approach to community policing.

For many residents of Sunset Park, the incident highlights a threat closer to home.

That same week, Sunset Park became a primary target of ICE enforcement, with multiple detentions taking place over the course of a single weekend. According to internal trackers and community posts shared on social media, ICE conducted approximately eight apprehensions between Jan. 8 and Jan. 11. Half of these arrests occurred on Jan. 8, the same day Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem visited New York City and referred to Renée Good as a “domestic terrorist” during a press conference.

While the neighborhood experienced ICE apprehensions throughout last year, the pace and concentration of arrests this time felt particularly severe. It remains unclear what triggered the increase in ICE activity earlier this month, but available data suggests that Sunset Park has been impacted more heavily than any other neighborhood in the city. Since Jan. 1, at least 11 ICE apprehensions have been reported in the area.

The visible and unpredictable nature of these arrests has made it difficult for residents to understand ICE’s tactics and enforcement strategies. Most arrests occurred between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. and were concentrated in the predominantly Latino sections of the neighborhood. All documented arrests took place between Third Avenue and Seventh Avenue, spanning from 41st Street to 60th Street.

Map depicting apprehensions by ICE in Sunset Park. Map created by Eymund Diegel using NYC Open Data as a basemap; apprehension locations are based on internal tracking and community reports.

It is unclear whether these arrests were targeted or random. However, in each incident, ICE officers appeared to focus on a single individual. Videos posted to TikTok show men wearing vests labeled “POLICE,” with their faces covered, surrounding one person at a time during the arrests. All of the individuals taken so far have been men.

One arrest in particular, which occurred on Jan. 8 around 4:50 p.m., was captured by a security camera near 58th Street and Fifth Avenue, next to a Wingstop and a local food truck. The footage shows five ICE agents exiting undercover vehicles and detaining a community member who was ordering food. The arrest lasted less than five minutes. The food truck owners did not recognize the detained individual, and it remains unknown whether the person has since received legal assistance.

This arrest mirrors others documented in the area: quick operations involving an average of four officers wearing vests and face coverings, arriving in unmarked vehicles.

ICE’s presence has been deeply felt throughout Sunset Park in recent months. Several affected families have turned to GoFundMe to raise money for legal aid and basic expenses after losing their primary source of income.

One such case involves an individual detained on Jan. 9 near 44th Street and 7th Avenue. According to his family, he was on his way home from work when he was taken into custody. They have since set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for legal fees.

“A hard-working father, husband, son, and brother was detained by I.C.E. in Brooklyn, just one block away from his own home on his way back from work. He was simply coming home to his family,” the family wrote on the fundraiser page.

The family is seeking to raise $13,000 to cover legal costs and other expenses, noting that the detained individual left behind a 1-year-old child. In a recent update, the family shared that the last time they heard from him, he had been transferred to Arizona. They added that communication has been difficult and that receiving timely information has been a challenge. As of now, they are still waiting for a lawyer to take on the case.

This incident is not isolated. The Sunset Post verified at least five other active GoFundMe pages created to support individuals detained by ICE between November and the present. The most recent fundraiser was launched following an operation on Jan. 19. All of the fundraisers seek an average of $13,000 to cover legal fees, and all of the individuals detained are fathers.

The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and New York State’s Office for New Americans fund a program known as the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative, which provides free legal assistance to individuals who are detained or at risk of detention.

GoFundMe pages have become a critical tool for some families but for single men, or for those who have their families remain in their home countries, the prospect of securing adequate legal help appears far more limited.

In response to the recent activity, some residents of Sunset Park have taken it upon themselves to monitor ICE activity and attempt to connect detained individuals with legal support. However, community members report that the speed of these apprehensions often makes it nearly impossible to identify those detained in time to offer assistance. The lack of information about detainees’ legal status, and whether arrests are targeted or random, further complicates these efforts.

Despite these challenges, neighbors continue to share information and resources, informing business owners, street vendors, and residents about their rights when interacting with federal immigration agents.

Social media platforms such as TikTok and Facebook have become critical tools for community alert systems, allowing residents to warn one another about ICE activity and share footage of detentions as they occur.

Across Sunset Park, graffiti reading “F--- ICE” and “ICE TOOK OUR NEIGHBOR FROM HERE” has begun to appear on walls and sidewalks, underscoring the fear, anger and disruption ICE activity has brought to the community. In the face of increased enforcement, residents have turned to one another as their strongest source of protection, information and support.