On the night of May 3rd, eight New Yorkers were arrested outside Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Bushwick, Brooklyn — not for committing a crime, but for showing up for their neighbor.

Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had brought a man they detained to the hospital for a medical evaluation. When word spread, community members gathered outside to bear witness. What happened next is deeply troubling: NYPD officers moved in on the crowd, and in the early hours of Sunday morning, ICE dragged the detained man out of the hospital in handcuffs while police held protesters back. Eight people were arrested and charged with resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, and reckless endangerment.

New York City has sanctuary laws that are supposed to prevent local police from assisting federal immigration enforcement. But video from that night tells a complicated story. Mayor Zohran Mamdani himself said footage showing an NYPD officer grabbing a protester and throwing them to the ground was "incredibly disturbing" and confirmed it is being investigated. City Council Member Sandy Nurse has raised direct questions about whether NYPD's actions — particularly placing officers between protesters and the bay where ICE removed the detainee — crossed the line into collusion.

We are calling on Mayor Mamdani and the New York City Council to do two things: drop all charges against the eight people arrested outside Wyckoff Heights, and launch a full, transparent investigation into whether NYPD's response that night violated New York City's sanctuary laws. If it did, there must be accountability. If it didn't, New Yorkers deserve a clear explanation of exactly where the line is — so our communities know what to expect the next time ICE shows up in our neighborhoods.

The people arrested that night weren't troublemakers. They were neighbors. They deserve to have their charges dropped, and all New Yorkers deserve to know whether the city that calls itself a sanctuary actually acted like one.