A NewsNation correspondent reporting on an ongoing ICE raid in lower Manhattan found herself in the middle of an “incredibly volatile” street conflict, keeping her poise – and the commentary rolling – as federal agents and protesters began yelling, shoving and wrestling on the ground.
Jessica Kartalija was covering the raid on Tuesday in Manhattan, walking briskly with her camera crew as the combative crowd escalated to physical confrontation all around her. Several federal agents had descended on the Tribeca neighborhood to execute arrests on what appeared to be illegal vendors as protesters spontaneously stepped in to impede them.
“We are walking through Tribeca and you can see there are hundreds of people,” Kartalija says in the video. “ICE agents have arrested at least one person. Now, whether that was an undocumented immigrant or a protester is still unclear.”
At that point, a masked, visibly agitated protester comes up to her and says a family member had been detained.
“What did you just say, sir?,” Kartalija asks him.
“My cousin!” he shouts.
“Did they arrest him?”
“Yes!” He replies. “He’s back in Dominican Republic!”
No major injuries to agents or protesters were immediately reported from the incident, and Kartalija, though in the middle of the action, was untouched.
“People are pounding on the windows of the car,” she said. “Whether anyone is inside or whether anyone has been arrested is unclear. They’re pushing the agents, and the minute that the agents move somebody, that’s when these people get thrown to the ground and tensions flare and escalate. So, the whole situation is just incredibly volatile.”
Back in the studio, NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo offered his take on the conflict.
“It was ugly. It could have been a lot worse,” he said. “Are they enforcing the law under proper color of authority? I would argue yes, depending on what I learn about the arrests and if they arrested people that they shouldn’t have and did it in a way that they shouldn’t have — and we’re going to have to wait on that. But the way it looks is, I believe, a bad look for the country.”
Cuomo acknowledged that some people might root for that level of “muscularity” in the enforcement process.
“I don’t,” he said. “Okay, now that doesn’t make us enemies, but I’ll tell you what — only one of us is right. And I think the rightfulness comes down to the results and how it is deemed in terms of whether they’re doing the job the right way.”
Watch the entire incident in the clip above.
