72-year-old woman says she was hit with pepper spray while recording ICE agents in Manhattan

Linda Wolff, an immigrant rights supporter, filed a federal tort claim against ICE after the incident.

A 72-year-old woman says her civil rights were violated when an ICE agent in Manhattan sprayed her with pepper spray.

Three weeks ago, Linda Wolff, an immigrant rights supporter who can often be found outside of Delaney Hall, said she was in Inwood when she got word ICE agents were making arrests in the area. She said she took out her phone and started recording.

“I went back on the curb and was just filming ICE, and they walked over and they maced me,” Wolff said Friday. “My civil rights were completely violated at that moment.”

Now, Wolff plans to take ICE to court.

Earlier this week, she stood alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul at a press conference, highlighting a new law in New York that bans local police departments from participating in immigration enforcement. Another state law allows people to sue individual federal ICE officers in state court for violating their constitutional rights.