Ravi Ragbir, NYC Immigration Activist, Arrested By ICE: Advocates

DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a leading New York City immigrant-rights activist Thursday morning after a routine check-in with authorities, prompting a chaotic protest at Foley Square.

Ravi Ragbir, executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York, was arrested at a scheduled annual meeting with ICE, advocates said. Some 18 protesters were arrested during the rally that followed, the NYPD said. City Councilmen Jumaane Williams and Ydanis Rodriguez were among them.

Ragbir's lawyer, Alena Das, said his legal team is fighting ICE's plan to immediately deport him to Trinidad, from which he emigrated to the U.S. in 1991. Immigration officials decided to act on an 11-year-old deportation order against Ragbir, even though there a hold on the order was in effect until next week, Das said.

"We believe in him and we believe that we can find justice," Das said.

Ragbir handed Das his signature trillby hat and crucifix as he was arrested on Thursday, she said. He and his wife, Amy Gottlieb, were "devastated," Das added.

ICE had previously used "discretion" allowing him to remain free with regular check-ins after the 2006 order, ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow said in a statement.

"Mr. Ragbir's immigration case has undergone extensive judicial review at multiple levels of the nation's judicial system, including both immigration courts and federal appeals courts," Yong Yow said. "In each review, the courts have uniformly held that Mr. Ragbir does not have a legal basis to remain in the U.S."

Ragbir fainted after his arrest and was put into an ambulance in handcuffs with his wife, Amy Gottlieb. A photo shows him conscious in the back of the ambulance. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, an FDNY spokesman said.

Ragbir's allies gathered in Foley Square to support him when his appointment started around 9 a.m., witnesses said. When news of his arrest spread, the crowd grew to at least 200 people who surrounded the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service building at 26 Federal Plaza.

Some protesters blocked traffic and tried to stop the ambulance carrying Ragbir from leaving around 11 a.m. What had started as a peaceful solidarity gathering quickly escalated, with NYPD and ICE officers shoving and throwing protesters out of the street, witnesses said.

"It was a full-on street fight for at least three or four blocks," said Savitri Durkee, who sang with Ragbir in the Stop Shopping Choir, an activist music group.

"Free him," Williams, a Democrat who represents Flatbush, told a reporter as he was handcuffed by police against the hood of a car. "Resist."

Rodriguez, also a Democrat, posted a photo on Twitter of him being loaded into the back of a police vehicle. Another photo showed an NYPD cop with his arms around Rodriguez's neck while Rodriguez was handcuffed.

Some organizers tried to get protesters to let the ambulance leave and calm the situation, said the Rev. Donna Schaper of Judson Memorial Church, who's worked with Ragbir. But cops and ICE officers manhandled protesters "without warning or provocation,"

"Some mayhem broke loose, but there were plenty of people who were not blocking the ambulance," Johnson said. The Greenwich Village councilman blamed most of the chaos on ICE agents, but said an NYPD cop shoved him.

Ragbir, a Brooklyn resident, has long worked to prevent immgirants from being jailed and deported, most recently through the New Sanctuary Coalition, which describes itself as an "interfaith network" that has housed immigrants at risk of deportation in churches to protect them from ICE arrest.

Ragbir spent 22 months in immigration detention from 2006 to 2008 after a judge ordered him deported because of a now 16-year-old wire fraud conviction, which he continues to fight in court, Das said. ICE had previously allowed him to stay in the U.S. and put several stays on the judge's deportation order, Das said.

Ragbir's allies consider his arrest and possible deportation an attack on their efforts to resist deportations amid President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. ICE detained another founding member of the New Sanctuary Coalition, Jean Montrevil, last week, advocates said.

But Ragbir has trained a "phalanx of leaders" who are ready to fight on his behalf and continue his work, Schaper said.

"It just emboldens us to move forward," said Ross Upshaw, a minister at Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, N.J. "We believe they're doing this because they want to break down the movement."

Activists are planning another rally at 5 p.m. outside the federal immigration court at 201 Varick St.

Ciara McCarthy contributed reporting and writing.

(Lead image: Ravi Ragbir pictured shortly after his arrest on Thursday morning. Photo via the Immigrant Defense Project)