New York City DSA and several other progressive organizations rallied for immigrant rights and demanded the abolition of ICE in Bushwick Saturday afternoon one week after the federal law enforcement agency abducted and brutalized a New Yorker and Nigerian immigrant, Chidozie Wilson Okeke, sparking hours of confrontations with protesters outside a local hospital. 

“They want to disappear the thing that makes New York City a beautiful, vibrant, and powerful city,” State Assemblymember Claire Valdez told a crowd of more than 50 people that gathered for the Justice for Mr. Okeke rally. The event was originally scheduled for Maria Hernandez Park but was moved down the street to Starr Bar, a longtime arts and activism space, due to poor weather. 

Valdez, who hails from the nearby neighborhood of Ridgewood, is running to represent New York’s 7th congressional district. Her main opponent, Brooklyn Borough President, led an anti-ICE rally on Monday. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) and Jewish Voice for Peace were all on hand for Saturday’s protest along with three NYC-DSA candidates for State Assembly—Christian Celeste Tate, Samantha Kattan and David Orkin. DSA-endorsed State Senator Julia Salazar, who has represented Bushwick in Albany since 2019, was not present.

The video of the assault on Okeke shared by the New York Immigrant Coalition was still on people’s minds on Saturday. Yeshaya Shapiro, a Bushwick resident and DSA member, attended the rally on Saturday because the footage of Okeke’s arrest left him “feeling helpless and angry.” Despite these emotions, he spoke about the power of community defense and mutual aid.

“I think power in numbers, that’s how it works. ICE is less likely to attack people when there are hundreds of people that show up in places,” Shapiro said.

Throughout the event, speakers emphasized the need for ongoing community organizing to oppose ICE. David Orkin, who is an immigrant worker rights attorney and DSA State Assembly candidate in District 38 in Queens, spoke to the crowd. 

“I wonder about all the people who have been in situations like Mr. Okeke and that we don’t know about,” he mused. Orkin added that Okeke’s story garnered so much exposure and outrage from the public “because of the rapid response network that dropped everything in the middle of the night and went to his aid.” 

Tate, a DSA candidate for Assembly District 54 in Bushwick and Cypress Hills, hosted the event. He underscored the importance of community defense forums for organizing against ICE in Bushwick. 

“We will save each other by organizing to keep each other safe,” Tate said. “If a politician ever tells you they’re coming here to make it better and to take care of you, fuck that. What we need are elected leaders who understand as Bushwick understands that power belongs to the people and that through community, we keep us safe.”

District 37 City Councilmember Sandy Nurse was present at the medical center when Okeke was discharged and dragged from the hospital to an ICE vehicle. 

“What I witnessed during the discharge appeared to be direct coordination between ICE and the NYPD, with officers cordoning off the ambulance bay to allow ICE to move the individual into their vehicles and leave,” Nurse posted on social media. 

Samantha Kattan, another DSA candidate running for State Assembly District 37 in Queens, praised Nurse for her solidarity, but also expressed her disappointment in elected officials over their capitulation to Trump’s immigration enforcement.

“We have a governor who’s a Democrat, a Democrat-controlled state senate and state assembly in an incredibly immigrant-rich state, and we cannot find a way to stand up against Trump in this fascist regime,” Kattan told the crowd. 

Rally attendees called for the passage of the New York for All Act, which, according to the New York Immigration Coalition, would prohibit the state and city’s local government agencies from “colluding with ICE, disclosing sensitive information, and diverting personnel or other resources to further federal immigration enforcement.” 

As an increasing number of counties in New York move to adopt the federal 287(g) program that authorizes state and local law enforcement to effectively act as arms of ICE, the New York for All Act would render this program ineffective in the state. This legislation would also restrict ICE and Customs and Border Patrol from entering non-public areas that are state and local property without the required warrants. 

As the state budget negotiations reach their final days, Kattan emphasized the importance of “[ending] up in a situation where we are banning formal and informal collaboration with ICE across the state,” warning that “anything short of that leads [to] windows of opportunity [for] things like what we saw last Saturday.” 

Valdez also voiced her support for the New York for All Act at the event, specifically admonishing collusion between New York City, New York State and ICE. Valdez proposed “[taking] the billions of dollars we are pouring into the deportation machinery” and “[bringing] them back into our communities,” in order to fund Wyckoff Hospital, provide Medicare for all, and to make our housing affordable. She emphasized that funding for ICE should be redirected towards “the things that we know actually keep us safe.”

Marina, a member of the organizing committee of DSA’s Immigrant Justice Working Group, told The Indy that this bill is just the “bare minimum” protection immigrants need in this “new era of the Trump administration and the ways in which they’re deploying ICE.” She linked this cruelty to the worsening conditions inside detention centers.

“When ICE agents are brutalizing somebody, instead of bringing them to detention, [they bring] them to a hospital, because they don’t have faith that that person’s going to get any medical care in the detention center,” Marina said.

Marina also said that she wants to see Okeke receive special immigration status through a U Visa. 

“A U Visa is for somebody who’s experienced specific types of exploitation, including by the government. It’s often used for people who have been trafficked or sex trafficked, and it would mean that he would be entitled to a specific path to citizenship or residency if he wanted that. That would protect him from detention and abduction to another place,” Marina said. 

The Indypendent is a New York City-based newspaper, website and weekly radio show. All of our work is made possible by readers like you. During this holiday season, please consider making a recurring or one-time donation today or subscribe to our monthly print edition and get every copy sent straight to your home.