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Protesters Converge On Brooklyn Hospital Where ICE Shooting Victim Was Taken
By
Sydney Pereira
and
Ilana Levinson
Published Feb 7, 2020
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Ilana Levinson/Gothamist
By
Sydney Pereira
and
Ilana Levinson
Published Feb 7, 2020
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In the hours after an ICE official shot a man in the face during an attempt to deport another man, some 50 activists encircled a Brooklyn hospital where the shooting victim and the man ICE sought to arrest were taken. Chanting "abolish ICE," activists from various groups fanned out at the Maimonides Medical Center’s exits with the intention of keeping ICE officials from removing two men in the agency's custody.
"It's not appropriate for ICE to be shooting someone," said Kaji Douša, a pastor at Park Avenue Christian Church and co-chair of the New Sanctuary Coalition. "They can't just come and shoot our people in the streets. That's not okay."
Just before 8:10 a.m. Thursday, ICE's Fugitive Operations Team had attempted to arrest Gasper Avendando-Hernandez at his home in Gravesend, when family members intervened. In the altercation that ensued, one of the officers fired his gun at least once, reportedly striking Avendando-Hernandez's girlfriend's son, 26-year-old Eric Cruz-Diaz, in the face. An ICE spokesperson said officers were "physically attacked,” noting one suffered his own facial injuries.
The New Sanctuary Coalition has been told Avendando-Hernandez was tased. Both men remained in the hospital in stable condition as of Friday morning, a hospital spokesperson confirmed.
An ICE spokesperson did not know if any of the civilians involved in the incident were armed.
The Mexican Consulate told reporters Thursday evening that Cruz-Diaz was in the U.S. legally with a visa.
"There is a young man—he was shot in the face and he's going to be under surgery in the next hours," Jorge Islas, the general consul of Mexico, said Thursday night. "I'm shocked. He's a young man. He is legally here in America with his visa."
Avendando-Hernandez, who had been deported twice in 2011 after a felony assault conviction, was allegedly undocumented, according to ICE, which did not provide information about the nature of the 2011 assault. ICE officials began searching for him again after he was reportedly arrested Monday for a fake license plate. (NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for information about the 2011 incident or this week’s arrest.)
"Hopefully we will find justice in this case," Islas said.
The protest grew throughout the day, and activists from New Sanctuary Coalition, NYC Democratic Socialists of America, Yemeni American Merchants Association, Young Progressives of America, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and Never Again Action joined to protest the agency and stand in solidarity with immigrant neighbors. Activists were alarmed that federal law enforcement vehicles appeared to be at the Borough Park hospital.
"We don't want [ICE] to disappear these young men before we have a chance to know the truth, or at least their side of the story. Due process is a thing; this is the United States,” Douša said.
Gothamist counted at least four vehicles with federal law enforcement signs posted in the front windows. One man told Rabbi Barat Ellman of the New Sanctuary Coalition that he was with ICE, at first keeping her and other clergy from speaking with the family.
Another protester, Shilpa Narayan, said ICE’s presence in the neighborhood—rumored or otherwise—keeps neighbors on edge. "I feel like it's making people—my neighbors—pretty suspicious, careful, more so than they normally would be, and it's not a great feeling,” she said.
A Sunset Park neighbor and teacher said his third-grade students are fearful of the agency.
"There is a serious fear of ICE, even among my third-grade kids," said Matt Molter, who was protesting Thursday afternoon. "Sometimes you see it in the art—the way they draw police officers. I've seen it just in the worries they bring up."
Representatives of organizing groups led chants against the presence of ICE in their neighborhoods and rallied for the immediate release of men they said were being detained inside their hospital rooms. A counter-protester briefly interjected, saying ICE was a needed agency; NYPD posted police barricades near the hospital entrance to keep the area clear following the brief confrontation.
The shooting followed what some activists saw as increased escalation of the Trump administration's treatment towards sanctuary cities, including New York City. The federal government recently rescinded New Yorkers’ ability to enroll in the Trusted Traveler security program, Global Entry, blaming the state’s new law that allows undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers' licenses. President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address to blame the murder of a Queens woman earlier this year on sanctuary city policy, after the accused murderer Reeaz Khan was not turned over to ICE for detainment related to a separate charge. The agency sued New York City for documents about Khan this week.
"It's ICE gone rogue," Brooklyn Councilmember Carlos Menchaca said. ICE is "an agency that needs to be abolished, and we're seeing the impacts right here, right now."
Protesters stayed into the rainy Thursday night and returned before dawn on Friday, according to New Sanctuary. Borough President Eric Adams announced he would “demand accountability” from ICE at 10:30 a.m., and the New York State Nurses Association and Service Employees International Union will rally at 4 p.m.
With Gothamist's Annie Todd.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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