Federal agents grab and shove journalists outside NYC immigration court, sending one to hospital

A visual journalist hit his headon the floor at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan after ICE agents pushed one journalist off a public elevator and shoved another.

NEW YORK — Federal agents grabbed and shoved journalists in a hallway outside a New York City immigration court on Tuesday, sending one to the hospital in the latest clash between authorities enforcing President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and members of the public seeking to observe and document their actions.

A visual journalist identified as L. Vural Elibol of the Turkish news agency Anadolu hit his head on the floor at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pushed one journalist off a public elevator and shoved another journalist to the floor, according to video and witnesses.

A bystander held Elibol's head and a nurse treated him until an ambulance arrived, witnesses said. Video showed him in a neck brace as paramedics wheeled him out of the building on a stretcher. The other journalists, amNewYork police bureau chief Dean Moses and Olga Fedorova, a freelance photographer whose clients include The Associated Press, were not seriously injured.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the agents' actions, saying they were being "swarmed by agitators and members of the press, which obstructed operations."

"Officers repeatedly told the crowd of agitators and journalists to get back, move, and get out of the elevator," McLaughlin said in a statement. "Rioters and sanctuary politicians who encourage individuals to interfere with arrests are actively creating hostile environments that put officers, detainees and the public in harm's way."