The 12th floor of 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan turned chaotic Tuesday morning, as a confrontation between ICE agents and members of the press left one veteran photojournalist in the hospital and others shaken.
Video from the scene, posted by the New York Daily News, captured the moment ICE officers forcefully removed amNewYork journalist Dean Moses from an elevator as he attempted to follow agents escorting two women who had just appeared in an immigration hearing.
“Get the f**k out of the elevator!” one officer barked, before shoving Moses back into the hallway.
Footage taken by @Steffikeith this morning of ICE agents shoving photographers on assignment at 26 Federal Plaza. One journalist has been hospitalized. pic.twitter.com/sOo6XAMWJP
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) September 30, 2025
In the scuffle that followed, freelance journalist Olga Fedorova was knocked to the floor, and Anadolu Agency photographer L. Vural Elibol was shoved back. Witnesses said Elibol struck the ground hard; minutes later, he was photographed being wheeled out of the building on a stretcher, wearing a neck brace.
“They pushed me off, and as another guy pulled me from behind, I hear the other [journalists] fall,” Moses recounted. “I just heard the resounding thud as they hit the floor.”
And the best actor in a drama award goes to … https://t.co/bOXJULItaq
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) September 30, 2025
The FDNY confirmed EMTs responded to the scene at approximately 10:30 a.m. While the two women at the center of the hearing were not detained, ICE agents kept journalists at bay — leading to what multiple eyewitnesses described as an unnecessarily violent encounter.
The response from city officials was swift. Comptroller Brad Lander denounced the incident as “another violent attack by an ICE officer on a civilian — this time on a journalist, who had to be carried out on a stretcher.” He went further, calling it “another attack on the First Amendment, our neighbors, and our democracy.”
