AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

Last week, so-called border czar Tom Homan threatened New Yorkers that he would, quote, “flood the zone” with ICE agents if New York state passes the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act introduced by Governor Kathy Hochul, which would limit cooperation between local police and ICE under the 287(g) program.

On Tuesday, a coalition of groups held a rally to protest ICE’s abuses at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City, a 41-story federal building in Lower Manhattan that houses immigration courts, ICE field offices, immigrant detentions, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Every day, New York residents from all over the world arrive to attend ICE check-ins or hearings and risk immediate detention. This week’s protest, organized by Hands Off NYC, included advocates from Make the Road New York and the New York Immigration Coalition, as well as a surprise guest. Democracy Now!’s Anjali Kamat was there.

PROTESTER 1: No human being will ever be illegal!

PROTESTER 2: ¡Oye, mi gente, traemos la fuerza!

MURAD AWAWDEH: My name is Murad Awawdeh. I’m the president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition. … Every single day, we’re seeing the Trump administration continue to wage war against immigrants, because this is a test for them. They want to say some people in this country have no rights. And if that’s the case, none of us do. That’s why it’s incumbent on every level of government to step up and fight back. We need the city of New York to ensure that we’re strengthening our sanctuary policies, that NYPD is not providing cover and collusion to ICE.

PROTESTER 3: That’s right!

MURAD AWAWDEH: We need to ensure that the state of New York passes the New York for All Act, which would prohibit our tax dollars, our tax dollars, New Yorkers’ tax dollars, from going to collusion to separating families and gutting our communities.

PROTESTERS: We want justice! We want peace! We want ICE off our streets!

HAE-LIN CHOI: My name is Halen Choi, and I’m with Hands Off New York. We called this rally today because we think it’s important to talk about how immigrant communities in New York are terrorized right now and traumatized, and we don’t want anybody to think that the crisis is over. We’ve heard a lot that after Minneapolis, this administration is moving more quietly. And I think in New York we had a brief moment, when ICE was at the airport, that it felt like they weren’t on the streets anymore. But in the last three weeks, we’ve seen intense enforcements in our streets. We chose this place because in this building, 26 Federal Plaza, every day families walk in, and they don’t know if they’ll all be able to walk out again. And so, we thought it was important to shine a light on the fact that ICE is still here, ICE is still kidnapping New Yorkers every day, and we have to call this out.

PROTESTERS: Say it loud! Say it clear! Immigrants are welcome here! Say it loud! Say it clear! Immigrants are welcome here!

ANJALI KAMAT: We also spoke to Allan Michael Marrero, who’s originally from the Cayman Islands. He’s lived here for 13 years and was detained by ICE during a routine green card appointment right here at 26 Federal Plaza last November.

ALLAN MICHAEL MARRERO: I didn’t expect anything like this would happen. I’ve never been arrested, never been convicted of anything, any crimes. And it was just out of the blue at my green card interview with my husband, which we were married for two years at that point. So I didn’t expect to be detained or arrested at all. … They said that I missed a scheduled hearing, which I was never notified about, because I was between addresses. And at the time —

ANJALI KAMAT: Allan was then held in immigration jails across the country for five months, before finally being released on bond just a few weeks ago in April. He talked to us about his experience inside ICE detention.

ALLAN MICHAEL MARRERO: It was a very traumatic experience. It was very sad to see the way that other human beings were handling fellow human beings, regardless of our immigrant status. It was just very jarring to see the lack of compassion or empathy that was happening throughout the facilities.

ANJALI KAMAT: How many detention facilities were you in?

ALLAN MICHAEL MARRERO: Five.

ANJALI KAMAT: In how many states?

ALLAN MICHAEL MARRERO: In five different states.

ANJALI KAMAT: And how did they move you around?

ALLAN MICHAEL MARRERO: They moved me around. Well, they, first of all, move you in the nighttime, when you’re not allowed to contact your loved one to tell them that you are being moving. And then they shackle you by your ankles, by your waist to your wrists. During that process, you’re taken on a bus. And it’s pitch black. You don’t know where you’re going. They don’t inform you of where you’re going. And then they sometimes put you on a plane. You’re still shackled while you’re on the plane. And that could last up to eight hours at a time, each time you are being transferred. And it was a very harrowing experience.

ANJALI KAMAT: And do you know where you’re being taken? Are you getting any answers?

ALLAN MICHAEL MARRERO: You don’t. No one tells you anything. The ICE officers on the plane, they try to make a game of it: “If you guess where you’re going, then I’ll tell you yes.” But they never told you where we’re going. We will guess what states, to see if we knew where we were going, but we never got an answer. They would just laugh at us.

ANJALI KAMAT: Do you feel safe now?

ALLAN MICHAEL MARRERO: Right now I’m feeling OK that I’m home with my husband. I do feel that I’m still looking over my shoulder. It was a very harrowing and traumatic experience.

ANJALI KAMAT: Do you have any message for people who might be going through similar situations across the country?

ALLAN MICHAEL MARRERO: I think that just make sure that your loved ones are safe. Always check on your status. Try to retain a lawyer as quickly as possible, especially if you’re going into interviews, just to make sure you understand where you stand, because coming into the interviews, it’s ultimately a trap just to get you here and detain you.

ANJALI KAMAT: Tuesday’s protest closed out with the Grammy Award-winning guitarist, singer, songwriter and activist Tom Morello.

TOM MORELLO: I’m Tom Morello, and [bleep] ICE! It is great to be back in the city of my birth. My mother and I lived at 142nd and Riverside a long time ago. And, brothers and sisters, if I’ve learned one thing in all my years since then, it’s that if it looks like fascism, sounds like fascism, acts like fascism, dresses like fascism, talks like fascism, kills like fascism and lies like fascism, brothers and sisters, it’s [bleep] fascism.

PROTESTER 4: Yeah! Don’t get it twisted!

TOM MORELLO: It’s here. It’s now. It’s in L.A. It’s in Chicago. It’s in Minneapolis. It’s in big cities and small towns. And it’s right here in your city. These Gestapo tactics have been employed ruthlessly right here in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. … Today, those huddled masses yearning to be free are hunted, hounded, disappeared, beaten and dead in custody under mysterious circumstances. This betrayal of humanity, this betrayal of compassion, this craven betrayal of justice must be resisted, protested, defended against, stood up to, exposed, ousted, overthrown and driven out by you and by me.

PROTESTER 5: That’s right!

TOM MORELLO: A close family friend was recently kidnapped by ICE. A grandmother, a law-abiding, hard-working grandmother, coming home one night from the grocery store, was jumped by masked government thugs, thrown into an unmarked van and deported without a hint of due process.

PROTESTERS: Shame!

TOM MORELLO: We must stand up for our neighbors and for ourselves, for democracy and for justice, because ain’t nobody coming to save us except us. And, brothers and sisters, it is now or never. That is why right now every act of art is an act of resistance. Right now every truth spoken is a beacon of light in the gathering darkness. And right now let every freedom song sung be a trumpet of hope to the heroes among you who will stand up and undo this madness.

[singing] As I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway;
I saw below me a golden valley;
This land was made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island,
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
This land was made for you and me.

All right, stop. Stop clapping. That’s good. That was good, though. All right. I’m going to — we’re not done yet! I’m going to sing the last secret, censored verse of this song, and you’re going to listen with rapt attention. And together, we’re going to sing “This Land Is Your Land” as loud as it’s ever been sung in front of a [bleep] detention center in New York City. And then we’re all going to sing with pride and joy one last time. It goes a little something like this. Here we go.

[singing] In the squares of the city, in the shadow of the steeple,
Near the relief office I see my people;
Some are grumbling, and all are wondering
If this land’s still made for you and me?
Tell them!

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island,
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
This land was made for you and me.

Thank you very much! Thank you very much, New York City! Take it easy, but take it! Thank you very much!

AMY GOODMAN: Grammy Award-winning musician Tom Morello performing at an ICE protest outside 26 Federal Plaza in New York City. Special thanks to Anjali Kamat and Laura Bustillos.