The anti-ICE mob violently protesting outside a Brooklyn hospital Saturday was rallying in defense of an illegal migrant previously arrested for assault and drug possession, officials told The Post on Sunday.
Chidozie Wilson Okeke of Nigeria entered the US on a tourist visa Aug. 27, 2023, and was supposed to pack up and go back home Feb. 26, 2024 — but instead illegally stayed, a rep for the US Department of Homeland Security told The Post.
Okeke, who was arrested at sone point for assault and criminal drug possession, landed on the radar of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who tracked him down Saturday.
“During his arrest, Okeke refused to comply with officers’ lawful commands to exit the vehicle and weaponized his vehicle to attempt to hit ICE officers,” the DHS representative said. “Okeke became physically combative, attempting to punch and elbow ICE officers.
“Our officers followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to make the arrest.”
Okeke claimed he needed medical attention, so the agents brought him to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Bushwick to be checked out, DHS said.
There, the illegal migrant refused to comply with staff, “throwing himself to the floor and screaming,” the agency said. He was eventually medically cleared to leave the hospital.
Anti-ICE protesters meanwhile somehow got wind that Okeke was in ICE custody at the hospital, with a mob of about 200 showing up there to try to stop the agents from leaving with Okeke.
The NYPD was called to the scene shortly before 10:30 p.m. to restore order and found the rowdy crowd blocking hospital exits and wreaking havoc in the neighborhood — prompting caught-on-video clashes between the cops and the crowd.
Police arrested nine demonstrators as ICE struggled to get Okeke into an SUV and whisk him off.
“The protesters damaged several ICE vehicles and assaulted ICE officers, resulting in minor injuries to the officers,” the DHS representative said. “Assaulting law enforcement is a felony and crime.”
The protesters arrested included out-of-state agitators from as far off as Wisconsin and New Hampshire.
The mob finally dispersed around 2:45 a.m. Sunday after Okeke was taken away.
“If the NYPD wasn’t there to keep the peace, God knows what these ICE agents would have done,” a law-enforcement source said Sunday.
