According to Gothamist, an ICE-branded military grade armored vehicle was used in an operation last week in the borough where a man suspected of smuggling and illegally selling weapons was taken into custody.
The armored personnel carrier was first spotted Wednesday morning on Forest Avenue near Norman Street in the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood. Meanwhile, agents wearing ICE jackets were seen standing around the vehicle, while a gunner remained in position.
Local "activists" (Twitter blue-checkmarks) compared the vehicle's presence in the neighborhood to "an occupying force."
ICE is literally rolling through Queens in armored personnel carriers like an occupying force. https://t.co/2mFB5LBSx9
— Aaron Leaf (@aaronleaf) November 7, 2019 What they didn't explain is that the branch of ICE wasn't there to arrest illegal migrants. Instead, the Homeland Security Investigations unit - or HSI - was on the ground to serve a criminal arrest warrant stemming from a federal investigation into a firearms-related suspect. According to the mayor's office, the individual in question was found to have bee hoarding "about 50 guns, including a machine gun, gun parts and ammunition."
