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A New York immigration facility was set ablaze by an explosion in what appeared to be an attack targeting immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) agents.
The FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the explosion outside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan on Monday morning that injured at least two people.
A suspect was seen pulling a cart full of fireworks and a sign that said “ICE off our streets” into the entrance of the building, the New York Times reported, citing officials.
The suspect was named by the FBI as 43-year-old Andrew Arrabaca, a former US army soldier who served from 2001 to 2005.
Authorities said the man – who allegedly had a history of anti-ICE activity – set off an “incendiary device” that ignited the fireworks, sparking a large fire.
He then allegedly pulled out an airsoft rifle and fired several shots toward the building, James Barnacle, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said on Monday.
In total, he had two axes, a hammer, a machete, six fireworks and three fixed-blade knives, as well as anti-ICE literature, Mr Barnacle claimed.
Mr Arrabaca is said to have told investigators that he was ok with hurting or killing people, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Mr Barnacle said that the man in custody was anti-ICE and “anti-American”.
He added that the incident disrupted a naturalisation ceremony and injured an immigrant on the way to court.
“That’s quite unfortunate and quite ironic at the same time,” he said. Two government employees also sustained minor injuries in the incident, officials said.
Video footage showed smoke filling the street as a dozen armed federal agents charged out of the building and wrestled the suspect to the ground.
The building houses several agencies, including the FBI, ICE, and US citizenship and immigration services.
An FBI spokesman told The Telegraph: “An individual deployed an incendiary device outside of 26 Federal Plaza. The individual has been taken into custody, and the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the incident.”
A separate video shows a large fire raging at the building’s entrance. A man wearing camouflage clothing is then seen being dragged inside the building.
He was also armed with a pellet gun, authorities said. Two people – a federal employee and a civilian – suffered minor injuries in the incident.
“What occurred outside 26 Federal Plaza this morning was deeply disturbing,” Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York, wrote on social media. “I’m relieved no one was seriously injured and that a suspect is in custody.”
He added: “Our administration will continue to ensure that every New Yorker is safe in their city – and hold accountable any who threaten that.”
The building has come under scrutiny over its use by ICE as a holding facility for asylum seekers and migrants, with sustained allegations of mistreatment. It also houses an immigration court where many migrants have been arrested after leaving hearings.
Those detained inside the facility have complained that they have been held for days in overcrowded, unsanitary cells without beds or access to legal representation.
In September last year, a judge ordered the immigration centre to improve its conditions after detainees claimed they had no access to soap and toothbrushes.
A month earlier, a judge had issued a restraining order requiring the centre to limit the number of detainees.
The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly denied the allegations of poor conditions inside the facility, calling them “categorically false”.
Immigration rights groups this year launched further legal action against the facility and ICE’s continued practice of making arrests at the immigration court inside the building.
