Reporter shoved by federal officers outside immigration court in NYC

Dean Moses, police bureau chief and resident photographer for the daily newspaper amNewYork, was grabbed and shoved by multiple federal officers while reporting at the federal immigration court in New York, New York, on Sept. 30, 2025.

Multiple journalists have reported access issues, intimidation and threats when covering the court at Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been arresting asylum-seekers following their hearings there since May, part of President Donald Trump’s broader immigration crackdown.

Previously, on Sept. 18, independent journalist Michael Nigro was assaulted by a man he identified as a plainclothes ICE officer while reporting on a lawmaker-led protest at the court.

On Sept. 30, Moses followed officers into a public elevator at around 10:15 a.m. when it appeared they were going to arrest an individual inside, amNewYork reported.

“I walked into the elevator behind them, and they started screaming at me, ‘Get the f–k out,” Moses told the newspaper. “Then they pushed me, grabbed me by my arms, and started pulling me out of the elevator. I tried to hold on, but I got shoved out.”

Footage captured by a fellow journalist shows masked federal officers pulling Moses from the elevator. Another officer standing outside the elevator doors then shoves freelance photojournalist Olga Fedorova back, causing her and Anadolu Agency videographer L. Vural Elibol — who was standing behind her — to go crashing to the hallway floor.

Another journalist at the scene confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Elibol struck his head quite severely and was taken to a hospital for further monitoring and testing.

Moses, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, told amNewYork that tensions have been rising at the courthouse over the last several months.

“And it’s not just between ICE and the photographers. It’s between ICE, photographers and other staff members,” he said. “It’s also among the immigrants who go there. It’s reached such a boiling point, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner.”

Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to requests for comment.

City Comptroller Brad Lander quickly condemned the assault, writing on the social platform X, “Another violent attack by an ICE officer on a civilian at 26 Federal Plaza—this time on a journalist, who had to be carried out on stretcher.

“Another attack on the First Amendment, our neighbors, and our democracy.”