amny.com35%
Has ICE’s New York surge begun? Masked agents caught on camera across city stopping people, attacking protesters with pepper spray 71%
By Dean Moses50%
7/31/2026, 1:15:46 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, Anecdotal, and Ambiguity (Equivocation), with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 42.7% saturation with 239 hits. Analysis detected 1,606 faulty-reasoning hits from 560 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 57.5% and a BS Rank of 71% (7,655 of 26,004 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 70.60% of the article peer group.
Has the ICE enforcement surge, that Trump's border czar Tom Homan threatened, started ?
Some New York immigration activists fear it has.
On Thursday and Friday, an influx of ICE agents was spotted throughout the five boroughs and on Long Island, marking an unusual rise in reported sightings.
Videos quickly made the rounds on social media of ICE agents on New York City streets — wearing body armor and masks, in violation of state law — stopping people targeted for detention, and confronting those recording and/or protesting their presence.
On July 30, masked agents were seen in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn in larger groups than had previously been reported.
In Bushwick, Brooklyn, several masked agents were seen questioning a family in a minivan and checking their passports, including that of a young child.
The family was not reportedly detained.
That same day, ICE agents were also spotted in East Elmhurst and Inwood.
On Seaman and Isham Avenues in Inwood, a disturbing encounter was caught on camera that appeared to show a masked federal agent approaching a woman who was filming them on her cellphone while holding what appeared to be a canister of military-grade pepper spray.
The agent then sprayed her in the face, according to the video, with no apparent justification.
Local Council Member Carmen De La Rosa was quick to denounce the federal activity.
"It is unacceptable to have the presence of ICE in our community without judicial warrants, simply walking near our parks, near our children, near our families in an immigrant community," De La Rosa said in a video posted to her Instagram.
"It is our responsibility to step up and speak up on behalf of our neighbors, who at this moment cannot speak for themselves."
On Friday morning, just before 10 a.m., a large group of ICE agents was spotted in East Elmhurst, where sources familiar with ICE activity said a person was taken into custody.
The same sources said New York has seen an increase in ICE activity in neighborhoods where such operations had not previously been widely reported, including Inwood and College Point.
They also said agents appear to be conducting more vehicle stops.
The New York Immigration Coalition also issued an alert warning of increased immigration enforcement activity, writing: "We expect this trend to continue and potentially increase."
The reported uptick in enforcement comes as fears mount over the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian New Yorkers and follows Homan's pledge to surge ICE agents into New York.
A spokesperson for NYC ICE Watch, an organization that monitors ICE activity in the city, said they believe this is the beginning of Homan's threats becoming a reality.
"We have heard Tom Homan's threats.
We have also heard the rumors.
Thursday seemed to be the day that the ICE abductions really began to increase.
So, yes, this is definitely an increase in ICE activity," the spokesperson said.
"They have been pepper-spraying neighbors who have borne witness to their kidnappings, and as it seems that they are increasing their kidnappings in the city, they will only continue to be more violent unless they are stopped."
As a result of Thursday and Friday's incidents, several protests in Brooklyn and Inwood are planned for Saturday.
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.