ICE Agent Fled From Angry Residents Outside New York School — and Got in a Car Crash
Support Us
© THE INTERCEPT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
A video still of an ICE agent frantically trying to get a colleague away from the scene of car crash in Westbury, N.Y., on June 10, 2025. Courtesy of Oscar Sorto
A dozen or more masked men, some with long guns, tried to enter a men's homeless shelter without identifying themselves in a rural town with a long-standing immigrant community on eastern Long Island in New York. Officials from the local police department later admitted they didn't know where the masked men came from — only adding to local residents' concerns.
At the same time, 50 miles to the west, six unmarked cars with masked agents from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, parked within hundreds of feet of an elementary school in a working-class town with a large Latino population. In response, a group of residents gathered to shame the agents, accusing the agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, of lying in wait to snatch the parents of students when school let out.
The Long Island communities in New York City's suburbs are the latest to be wracked by chaos as the Trump administration ramps up large-scale deportation operations. ICE raids using a hodgepodge of masked federal agents and varying degrees of assistance from local law enforcement agencies are escalating as part of the raids — leaving local immigrants in fear and other residents enraged.
On Long Island, the two federal raids on Tuesday saw emergency communiqués from schools to parents, incorrect information distributed to area media by local authorities, a confrontation with angry demonstrators, and a car accident.
Last week, top ICE officials ordered officers to increase arrests and to get 'creative' in their methods, including trying to nab people the officers happen to encounter in what are known as 'collateral arrests.' The orders come in the wake of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller setting a quota of 3,000 immigration arrests per day, along with a sharp rise in protests against the crackdown.
Late Tuesday morning in Westbury, in western Nassau County, parents and nearby residents noticed what they immediately recognized as unmarked federal agent vehicles parked within feet of Park Avenue Elementary School, two eyewitnesses told The Intercept. One of those residents, Allan Oscar Sorto, picked up his phone and began streaming live on Facebook.
As he streamed, a dozen or so people began congregating near the cars, two Nissan Altimas and several Ford SUVs with flashers. People can be heard explaining that they've seen these cars around the neighborhood in recent weeks, part of immigration raids. Now the sight of the cars parked so close to the elementary school seemed to spark heightened outrage and fear that federal immigration agents were lurking to surprise parents going to pick up their children from school.
Sorto, from nearby Hempstead, estimated that there were four cars near the school, some within 10 feet of the schoolyard fence, and two other cars on the next block. Another eyewitness, who asked not to be named out of fear of law enforcement retaliation, told The Intercept that he could see uniformed HSI agents sitting in all the cars, most masked.
'No son padres ustedes?' a woman in the video says to the closed window of one of the parked Nissans: 'Are you not parents?'
People on the sidewalk yelled at the cars in Spanish and English. 'Show your face!' 'You feel proud?' 'None of us are criminals, we work, we pay taxes like you do.' 'Leave the school grounds!'
The Westbury residents' fears seemed well-founded, considering reports from around the country. In California, ICE agents arrested and detained a fourth grader, separating the boy from his father; they were both deported to Honduras. Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said DHS agents lied to school principals that they had permission from children's parents to gain access to schools.
In Westbury, the HSI agents didn't respond to the gathered crowd. After a few minutes, the agents drove away. A commotion erupted down the road, off-camera, and onlookers began rushing toward the corner.
One of the Nissans, carrying two of the HSI agents, had crashed into a black pickup truck that happened to be passing through the intersection. Three eyewitnesses told The Intercept that the agents' car had sped away. Two of the witnesses believe the Nissan blew a stop sign, causing the crash. (Nassau County police referred questions about the accident to ICE, which did not respond to an inquiry.)
After the accident, the crowd gathered around the scene, according to the video stream. The two agents got out of the crashed car, seemingly panicked and, witnesses told The Intercept, appearing to avoid eye contact with bystanders. The agents got into another HSI vehicle.
A third agent, an unmasked man with a black polo shirt covering his tactical vest, stood near the crashed car, remaining stoic as people questioned him on the livestream.
'You're looking for criminals in the school?' one bystander asked, as the agent remained expressionless.
Then Sorto, the man streaming, said, 'I'm a dad, I have a son waiting for me at home.' The agent gave a slight nod — what Sorto said was the only response to the crowd during the incident.
'You guys need to have feelings, man,' Sorto said.
Nassau County police began arriving in short order, eventually swelling to at least two dozen officers, some on horseback, closing the street and barricading residents onto sidewalks.
Nassau County Police Department, located in one of the country's safest countries, is one of the most well-funded departments in the nation, with a notoriously opaque transparency record. In March, the department signed a controversial agreement with ICE giving deputized county police officers the ability to interrogate people about their immigration status and make arrests without a warrant.
During the Westbury incident, one of the HSI agents, wearing a mask, stood hidden behind several Nassau police officers as the residents appealed to them for information.
Soon, the federal agents left, leaving the smashed Nissan with the passenger side airbag deployed behind, and many in the crowd dispersed.
The driver of the pickup truck involved in the accident was placed in a stretcher and left in an ambulance. (Neither the police nor ICE offered information on the driver's identity or condition in response to inquiries from The Intercept.)
'Now you're clogging up the street and people have to work,' one of the remaining bystanders can be heard to say during the stream. 'How is this making America great again?'
Late Tuesday night, Park Avenue Elementary School took an unprecedented step that reflected the fear in Westbury.
'We want to inform you that due to an incident that occurred near the school vicinity today, we will be providing transportation home for all students who are typically walkers,' the principal, Robert Chambers, wrote in a message to the school community relayed in English and Spanish. 'This is being done out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety and well-being of all our students.'
Sorto told The Intercept he had family members who were too afraid to send their children to school the next day. (Park Avenue Elementary did not respond to a request for comment.)
The Long Island newspaper Newsday first reported the Westbury incident with a quote from Nassau County police that the action was not immigration-related and that the agents were not working for ICE on Tuesday afternoon.
Late Tuesday, however, an ICE spokesperson issued a statement that contradicted the Nassau police.
'ICE Homeland Security Investigations Long Island personnel were conducting an operation associated to an ongoing federal investigation,' the statement said. 'During the operation special agents were confronted by multiple anti-law enforcement agitators, which prohibited the enforcement action. ICE HSI personnel departed the location and, shortly thereafter, a member of the law enforcement team was involved in a motor-vehicle collision.'
News 12, a local TV station, went back to local authorities for clarification, and police replied that 'the agents on scene identified themselves to Nassau police as Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, agents and not as ICE.'
Homeland Security Investigations is one of two divisions at ICE. While Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO, enforces civil immigration matters, HSI is tasked with investigating transitional crimes. HSI's enforcement is not limited to undocumented immigrants, but its investigations and operations, including workplace raids, frequently touch upon immigration matters.
In responses to ICE's allegation that residents were the ones creating chaos, Sorto denied that the residents on hand were agitators.
'We just are people that got together as community because we saw the cars outside the school,' he told The Intercept. 'But we don't belong to any group or anything. We just are good and hard-working people that want to have a regular life like anybody else.'
Read Our Complete Coverage
As the chaos erupted in Westbury, another alarming scene was unfolding an hour to the east, in Riverhead, on the outskirts of the New York City suburbs. A group of suspected ICE agents could be seen staging their vehicles in the Riverhead Fire Department parking lot, according to video and photographs shared with The Intercept by a community advocacy group.
A week earlier, ICE raids using another Long Island fire department sparked outrage in the community. The fire department subsequently issued a statement that fire officials were not previously informed that ICE would be using their parking lot.
Several hours after the men were seen at the Riverhead Fire Department, they were spotted again. Twelve to 14 of the masked men, some reportedly carrying long guns, were trying to get into a Riverhead men's homeless shelter, according to a video shared by several immigrant advocates in the area. They would not identify themselves, a shelter employee told local news outlet RiverheadLOCAL.
A shelter resident told RiverheadLOCAL that one of the men, wearing a black U.S. Marshals vest, came to the front door seeking entry but would neither show credentials or a warrant, nor give his name. (A representative for the shelter did not respond to inquiries.)
A representative for the Riverhead Fire Department told The Intercept,
'We had no idea who they were.'
In the East End towns of Long Island, where the rich enclaves of the Hamptons coexist alongside working agricultural communities, authorities have largely opposed helping ICE operations. Riverhead Town Supervisor Tom Hubbard, for example, said in January that town police would not get involved in immigration enforcement, and the majority-Hispanic Riverhead School District also sent a strong message that it would resist unlawful actions by immigration authorities at schools.
The president of an Eastern Suffolk BIPOC advocacy group told The Intercept that a network of immigrants' advocates have been closely monitoring the activities of ICE in the area. She believes the Riverhead police were mistaken that the agents at the shelter were not affiliated with ICE.
'I have received information indicating that ICE's New York City Field Office is actively investigating immigration-related offenses across Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley,' Marylin Winter, of the group the African American Educational Cultural Festival, said. (Neither the Riverhead town supervisor nor Riverhead police returned requests for comment.)
Winter said her group plans to disseminate 'know your rights' material for immigrants.
'We are resolute in our opposition to the illegal enforcement of immigration without a judicial warrant, asserting that no arrest should occur under such circumstances,' she said. 'Our commitment extends to ensuring that the innocent, particularly children and their families, are fully aware of their legal rights.'
Meanwhile, the confusion around ICE actions on Long Island continued. One Wednesday morning, Glen Cove city police, a small local force in Nassau County, responded to a call from a business owner about a possible assault, according to local media reports. When the police arrived, however, they found ICE officers holding a group of men on the ground.
Following the outburst of opposition to ICE's presence in Nassau County, the county executive and police chief said that their forces would not be assisting ICE in operations inside schools or houses of worship.
'Raids on schools are not something we do unless there's an emergency or a threat, and if there's an emergency or threat, we're coming in regardless of the situation,' Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told reporters. 'So the bottom line is, there is no program to raid schools here in Nassau County.'
Blakeman had been at the forefront of the effort in Nassau County to deputize local police to carry out immigration enforcement and work with ICE. Join The Conversation
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
31 minutes ago
- Fox News
FBI increases surveillance of Iran-backed operatives in US: source
The FBI is increasing its monitoring of Iran-backed operatives in the U.S. as President Donald Trump weighs involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict, a senior law enforcement source confirmed to Fox News Friday. The White House said Thursday Trump will make a decision on U.S. involvement in the conflict within two weeks. The monitoring reportedly includes surveillance of possible sleeper cells linked to the Tehran-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, according to CBS News. The Lebanon-based terror group also got a clear warning from Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz not to join the conflict. The decision to increase monitoring comes just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Iran was plotting to assassinate Trump because the regime saw him as a threat to its nuclear program. "They want to kill him. He's enemy No. 1. He's a decisive leader. He never took the path that others took to try to bargain with them in a way that is weak, giving them basically a pathway to enrich uranium, which means a pathway to the bomb, padding it with billions and billions of dollars," the prime minister told Fox News' Bret Baier during a Sunday edition of "Special Report." While Trump has called for an "unconditional surrender," he has yet to decide whether to involve the U.S. in the conflict. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday he would make a decision within two weeks. Critics from both sides of the aisle have called on the president not to get involved, while others see involvement as a necessity to protect American interests. On Friday, a U.S. official told Fox News the USS Nimitz, which left the South China Sea Monday, would arrive in the Middle East this weekend. The USS Carl Vinson has already been deployed for some time, meaning two U.S. aircraft carriers would be in the Middle East at the same time.
UPI
31 minutes ago
- UPI
U.N. chief says Iran, Israel 'on course to chaos,' urges de-escalation
June 20 (UPI) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged de-escalation of the conflict between Israel and Iran because "we are on course to chaos." The United Nations Security Council met in New York City to discuss the conflict that began one week ago. Iran called for a special session of the 15-member Security Council. Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani described the "large-scale, unprovoked military attack" by Israel. Guterres spoke to the UN. delegations from Geneva, Switzerland, where he working with the foreign ministers from Iran, France, Germany, Britain and the European Union on a diplomatic solution to the situation. Guterres said the war is "escalating rapidly with a terrible toll, killing and injuring civilians, devastating homes and civilian infrastructure, attacking nuclear facilities. The expansion of this conflict could ignite a fire that no one can control. We must not let that happen. "There are moments when our choices are defining, when the direction taken will potentially shape our collective future," he said. "The present conflict between Israel and Iran is such a moment. Let us not look back on this moment with regret. Let us act -- responsibly and together -- to pull the region, and our world, back from the brink." Rafael Grossi, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the Internatiomal Atomic Energy Agency, warned that Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites had caused a "sharp degradation" in nuclear safety and security. He spoke from Geneva. The United States has largely stayed out of the conflict. But U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he would decide whether to bomb Iran "within two weeks." Trump wants a nuclear deal between the United States and Iran. Before the war began last week, they had met several times to agree on a pact regarding uranium enrichment. "President Trump has been clear in recent days that Iran's leadership must completely abandon its nuclear enrichment program and all aspirations of acquiring a nuclear weapon," acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea said Friday. She described the danger of Iran. "The Iranian government has long posed a constant menace to the peace and security of its neighbors and the entire world, which this council is charged to maintain," she said. "The Iranian government has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction and for 'death to America.' They have launched direct and proxy attacks on Israeli civilians, including most recently on southern Israel's largest hospital, and just recently -- in the last couple hours -- on Haifa. Iran's government has also spread chaos, terror, and suffering throughout the region." She said, "It is not too late for the government of Iran to do the right thing." The United States is a permanent member of the council and can veto any resolution. Russia and China, which also are permanent members, condemned Israel's strikes on Iran. Iraq's Ambassador Abbas Kadhom Obaid Al-Fatlawi agreed with them, saying: "Iraq strongly condemns the unjustified Israeli attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the repeated Israeli violations of the sovereignty of states, especially the violations of Iraqi airspace to launch an aggression against neighboring Iran." Israeli planes have passed over Iraq en route to Iran. Al-Fatlawi said the attacks are blatant violations of the U.N. charter and international law, adding that "we will not allow Iraq to become a battleground for settling regional or international scores." Israel's Ambassador Danny Danon countered: "There is no greater threat to international peace and security than a nuclear Iran." He said Israel has acted "as a last resort" and would not "wait for another threat, rocket, missile, terrorist or atomic bomb." On the other side, the Iranian ambassador said: "The council's failure to act ... would constitute a profound abdication of the council's responsibilities." He said the assault was not accidental and "not collateral damage. They were deliberate war crimes, acts of state terror and an example of barbaric warfare." Iravani noted his nation's nuclear program is peaceful, and he said Israel remains the only country in the Middle East with undeclared nuclear weapons. Iran's military response to being attacked was carried out in accordance with international law, he said. The diplomatic bloc of France, Germany, Britain and European Union officials are engaging Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva, calling it a "window of opportunity" to return to diplomacy. The other permanent Security Council members are Britain and France. British Ambassador Barbara Woodward called it "a dangerous moment for the entire region." She said she hoped for a diplomatic solution and reaffirmed Britain's support for the IAEA and its inspectors, and urged all parties to protect civilians and uphold international humanitarian law. Britain is not participating in Israeli strikes and has deployed assets only as a defensive measure, she said. French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont also called for restraint and de-escalation. "Civilian lives need to be shielded and there is a need to re-embark on the path of diplomacy," he said. "France solemnly calls on Iran to finally take the opportunity of a negotiated diplomatic solution."
Chicago Tribune
31 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Letters to the Editor: Vote-by-mail's not the reason Republicans are losing elections; chromosomes not a simple solution for trans sports issue
I find it amusing that Kevin Coyne, chair of the DuPage County GOP, has concluded the only reason DuPage Republicans are losing elections is because they don't vote by mail. Like most of the Republicans left in his party, he refuses to admit that his is now a party of insanity. Many Republicans have jumped ship to the Democratic Party, wandered off as independents or become non-voters out of disgust. Some did so during President Trump's first term; still more in his latter. No, it must be that all-powerful vote by mail and not because Trump rejected the outcome of the 2020 elections, incited a violent insurrection on Jan. 6 and then pardoned the participants, hobbled emergency and health agencies like FEMA and the National Weather Service, and gutted the EPA so polluters are fully free to poison our air and water for greater profits. It can't possibly be because the president rolled back decades of progress for civil and human rights, shut down the heinous 'Sesame Street' or diverted money from seniors' Meals on Wheels so millionaires can be a given a greater tax break. He's made it so it's now OK to threaten universities and oppose law firms you don't like, to accept foreign gifts for personal favor and to sell U.S. citizenship, for which many veterans gave their lives, for the bargain price of $5 million. No, Republicans losing elections must be the result of something else. So, yes, Kevin, please sign your entire party up for vote-by-mail. It's a great plan — for the rest of us, who live in the world of the sane.I am writing in response to the letter, 'Chromosomes should dictate who competes against who,' which ran in the June 15 edition of the Naperville Sun. The idea that 'chromosomes should dictate who competes against who' in sports competitions is overly simplistic and does not reflect the reality of genetic diversity in human beings. Chromosomally, sex is not easily defined. There are many chromosomal variations other than XX or XY, including XXX, XYY and XXX, and many more. What about women who have Turner syndrome or only have one X chromosome or men with Klinefelter syndrome with an XXY karyotype? Should we bar them from sports too? The vast majority of people have not had their own genome sequenced. The original letter writer herself may even have a chromosomal variation other than XX and may never know it. There is no one way for women's bodies, and genes, to be. Trans people belong in sports and denying them the right to participate based on their chromosomes is up in Naperville deeply influenced my path. The opportunities I had at Naperville School District 203 ignited my passions for science and service. Later, federal research experiences shaped my future. When I approached graduation from Lake Forest College, I felt lost. How could I blend my passions into a career? I found the answer during a research internship at Rush University on a project funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease. Today, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I am a doctoral candidate in epidemiology, the field that works to understand and reduce disease. My research and training are largely supported by the National Cancer Institute. Epidemiologists help fight cancer by collecting and analyzing data on cancer cases and deaths. For example, epidemiology research supports the 2022-27 Illinois Cancer Control Plan to reduce cancer, promote prevention and improve care. My research explores why people get colorectal cancer at different rates. While overall rates have decreased since the 2010s, cases in people under 50 have increased by 44% in Illinois over the past two decades. At all ages, Black Illinoisans face the highest rates. Despite great strides, we have a long way to go in the fight to end cancer. But I fear for the future of this fight. This year, federally mandated cuts to the National Institutes of Health's budget will eliminate essential resources like staff, buildings and utilities. Public universities in Illinois are facing a $71.5 million loss in funding, devastating science infrastructure and destroying jobs. Additionally, Illinois universities have had millions in already-awarded grants canceled (including more than $1 million at Rush). These cuts pause essential research, threaten economic growth and undermine the training of the next generation of scientists. Dwindling research funds are not the only threat. In March, the Centers for Disease Control blocked $449 million awarded to the Illinois Department of Public Health. With these cuts, we lose support to fight chronic diseases, like cancer, and infectious disease, like the flu and COVID-19. This is not an issue of political affiliation. Sweeping cuts threaten the research and resources needed to fight disease, leaving everyone's health at stake. Please contact your local, state and federal elected officials and tell them you oppose cuts to science and public health funding. You can also express support by signing the Citizens for Science Policy pledge at was the recent U.S. Army's 250th anniversary overlooked? There was lots of coverage and criticism of the June 14 parade but not much in the way of gratitude for the U.S. Army. Although there's a lot of political turmoil right now, let us never, ever forget that freedom is not free. I'm not going to talk about political views but just be sure to thank all of our military folks and especially the U.S. Army, whose soldiers have protected our freedoms for 250 years! Maybe what was overlooked is that our military are the ones who really guard the gates of freedom around the world for all of us. They are the ones who enable the rights we all enjoy, especially the right to free speech, and have been doing so from 1775 to 2025. Whatever our political views may be, I think we should be both mindful of and thankful for the Army's faithful service to our country. They did a great job in the parade and made us proud. May God continue to bless our country and all of our military.
