All around social media this past Tuesday in New York City a viral message claiming there was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "checkpoint” at the 23rd Street N/Q/R/W subway station in Manhattan. For example this tweet states the following:
Hearing rumors of an ICE checkpoint in NYC at the 23rd Street Station for the N/Q/R/W trains.
If you’re a person of color, please be safe and adjust your travel.
If you’re not and have the privilege of US citizenship, please go and give ICE a piece of your mind.
As well as this one:
NYC folks:
ICE CHECKPOINT AT 23rd Street NRQW STATION HAPPENING NOW. CUT AND PASTE PLEASE
And I even found this odd article from Cleveland, Ohio that touches on the topic; and yes the claim is refuted at the end but still no NYC local media info refuting the point either:
Two hours later, in New York City, another Twitter user made a similar report: "ICE CHECKPOINT: 23rd Street NRQW trains (near Madison Sq Park). NOW." A friend mentioned that the checkpoint might be fake, and that people went to protest and they didn't find anything.
Now, I know this is hyper-local to New York City, but I still find this odd: Since the terrorist attacks of 9-11 there have been semi-random bag checkpoints at some NYC subway stations. This is basically an NYPD (New York City Police Department) manned bag inspection station that is setup to inspect random passengers bags.
I can personally attest to having seen some of these bag checkpoints—which have been in effect since July 21, 2005—manned by people wearing TSA (Transportation Security Agency) gear. And for all I know, the TSA co-operated with the NYPD at times. But that’s neither here nor there.
The claims of there being an ICE specific checkpoint at a subway station around 23rd Street seems odd, panicky and simply gossip. Can anyone out there find any official evidence of ICE having a checkpoint like this in place in the NYC subway system?
