The agents were on the hunt, but as they staked out the hallway in 26 Federal Plaza looking for immigrants to detain, they had other prey in mind.
“I’ve never had kangaroo. I want to try,” said Samantha Camlica, an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who has developed a reputation for aggression among the regular observers who monitor the court.
The other four agents flanking the corridor with her on that morning late last month were wearing masks. Camlica, who has declined to comment for this series, was the only one in the group whose affiliation was clearly visible.
Amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, ICE officers have been assisted by personnel from a slew of other federal agencies as they round up undocumented migrants. In New York City, more than anywhere else in the country, those detentions have taken place in the halls of 26 Federal Plaza and other courthouses as immigrants show up for required check-ins and hearings.
Another one of the agents volunteered that they had been offered dog meat on a trip to Korea.
“The translator said ‘roof roof,’” the agent explained.
Camlica noted she doesn’t “get how people could be vegetarian or vegan.”
“I like meat too much,” she said.
While the masked agents are a constant, menacing presence for the immigrants in the halls, they are not always an active one. On some days, no one is taken. Others have long lulls filled with quiet or aimless conversation. Then, suddenly there will be an explosion of activity and shouting as someone is grabbed and dragged into a stairwell.
As they mused about eating meat, Camlica and the other agents were on the verge of one of these violent moments that would see a young Venezuelan man pulled away from his parents. It would also activate a partnership between activists and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who have developed a method for quickly responding and trying to secure the release of immigrants who are taken.
