In Queens, an Out-of-State Plate Can Be All It Takes to Draw ICE

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 10: Students, activists and area politicians gather in Corona, Queens, a neighborhood with a significant immigrant population, to denounce the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting people in the area on August 10, 2026, in New York City. ICE actions have increased throughout New York City in recent months as the Trump administration continues to press for a surge in arrests in neighborhoods throughout the country with high numbers of immigrants. (Credit: Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A car full of takeout, a blank warrant

Andrés had barely made it back into College Point with dinner one night in late June — Peruvian takeout still warm, his wife next to him, his six-year-old strapped into the back seat — when a ring of unmarked cars closed around his vehicle. Masked agents pulled him from the driver's seat as his daughter burst into tears. He asked, repeatedly, to see a warrant. What came back, according to his account to The City Reporter, was a blank sheet of paper, his name penciled in only after he handed over his license.