Eight people were arrested during a chaotic protest outside Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn late Saturday, after federal immigration agents brought a detained Nigerian man to the hospital for evaluation and later dragged him out into a waiting car. The Department of Homeland Security identified the detainee as Chidozie Wilson Okeke, an immigrant who had overstayed his visa.

As many as 200 protesters gathered outside the hospital while Okeke was inside. Cellphone footage shows agents dragging the handcuffed man down a short staircase into the ambulance bay around 2:15 a.m., where he appears to fall to the ground before being pulled into a vehicle. Police officers held back demonstrators who were shouting at the agents. Councilwoman Sandy Nurse, who was present at the scene, said a local group tracking ICE vehicles had followed agents to the hospital.

NYC's sanctuary laws prohibit police from assisting immigration authorities in civil deportation cases. The NYPD stated it had "no prior awareness or coordination regarding the ICE operation." Okeke's arrest follows a pattern of high-profile ICE operations in New York drawing community outrage, including an October raid on Canal Street in Manhattan where agents arrested nine men.