Protesters clash with police outside Brooklyn hospital during ICE detention standoff

ICE agents brought Chidozie Wilson Okeke, a Nigerian citizen accused of overstaying a tourist visa, to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center for medical evaluation after he requested care, and the hospital entrance in Bushwick quickly became the center of a volatile overnight confrontation. The Department of Homeland Security said Okeke had prior arrests for assault and criminal drug possession, resisted arrest and allegedly tried to strike officers with his vehicle.

Word spread that ICE had taken him to the ER, and protesters began gathering outside the hospital around 9:43 p.m. on May 2, 2026. By police count, about 200 people were outside the building as the standoff stretched into the early hours of Sunday, May 3, with emergency entrances and exits blocked and vehicle traffic slowed or stopped around Stanhope Street and Wyckoff Avenue.

The New York City Police Department said it responded after a 911 call at 10:39 p.m. and had no role in the federal immigration operation. By the end of the clash, police said 9 people had been taken into custody, 8 formally arrested and charged and 1 issued a criminal court summons. Reported charges included resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.

DHS said several ICE vehicles were damaged and that several ICE officers suffered minor injuries. Local reporting also said an ICE agent used pepper spray during the confrontation, and some NYPD officers and protesters were injured as the crowd pressed against police lines outside the hospital.

The scene drew immediate criticism from city officials who said ICE had crossed a line by bringing an immigration enforcement operation into a place meant for care. Brooklyn Councilmember Sandy Nurse said she was at the scene from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. as neighbors mobilized after learning ICE had taken someone to the emergency room. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said ICE’s presence in Bushwick was deeply alarming and not welcome in Brooklyn.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani renewed his opposition to ICE raids in the five boroughs, calling them “cruel and inhumane” and saying they do not serve public safety. The confrontation fit a broader pattern of anti-ICE protest activity in New York City in 2025 and 2026, including earlier demonstrations at immigration court and hospitals, and it sharpened the national fight over whether federal enforcement should be pushing so aggressively into sensitive locations where patients, staff and bystanders can be caught in the middle.