ICE Shot a Man in the Face: NYC City Council & Advocates Demand Answers at Hearing on 2/2 8/20
My Testimony
I work for New Sanctuary Coalition, an immigrant’s rights organization in New York City. On Thursday morning February 6th, 2020, I received an appalling message from Ravi Ragbir, the Executive Director of New Sanctuary — ICE had shot a man in the face. We later learned, the man, Erick Diaz Cruz (who has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the agent, and ICE) was here in New York City as a tourist, visiting family. He was shot when ICE, who did not identify themselves, went after his mother’s partner, Gaspar Avendano-Hernandez. Who would not try to defend a friend or family member when strangers appear to be assaulting them outside the door of their home?
We immediately reached out to rapid response communities and allied organizations for mobilization to Maimonides Medical Center as soon as possible in solidarity with Erick and Gaspar. We want ICE to know that they cannot sweep this atrocity under the rug, and that we were, and are watching them.
We stand with each other when fascists come to our city.
I arrived at the hospital around 1pm on February 6th, meeting others who were there since earlier in the day. As the day progressed, we started getting more information. One of the things we learned was that ICE was making it difficult for the medical team in the hospital to do their work by being in the way, and keeping Gaspar shackled to the bed, even during medical exams. We also learned that they were keeping his family away from him. The cruelty ICE showed Gaspar and his family is hard to fathom, but is not surprising from ICE because so many have already died in their care.
We want to know what the NYPD’s role was in the arrest of Gaspar. How did he end up going to the hospital in one of their vehicles? Were they gatekeeping for ICE in the hospital? There were many community affairs officers outside doing “crowd control.” But we were there peacefully. When the hospital security asked us to make sure we stayed out of the way of the patient entrances and the ER bay, we complied.
On Friday afternoon, ICE roughly took a shackled Gaspar out through the ER exit. One of the ICE agents covered his entire face. (See attached photo) What kind of government agent works behind a mask? I walked into the street as the ICE vehicles sped up to meet the agents holding Gaspar. I witnessed the agents violently pushing advocates, including faith leader, Chloe Breyer who tried to stop them from taking Gaspar while his already traumatized family watched. Many of the agents do not wear any identifying uniforms, they may be ICE, or private contractors, we do not know, and we MUST know who is invading our communities and kidnapping our friends and neighbors. NYPD was in the street with the community and ICE. Why did they stand by as ICE roughed up our allies?
We demand ICE stop using the guise of being local police in our city.
We demand all guns out of ICE.
We demand a full investigation into the shooting of Erick Diaz Cruz, and that the name of the shooter be made public.
We demand that Gaspar Avendano-Hernandez be set free to be with his family while he fights to stay in the United States.
