Dozens of unmarked vehicles and masked federal agents converged on the streets around Elmhurst Hospital in Queens on Thursday, in what a local coalition is calling one of the largest ICE operations the city has seen in roughly a year. Residents say the presence lasted more than 10 hours, sparking fear and confusion in a neighborhood where immigrants make up a majority of the population.
Conflicting Counts, One Long Day
According to QNS, the grassroots coalition Hands Off NYC said two dozen ICE vehicles were seen on streets around Elmhurst Hospital, one block south of Roosevelt Avenue, for more than 10 hours on Thursday, October 22, 2026. A separate account from the same coalition, published on Mary Ann Dimand's Substack, put the number higher, saying more than 25 known ICE vehicles infiltrated East Elmhurst and surrounding neighborhoods for the same stretch of time. Hands Off NYC describes itself as a grassroots coalition of more than 250 labor unions, faith leaders and advocacy groups spanning New York City's five boroughs.
Hands Off NYC called the deployment one of the largest ICE operations the city has faced since the Canal Street crackdowns in fall 2025, per the same Substack account. The coalition says it has trained more than 10,000 New Yorkers over the past year to know their rights and recognize ICE activity in their neighborhoods.
Allegations of Reckless Driving and Threats
Rebecca Rodriguez, speaking for the coalition, alleged that agents ran neighbors with their cars, repeatedly threatened to use pepper spray on people documenting the operation, and drove the wrong way down one-way residential streets at double or triple the posted speed limit, according to the Substack post. New York law classifies reckless driving as a misdemeanor, according to state statute.
However, the station's report notes that videos provided by Hands Off NYC did not show any civilians being struck by the vehicles. An NYPD spokesperson said no motor-vehicle collisions were reported in the 110th Precinct that day. In one video shared by the coalition, a neighborhood defender confronted a masked ICE agent, who then got into an unmarked SUV and drove away.
Rodriguez said neighbors blew whistles, documented the operation on video and alerted others in the community as the day went on. According to El Diario NY, Hands Off NYC participants said they did not witness ICE make a single immigrant arrest or abduction during the more than 10-hour watch. Rodriguez said community groups and neighbors had seen their work pay off, adding that, in her view, ICE leaves when people show up and exercise their constitutional rights. She also said ICE must be abolished and that agents must be held accountable.
Queens Enforcement Has Been Climbing
The Elmhurst deployment did not occur in isolation. In the two weeks before its August 11, 2026, report, ICE increased its presence in Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, College Point and Corona, according to immigrant-rights groups and elected officials cited by PIX11. Advocates at Make the Road New York and Hands Off NYC had previously flagged the same pattern of rising enforcement across those neighborhoods, the outlet reported separately. A New York City Department of Planning and mayoral office map cited by PIX11 shows immigrant residents make up at least half the population in several of the affected areas, including Corona, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, Flushing and College Point.
PIX11 also reported that a Department of Homeland Security notice said ICE would soon be outfitted with electric shock gloves for operations, a detail that has heightened anxiety among residents already on edge. Separately, FOX 5 NY reported that federal immigration agents entered a home in East Elmhurst with guns drawn while a mother and her children were inside, according to FOX 5 NY.
Hospitals Have Become Flashpoints Before
Elmhurst Hospital has drawn ICE scrutiny before. On Jan. 22, 2025, an ICE agent entered the hospital after initially being refused entry and served a patient a notice to appear in immigration court, according to Gothamist. That report noted the agent did not have a judicial warrant required to access a non-public area of the hospital. The Greater New York Hospital Association told Gothamist that ICE activity in hospitals had not increased during President Trump's second term, though the claim was attributed at medium confidence.
A similar confrontation played out in Brooklyn, where masked ICE agents brought a detained man to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center after an apparent enforcement operation, according to amNewYork. More than 100 people gathered outside that hospital, and the NYPD said officers responded after protesters blocked emergency entrances and exits. Two agents were seen dragging a handcuffed man across the hospital's entrance plaza before pulling him into an SUV that sped through the crowd and knocked one person to the ground, amNewYork reported; nine people were arrested in the clashes that followed.
A Shooting Still Fresh in Residents' Minds
The Elmhurst deployment comes weeks after a federal agent shot a Dominican man inside his car on Oct. 8 in the Marble Hill section of the Bronx, while the man's 5-year-old son was inside the vehicle, per QNS. The man remains in federal custody, according to the same report. Neither the identities of the man nor the agent involved have been made public.
As of publication, ICE had not responded to QNS, which said it had reached out to both the agency and Elmhurst Hospital for comment. Residents who spot ICE activity in their neighborhood are advised by Rodriguez to call or text S.A.L.U.T.E. or contact the New York City hotline at +1 229-304-8720.
