CHELSEA, Manhattan (WABC) — Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke to a crowd of anti-ICE demonstrators at Union Square on the sixth night of Passover for “Seder in the Streets” organized by Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, after which some activists headed to Palantir’s Chelsea offices for a sit-in.
Fifteen demonstrators were arrested at the sit-in after refusing to leave, police said.
Hundreds of activists gathered outside the offices after walking from Union Square, with dozens making their way inside the lobby. Some held a banner referencing the story of Moses that read “ICE kidnaps, Palantir profits. Let our people go.”
Palantir Technologies Inc. is a controversial AI software company which has been criticized for providing data analytics which ICE uses to identify, track, and deport immigrants.
New York City Comptroller Mark Levine is seeking more information about Palantir’s contract with ICE, and sent a letter to Palantir, asking for “an independent third-party human rights risk assessment of Palantir’s work with the Department of Homeland Security.”
“The crimes that ICE is committing depend on their collaborations with corporations who agree to do the work for them,” one activist spoke to the crowd.
The fifteen people taken into custody by the NYPD have been issued court summons and are expected to be released.
Earlier in the evening at Union Square, crowds gathered for “Seder in the Streets.”
“We have many pharaohs in our midst, and their hearts have been hardened. But we also have the fiery power of the people. The Exodus story teaches us that freeing ourselves and our neighbors from enslavement requires organized resistance,” organizers wrote.
Rabbis led protesters in song, and activists read testimonies from those that are currently held in ICE detentions centers.
Attendees held a banner reading, “Jews against deportation.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed the crowd, saying that the lessons of Passover can be applied to resisting ICE’s immigration crackdown.
“Lessons of hope overcoming fear, of solidarity being able to overcome isolation, and the knowledge that at the end of the story, freedom is attained,” Mayor Mamdani said to the crowd. “At this moment, for many New Yorkers, that freedom feels out of reach.”
———-
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
* Download our connected TV app
* More local news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts on the go
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
Copyright © 2026 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.
