This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
Dozens of protestors gathered over the weekend to demonstrate against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and were met with violent arrests from the New York City Police Department. The protestors had planned to march from Times Square on Saturday before NYPD officers cornered them near Duffy Square and told them to disperse. A protestor said six or seven people were placed in custody. Video posted on Twitter showed NYPD throwing protestors’ bicycles before throwing people to the ground to arrest them. Police also cracked down on protestors who marched from Foley Square on Friday; Fewer than 100 protestors were flanked by more than 100 police officers, Gothamist reported. At a similar protest on Thursday, a security officer at 26 Federal Plaza, which houses ICE, pointed a gun at protestors. The protests were largely motivated by a whistleblower report that ICE had been performing hysterectomies without women’s consent in detention centers. Gothamist, The New York Daily News
In other local immigration news…
Lawsuit: ICE Agents Beat and Tased Immigrant at JFK
Bakhodir Madjitov, a native of Uzbekistan, says he was beaten and tased by ICE agents when they attempted to deport him out of John F. Kennedy Airport in June 2019, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month. The New York chapter of the Council of Islamic Relations and the New Haven Legal Assistance Immigrant Rights Clinic filed the lawsuit and said in a press statement that ICE agents attempted to force Madjitov onto a plane bound for Uzbekistan, but he refused to board because a judge had ordered a stay on his removal. The lawsuit alleges ICE agents then beat and tased Madjitov. His lawyers said ICE said Friday that it intends to deport him within days. Press Release
City’s Emergency Food Stockpile Begins Deliveries
Distributions to food pantries from New York City’s emergency food stockpile will begin on Monday. A warehouse the size of a football field in Wayne, New Jersey, contains 150,000 cases of nonperishable items such as macaroni, instant mashed potatoes, peanut butter, black beans and Oreo cookies. Food will be distributed to Masbia soup kitchens in Brooklyn and Queens. The need for food pantries has skyrocketed during the pandemic as thousands of New Yorkers have lost their jobs, including a disproportionate number of immigrants. Masbia said its demand has increased fivefold. The city mobilized to meet the need in April, setting up “grab and go” meals at schools across the city and creating a $50 million food reserve. THE CITY
AOC Assists with Final Census Push
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continued to push for people in New York City to fill out the census ahead of the Sep. 30 deadline. Ocasio-Cortez and her team were in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx on Saturday, urging residents in her district to fill out the census. Ocasio’s district, the 14th Congressional district, has historically been undercounted. The census is used to decide how federal dollars are allocated, meaning an undercount could lead to reduced funding for schools, roads, and other things local residents rely on. Pix11
