Free Upper West Side News, Delivered To Your Inbox
On the eve of Independence Day, Thursday, July 3, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal sent out an email alerting the public to an “ICE sighting on the Upper West Side.” ILTUWS spoke with Rosenthal the following Monday, and she clarified that the incident referenced in her message occurred in late June.
Advertisement
“ICE agents approached a group of kids attending baseball practice near the batting cages near West 71st Street in Riverside Park,” Rosenthal wrote in the email. ILTUWS spoke with the assemblymember in greater detail about the incident — including what people should know if they are stopped by ICE.
“If you’ve ever wondered how the Holocaust came to be, you don’t have to look much further than this moment in time,” Rosenthal wrote about the incident by the batting cages, where players were reportedly asked to show their citizenship papers and their coach was threatened with arrest. The coach managed to defuse the situation by demanding that the officers produce a warrant — which they did not have.
When asked whether it was confirmed that the individuals who approached the kids by the field were in fact agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Rosenthal said, “It’s hard to confirm; they’re not the ones who you see in courthouses that have ICE written on their shirt.” She added that the unidentified individuals claimed to be with ICE. “But no matter — they are terrifying these kids. I mean, they’re asking for ID, they’re asking for all sorts of information that a stranger has no right to ask.”
During our call with the assemblymember, Rosenthal pointed to a New York Times opinion essay titled “The Ruthless Ambition of Stephen Miller.” “He’s the one who’s like, just get me people — let’s get rid of them,” she said. “Let’s just get people out and ship them out of the country.”
Advertisement
According to the Cato Institute, a public policy research organization founded in 1977, “As of June 14, ICE had booked into detention 204,297 individuals (since October 1, 2024, the start of fiscal year 2025),” the organization noted in a report released on June 20. “Of those book-ins, 65 percent — or 133,687 individuals — had no criminal convictions.” Perhaps most startling, the data shows that more than 93 percent of ICE book-ins had never been convicted of any violent offenses, and about nine in ten had no convictions for either violent or property offenses. “Most convictions (53 percent) fell into three main categories: immigration, traffic, or nonviolent vice crimes.”
Rosenthal told ILTUWS that she and her team have been handing out cards that inform people what to do if they’re stopped by an ICE agent.
What to Do If You’re Stopped by ICE
According to civil rights groups, here are key steps to follow if you are approached by ICE in a public place:
- Stay calm and do not run. Running may escalate the situation.
- You have the right to remain silent. You do not have to answer questions about your immigration status or where you were born.
- Do not lie or provide false documents.
- Ask if you are free to leave. If yes, walk away calmly. If no, you may remain silent.
- Do not consent to a search. You can say: “I do not consent to a search.”
- Ask to see a warrant. Only a judicial warrant signed by a judge permits ICE to search you or enter your home.
- Do not sign anything without speaking to a lawyer.
- Document the encounter if you feel safe. Take notes or video, and collect names or badge numbers.
- Carry a “Know Your Rights” card to present to the officer instead of speaking.
Advertisement
For more detailed information, visit the websites of the ACLU and the Immigrant Defense Project. “Knowing the law could truly save someone’s life,” said Rosenthal.
“This administration is clearly not targeting dangerous criminals for deportation,” Rosenthal wrote. “Instead, they’re terrorizing immigrant children, pregnant women, people who served our country, and naturalized citizens.”
She also invoked another Holocaust comparison: “Alligator Alcatraz,” a 5,000-square-foot detention center deep in the Florida Everglades, outfitted with concentration camp-style barracks and cages used to hold people detained by ICE before being “deported to a country of the federal government’s choosing.”
Rosenthal contends that the baseball players in Riverside Park may have been spared from being sent to such a facility thanks to their coach, who bravely stood his ground and knew the law.
Have a news tip? Send it to us here!
Comparing (in this case highly unsubstantiated claims of) deportation of non-citizen law breakers to the Holocaust is Peak TDS.
100% correct. Ms. Rosenthal knows the difference between the Holocaust and law enforcement but has never let the truth get in the way of her lust for publicity.
Law-abiding Non-citizens with their paperwork in order have nothing to fear.
Yet you give the same answer Nazi sympathizers used too, interesting…
And what “papers”, pray, are citizens supposed to have “in order” and on their persons? Zig-Zags? And since when are children expected to carry any “papers” at all?
If you are here ILLEGALLY ICE has every right to ship your ass to South Sudan.THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH!
Even if you’re not from South Sudan. Even if you’ve never been in South Sudan. Even if you’ve never heard of South Sudan. And without due process.
Right — because that’s how it works under a dictatorship, all the more so when the nation’s highest courts are in cahoots.
I can feel the insipid and greasy hate-filled vitriol dripping off the sides of your cancre’d and fish oily foul lips from here.
I wish ICE would disappear as much as I do both you and Quid pro Quo Adams.
Kids playing ball need to show their papers? GET REAL!
Oh yeah? Wait until someone connected to your family in some way gets abducted, handled rough, arrested, deported, and falls ill in ICE custody in a country they’ve never even heard of.
These roundups are absolutely abhorrent. If you approve of this sickening behavior, then it’s clearer than ever how “good Germans” let their society fall into the hands of a power-drunk madman.
You should examine your moral distance here, reality is closer than you think.
Everyone in my family is here legally, so we don’t have to worry about being “handled rough” whatever that means. When I travel to Europe, I need a visa, passport and enter the country legally. Same rules apply here. Happy to have everyone as long as they are legal. it’s pretty simple.
My husband is a naturalized citizen, and I guarantee you he has contributed more to humankind than you, smarmy know-it-all. He’s very scared because this criminal gang that has hijacked our government—I mean every word of that—is talking about deporting naturalized citizens, too. That encompasses millions of hardworking Americans.
What do you do, besides regurgitate extremist right-wing garbage on community websites? What a loser.
Iris, I’m with you.
Uh, No. It may be “simple” to you, but the “same rules” do not apply to going to Europe on vacation as to fleeing one’s country on foot, including children. The US does have “rules” and processes for seeking asylum and for refugee status (as well as for work, family, and other forms of immigration). That is what most of these immigrants are applying to.
Except that people here legally have been deported. Better watch your back, JJ. They still might come for your family. Educate yourself.
Not to worry you, JJ, but even U.S. CITIZENS are not safe from our ICE gestapo:
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-487
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/ice-has-deported-dozens-of-u-s-citizens-report-says/
https://afsc.org/newsroom/are-us-citizens-nj-being-targeted-deportation-pass-immigrant-trust-act
https://migrantinsider.com/p/ice-has-deported-at-least-70-us-citizens
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/27/us/american-citizens-detained-ice-immigration
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ice-deported-3-children-who-are-u-s-citizens-their-families-lawyers-say
Especially vulnerable are nonwhite people, women, children, folks in the wrong place at the wrong time, Democrats, and indeed anyone Trump and his thuggish gang dislike.
And with the passage of the Big, Bloated BS Bill, which allocates over $170 billion for ICE, it’s all about to get much, much worse. Sleep well!
You’re wrong and uninformed.
ICE has picked up innumerable “wrong” folks. They have quotas and you’re one more body.
And that treasured REAL ID you hand over when the goons “ask” to see your papers? Ha!
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-ice-detains-u-s-citizen-real-id-1235347874/
JJ:
Being here legally (or a citizen) doesn’t stop the police from handling you roughly.
Exactly right. Except they have no ‘morals’. These folks have no shame about cheering on the traumatizing of other human beings, including children. Not the type to examine their own behavior or biases.
Please check in with your therapist. TDS is now spreading like Covid. Produce some names & real witnesses. Call 911. Where is the cell phone evidence. Even illegals have cell phones.
You can always see quite clearly who TDS really refers to. T was mentioned nowhere in this article, only by you.
He/She is a troll. Pollutes the WSR site too. Sad little person.
“TDS” is the lame meme the Reich-wing trots out whenever it’s incapable of defending its execrable positions factually or morally. Think of it as a cowardly form of face-saving surrender.
Where is the evidence that this happened? 9 players1 coach nobody had a cell phone?
No one called 911? Not 1 picture! ICE dropped from the sky? Not 1 car,
You do realize that ICE can just come into your home if they suspect that there is an undocumented person there, with no documentation or proof. And they’re about to get much more money and way more power under the Big Beautiful BS. This isn’t about protecting “illegals,” this is about protecting your Constitutional rights. You are a fool if you are willing to give up Constitutional rights just because you hate brown people so much.
ICE CANNOT come into your house without a judicial warrant or your consent. Do not open the door.
What you describe is the way it’s SUPPOSED to work.
It doesn’t. Welcome to the police state.
I see you are spreading your joy here too. Pretty sad that you post your hate far and wide. I pity you.
It is not a crime to be in the USA without the correct immigration documentation. It is a civil offense.
Furthermore, agents approaching minors playing baseball and asking for their papers is indeed Nazi-esque. If they can do it to brown kids, they can do it to your kids, who don’t carry their papers with them, assuming they are natural born citizens.
Illegal entry can be considered a criminal offense. As a civil offense one can be fined for the action.
So if you are detained as an illegal resident, you can be given a fine or given the choice to deport. If you are detained with a criminal record, most likely now you will end up getting deported.
Michaek:
Illegal entry is only a crime if you have been already deported.
I didn’t say anything about whether those with felony records could be deported.
i feel like if you are legally here in the US, you do not have anything to worry about. If you are not, well then you have to pay the consequences. Also, instead of writing advice on what to do if you are caught, maybe add links or information about how to legally become a United States Citizen….
They know how to legally become a US citizen. That’s not what this is about – otherwise people wouldn’t be grabbed when they are at immigration court hearings going through the lengthy process to legally become a US citizen.
An excellent suggestion, JJ.
JJ, you really need to widen your horizons and change the channel. You’d maybe see what is ACTUALLY happening out there, vs what Fox News wants you to believe. They paid $760+million dollars for a reason.
Our tax dollars are paying for concentration camps, and people who’ve contributed to our community (and tax base) for years are being terrorized by masked goons, ripping apart their lives despite them having committed no crimes.
No one — especially not New Yorkers — should be ok with immigrants being treated like this while the statue in the harbor offers refuge to the huddled masses. This is a city of immigrants and no one who sees people are human beings — regardless of their papers — could be ok with this.
The least you could do is come up with a rationale thats not so laughably flimsy and weak. You think the Holocaust started with death camps on day 1? It started by demonizing groups, blaming them for society’s ills, and rounding them for concentration camps.
Maybe thats what you want in America too? If so, at least have the decency to admit it.
To those who are defending Trump’s goons terrorizing children playing baseball in the park, YOU are part of the problem. Do you understand that even those who are here legally are being deported? Maybe your ignorance has lulled you into a false sense of security. And I suppose you are also okay that these thugs are wearing masks to hide their identity and not showing any identification? You were probably fine with January 6th, too. You disgust me.
Exactly right. But what they feel secure about is that this is not going to happen to themselves or their family. They’ve bought into the con that the “others” are not human beings deserving of basic respectful treatment or due process.
Would it be easier to accept that this administration terrorizes people of color in the tradition of America?
Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans, emancipated slaves, Chinese immigrants in the West, all treated brutally by groups like the KKK who were enabled and protected by democratically elected politicians. Reading up on how women fighting the right to vote and gays fighting for equality were also brutally treated gives a clear picture of how American this shameful time is.
Here you go — these are MY papers:
https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-4/
LOL. You think that will help you? Wake up, clown.
Leash yourself, Bobo. I was making a point about how things SHOULD work in America (not that this is still recognizably America, of course); sorry if it flew right past you.
Bobo? That’s excellent! Yes, flew right over my head. My apologies.
Really, citing the Charles Koch supported (de-Nazified) Cato Institute. Sure Koch likes cheap labor provided by undocumented immigrants. BUT he also funds things like the Heritage Foundation, which produced the fascistic kill the poors Project 2025, which the Trump admin is using as a playbook. So hard to take the Cato Institute seriously.
Really now, citing the Charles Koch supported (de-Nazified) Cato Institute. Sure Koch likes cheap labor provided by undocumented immigrants. BUT he also funds things like the Heritage Foundation, which produced the fascistic kill the poors Project 2025, which the Trump admin is using as a playbook. So hard to take the Cato Institute seriously.
And no, the Cato Institute wasn’t founded in 1977, it had been around since at least 1960s.
Charles Koch took it over in the 1970s, changed the name and removed the Holocaust denier director.
Ahoy, Jay. The accounts of Cato’s founding I’ve seen are conflicting: most say it began in 1977, but others trace it to the Charles Koch Foundation, Inc., incorporated December 19, 1974. Nothing I recall having read dates its origin to the 1960s. (Inconveniently, all the libertarianism books from my teen years — back when dinosaurs roamed the earth — are filed away in boxes.) Might you have been thinking of the Freedom School or Rampart College? Those were both around in the 1960s. Clarification would be quite welcome! LL&P.
ecm:
Yes, it’s a continuation of the Freedom School, which C. studied at in the 1960s.
Read “Meet Charles Koch’s Brain”, the genesis of the Cato Institute is not pretty.
https://ia600206.us.archive.org/16/items/pdfy-qDY
Alas, the link you cited for “Meet Charles Koch’s Brain” gave me a “Page not found” error. I was, however, able to find the mostly ungarbled text elsewhere (https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-qDYkCJZp968ltoLM/Meet%20Charles%20Koch's%20Brain_djvu.txt). Confusingly, it includes these two snippets:
* “[…]Murray Rothbard, who co-founded the Cato Institute with Charles Koch in 1977[…]”
* “[…]the Charles G. Koch Foundation in Wichita was formed (soon to be renamed ‘The Cato Institute’).”
Since we already know the Foundation was incorporated in 1974, this only returns us to the 1974 vs. 1977 debate. I’ve known about the LeFevre and Rothbard connections for ages. An odd bit of trivia I discovered in 1979: Rothbard lived for many years at 215 West 88th Street, #2E — yes, a fellow UWSider.
ecm,
That’s odd, a web search readily found the Archive dot Org copy, and I did try opening it on the webpage; there was no problem. (I already had the whole PDF at home, so didn’t download it.)
It’s not short, and it’s pretty ugly.
ecm:
I checked the link I posted. It works correctly, but then you have to pick the format to download, it doesn’t automatically go to the PDF version.
Hi Gang-
I think you’d all appreciate the app called
“ICEBlock”
It’s got up to date ICE sightings in close to real time near you.
yes, IOS users should download ICEBLOCK and then share info with us Android users so we can come pout and disrupt proceedings…legally of course, but strength in numbers. Trump sucks, Ice sucks, we need to fight back as a community and protect our kids. The nerve of these bastards!
ecm,
It had a different name in the 1950s and 60s. Koch fired the founder in the early 1970s and changed the name. Charles K. himself was part of UFO cult in the 1960s with ties to Pelley, the fascist Silver Shirts leader in the and 30s.
Looks like Charles has done a good job having the internet (at least search engines) cleaned of the record. I may be able to find the PDF that I read when I’m at home.
Thanks!
Yes, this is an excellent suggestion (at last for iPhone users)!
“See something, tap something”: https://www.iceblock.app/
Naturally, the Antipresident is having a full-blown ketchup tantrum over it:
https://gizmodo.com/trump-threatens-to-prosecute-cnn-for-reporting-on-iceblock-as-app-hits-no-1-2000623019
When did the comment section of the NY Post start brigading this blog?
“She added that the unidentified individuals claimed to be with ICE. “But no matter…” In other words, Assemblymember Rosenthal has no idea whether these were actual ICE agents, or whether this incident even happened, but she’s not letting that get in the way of sending out an email to rile everyone up.
I think it’s important, when in the presence of Nazis, always to ask yourself, “What would Captain America do?” (And then remember that, technically, you’re not Captain America.)
Where are the pictures? Didn’t anyone have a cell phone? No pictures of ICe cars? Who is the coach? A truly made up story
You should check first as to what you report. Turns out this didn’t happen in any, way shape and or form the elected’s hysterically reports to gin up fear. There was no op in that area going on and as she even admits they don’t have any idea if they were law enforcement of any type. A lot of times these reports turn out to be a situation where they are looking for one person reported to be there.
It should be noted that the article makes not mention of badges, when they do these investigations, even in plain close, they all have a badge visible on a neck chain
For example, what was described as a “NYC student” was arrested on multiple felony warrants. It was reported as an ICE raid on a school. Nothing of the sort happened The person of interest had lied about his age for favorable treatment as a minor when he came here illegally. He was not arrested in the school and there was no raid. It was a sole party arrest.
If this was really a search for accurate news, the author of the article should have gotten statement from DHS in NYC or at least tried. Without that you are just stoking the rumor/fear mill to push a flase narrative and political agenda
And then there’s this booming phenomenon:
https://prospect.org/justice/2025-06-24-ice-impersonations-proliferate-agencys-undercover-tactics/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/28/civilians-impersonating-ice-officers
It may or may not explain the present case, but especially with kids involved, it’s hard to say which is more alarming — real ICE agents or phony ones.
It takes a special kind of moron, like Rosenthal, to rile up a community about “ICE agents” that she cannot confirm as such, wore no identifying insignia, had no govt cars, etc. etc. Ever heard of pranksters? Ever heard of criminals?
Criminals disguised in police, security, EMT, fire dept, FedEx, even friggin Dunking Donuts uniforms have perpetrate all kinds of crimes. What should we do, abolish every service, along with law and order?
Peter,
Do you have any evidence these weren’t ICE agents?
Also, ICE is an invention of the early 2000s. Homeland Security should be broken up. ICE can become INS again.
Those are masked ICE agents in LA raiding parks. This is just a minor NYC variation.
Yes, I have evidence. It’s stored next to Helen’s evidence. For someone who so readily recites the history of ICE, you should know better how this whole basic you-say-I-say, alleged incident, legal due process stuff, etc. works.
I’m also wearing navy Lululemon pants and a navy polo shirt today, and I have a buzz cut. I intend to arrest some people today on 86th Str and confiscate their phones for an “investigation.” “POLICE – DON’T MOVE.”
Do you have evidence I’m not a cop?
Gawd almighty.
Peter,
Who is Helen?
Doesn’t sound like you have evidence, you’re just making up a story to provide a possibility. Also, why would someone impersonate ICE to harass teens playing baseball? What’s the profit? Do you mean wingnuts to that just to get their authoritarianism on?
Good – this is what I voted for.
Melissa:
And when ICE asks for your documents? Or your kids’ documents?
This was an illegal search.