Eve, here. Despite President Trump’s rising disapproval ratings, protests against Trump’s policies do not seem to have achieved much so far. The pink pussy hat and the march of No Kings don’t seem to have any effect on his actions.
But unlike the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the protests against Trump were often about Trump as a person or his incompetent opposition to authoritarianism, rather than overturning specific policies. Here, the ICE component of the anti-Trump action differs in that it has a clear focus. And, as we’ll see below, an impromptu weekend effort in New York City to thwart ICE raids appears to have barely succeeded. The raid was unsuccessful, and even though the NYPD rushed in to remove the protesters, Police Chief Jessica Tisch called ICE and apparently complained bitterly about the raid.
Even though the NYPD intervened to help ICE escape from being temporarily held in one of their facilities, I’m guessing that what was probably at issue was how ICE left when they were finally able to escape (not clearly explained in the accounts I’ve seen so far). Tisch’s objection was that ICE was endangering the safety of New Yorkers and police. Remember, even under current Major Eric Adams, the NYPD does not support ICE. The incident came on the scene with clashes between demonstrators and demonstrators using pallets and trash in an attempt to block ICE’s intended advance. From the New York Times account:
The standoff, which appeared to have thwarted the attack, highlighted the many challenges the federal government faces when attempting to carry out attacks in heavily populated cities like New York, which are largely liberal.
The standoff began shortly after 11 a.m., when several demonstrators gathered outside a garage at Center and Hester streets on the edge of Chinatown. Officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security were there.
As the operatives’ cars were about to leave, protesters blocked them by barricading the entrance to the garage with their bodies and stacking trash bags next to it. The standoff lasted for the better part of an hour as more and more protesters arrived.
By early afternoon, nearly 200 people had gathered on the street outside, shouting and yelling at the operatives looking in from inside the garage.
Police quickly arrived on the scene, arrested several demonstrators, and placed metal barricades between police personnel and the group outside. However, the presence of local police did little to calm tensions…
The standoff descended into chaos shortly after 1:15 p.m., when the operatives drove out of the garage and protesters chased them down Canal Street, throwing planters and garbage cans. At one point, a demonstrator ran in front of one of the moving vehicles, and a masked official sprayed something at them through an open window.
Police and protesters continued to clash on the street, pushing each other out of the way in the middle of incoming traffic as cars sped away.
New York City Police Chief Jessica Tisch sharply criticized the actions of federal agents in a phone call Saturday with Ricky Patel, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New York, according to a person not authorized to speak publicly. She called the attack “unacceptable” and said such a show of force put New Yorkers, federal employees and employees at risk, the official said.
It is popular among conservatives and avocado toasters to denigrate militancy because it threatens property, which is seen as more important than human rights. And in general, protests appear to be ineffective in the short term. As reader Richard Klein pointed out in 2010:
This is the crux of the problem. You lose, you lose, you lose, you lose, and they give up. As someone who has protested and studied the process, it is clear that most of my time begins with defeat. It’s painful, humiliating, and terrifying. Usually, like in combat, you can’t expect to secure a sure victory. What you do in protest is exactly what Hari discussed, when you change the context, that change moves the opponent’s goalposts and erases the flow of their machine. The nonviolent resistance movement in Hungary in the 1860s (yes, the 19th century) is a perfect example. Communist rule in Russia and its dependencies failed not because the protesters “won” but because most simply withdrew cooperation until they were suffocated.
But the Trump administration prefers to ignore opposition and use violence to get its way. Will Lefasnik match them, as Frederick Douglass warned he would need to?
Power doesn’t give anything without asking for it. That never happened, and never will. If you look at what people silently submit to, you have found the exact measure of the injustice and injustice inflicted upon them. And these continue until they are resisted with words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are defined by the patience of those they oppress.
Written by Gwynne Horgan, Alex Clares, and Katie Honan. Published on THE CITY on November 29, 2025
On November 29, 2025, New York City police officers confronted protesters outside the General Services Administration garage near Canal Street ahead of a scheduled immigration raid. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY
New York City police arrested more than a dozen people and fired pepper spray at a spontaneous protest that formed around a SoHo parking lot, where undercover Homeland Security agents had gathered inside.
It’s unclear exactly what federal authorities had planned for Saturday. Around 11 a.m., officers began taking up positions inside a federally owned parking lot at Howard and Center streets. It’s near the Canal Street location where federal agents used military-style equipment to arrest a number of immigrant street vendors last month.
Hellgate reported that ICE had planned another large-scale immigration raid on Saturday afternoon, but it was abruptly called off after protesters and vendors appeared to have heard it.
Word quickly spread among activists, and a crowd grew outside the garage chanting “ICE from New York,” and some demonstrators tried to block the road and garage exits with traffic cones and overturned garbage cans as masked operatives watched from above.
New York City Police Department officers arrived on the scene and helped police remove the demonstrators, erected metal barricades around the parking lot, and arrested several demonstrators. After a standoff that lasted about two hours, officers managed to clear the way for about 20 federal vehicles to exit the parking lot and leave the area.
“It’s really despicable, like the NYPD, especially the police.” [Strategic Response Group, the NYPD’s counter-terrorism unit] “We are working to ensure that ICE officers are able to be in the city to make arrests,” said Christopher Marte, a local city councilman who rushed to the street after hearing the confrontation.
Officers arrived just before noon after receiving a 911 call of a “disorderly group,” the NYPD said in a statement.
“Upon arrival, officers observed multiple individuals blocking streets and exits at various locations. These individuals were also observed throwing debris,” the statement said. “They were given multiple instructions to disperse, but they did not comply. As a result, several people were detained.”
In an emailed statement, DHS declined to say what investigators had planned for Saturday, but thanked the New York Police Department for its intervention.
“We thank the NYPD officers who responded to these violent instigators and stopped the illegal activity that ensued,” the statement said.
“We will never apologize for enforcing the law and removing criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and terrorists, from our communities. We will not allow violent mobs to slow us down, and anyone who attacks law enforcement will be prosecuted.” [sic] To the fullest extent of the law. ”
A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams did not respond to a request for comment from the city.
“The mayor-elect has made it clear, including the president, that these raids are cruel, inhumane, and do not promote true public safety,” Zoran Mamdani spokeswoman Monica Klein said in a statement.
“The mayor-elect remains determined to protect the rights and dignity of every New Yorker and to support sanctuary laws and de-escalation rather than unnecessary use of force,” she said.
A small group of protesters tried to slow down and leave a road lined with overturned trash cans and debris along Canal Street as a stream of federal government vans and cars tried to leave the area. Dozens of NYPD officers pursued the protesters, spraying them with pepper spray and arresting several more along Canal Street.
“Please understand that this is not your fight,” Khaled Rabis, 52, implored New York City police officers to be kind to one of the protesters, whose arm was tied behind his back. Lavis, who lives in New Jersey, heard the commotion while shopping and joined the protesters.
Crowds of federal agents, New York City police officers and protesters cause chaos along Canal Street for several hours on Small Business Saturday, a big day for tourists and holiday shoppers.
“We’re really nosy, there’s a Scots in us,” said one Scottish tourist who stopped to observe, declining to give his name.
On November 29, 2025, NYPD officers arrested approximately a dozen protesters who were blocking federal immigration agents from leaving a garage near Canal Street. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY
Ali Bussi, 19, was visiting Canal Street from Detroit to “get some fake Gucci” when he visited his father, but he couldn’t find anything for sale that day because the street vendors on the canal appeared to be done for the day on Friday.
“Fuck you, ICE, why are they doing this? We’re all the same kind,” he said. “It hurts inside. We’re all human.”
In October, dozens of federal agents raided Canal Street against street vendors and arrested nine West African immigrants. This was the largest military immigration raid in New York City. Since then, ICE agents have been randomly detaining undocumented New Yorkers on the streets, targeting predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods in what activists and lawyers call profiling.
There have been other violent attacks, including one earlier this month when investigators entered a woman’s East Elmhurst apartment in the pre-dawn hours looking for relatives who no longer lived there.
Investigators pointed guns at a 33-year-old mother and her four children, dragged her by the hair, and pointed an assault rifle at her 13-year-old daughter.
In a short video of the attack, one agent can be heard yelling, “Hands up, idiot.”
Earlier this month, border czar Tom Homan vowed to step up immigration enforcement and said he planned to visit New York City in the coming weeks.
