Inside ICE’s high-stakes raids targeting illegal migrants in NYC as chief rips sanctuary laws

ICE agents arrested two men during a predawn operation in Brooklyn, after surveillance and planning described by the agency’s New York City enforcement chief, Ken Genalo. The ride-along offered a close-up of how street arrests are carried out as Mayor Zohran Mamdani opposes ICE and Genalo argues that New York’s sanctuary policies make enforcement riskier.

The first arrest took seconds; the second became a struggle. One target, Nika Tkeshelashvili, 40, is a Georgian national whom ICE says entered the US illegally in 2023 and faces a pending first-degree sexual abuse charge; his next immigration court hearing was scheduled for October 2028. The article also notes that ICE arrested nearly 2,200 migrants in a statewide operation in August, while the shooting of a Dominican migrant and Mamdani’s public criticism have heightened tensions.