A photographer was injured and taken to the hospital after federal officers shoved multiple journalists outside a New York immigration court on Tuesday morning.
The injured photojournalist, who was identified by The Gothamist as L. Vural Elibol of the Turkish news agency Anadolu Ajansi, could be seen on the ground in a video of the incident, which captured officers forcefully pushing the photographers.
The incident adds to the use of violence by federal officers at the immigration court located in lower Manhattan. Just last week, an ICE officer was relieved of duties and then reportedly reinstated after videos showed him slamming a crying Ecuadorian woman to the ground at the same facility.
A federal agent pushes the wife of a detained man from Ecuador to the ground on Sept. 25 in New York City. Despite getting continuances on their asylum claims, federal agents are still detaining immigrants who appear for their court dates. Stephanie Keith via Getty Images
Footage of the Tuesday altercation opened with two women getting on the elevator of the building followed by two federal officers and a photographer.
An officer is captured grabbing the photographer, who has been identified as amNewYork’s Dean Moses, and pushing him out of the elevator.
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“Get out of the fucking elevator,” an officer says.
Another officer appears to shove a second photographer, who has been identified as Olga Fedorova, a freelancer who works with The Associated Press, while she’s standing outside the elevator. Federova is seen falling onto Elibol, who couldn’t get up afterwards, according to Gothamist’s Arya Sundaram.
Federova, a photojournalist, fell to the ground after getting shoved by a federal officer. Stephanie Keith/Getty
Sundaram reports that Elibol was in a neck brace and on a stretcher when he was put in an ambulance.
“He was semiconscious, but he didn’t move from the position for 35 to 40 minutes,” Moses said of Elibol.
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A spokesperson for Anadolu Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Elibol’s condition. A DHS spokesperson also did not comment on his condition while describing the incident.
According to Gothamist, Elibol was discharged from New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Tuesday.
“This morning when making the arrest of an illegal alien from Peru at 26 Federal Plaza, officers were swarmed by agitators and members of the press, which obstructed operations,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Officers repeatedly told the crowd of agitators and journalists to get back, move, and get out of the elevator. Rioters and sanctuary politicians who encourage individuals to interfere with arrests are actively creating hostile environments that put officers, detainees and the public in harm’s way.”
Fedorova told AP that “it was not clear to anyone that this was a detention at all.”
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New York City leaders including Public Advocate Jumaane Williams criticized the violence by federal officers on Tuesday as well as their targeting of the press.
“The federal government’s cruelty was seen again today, after ICE agents brutally attacked several members of the press,” Williams wrote in a statement on X. “This attack on the First Amendment is unacceptable.”
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