A photojournalist on assignment at 26 Federal Plaza was rushed to the hospital Tuesday following a chaotic incident with federal immigration enforcement agents, according to video footage and witnesses who spoke to the Daily News.
Footage taken by freelance photojournalist Stephanie Keith shows wild scenes on the 12th floor of the federal building in lower Manhattan, where members of the city’s press corps have been stationed daily to document the detention of droves of people attending hearings in immigration court amid President Trump’s escalating crackdown.
The video shows a group of agents in masks, balaclavas, and bulletproof vests walking into an elevator with two women, who witnesses said had just left a hearing but had not been detained, as a photojournalist for amNewYork, Dean Moses, follows with his camera. Agents then grabbed him and shoved him out.
“Get out the f—ing elevator!” one agent is heard shouting in the footage.
Freelance journalist Olga Fedorova begins to document the scene from just outside the elevator’s entrance when an agent appears to forcefully shove her to the ground.
L. Vural Elibol, a photographer for the Anadolu Agency, positioned behind Fedorova, is then knocked back and appears to hit his head on the floor. Scenes later captured by Keith show him in a neck brace after being loaded onto a stretcher when medics arrived.
EMTs responded to the location at around 10:30 a.m. and took Elibol to Downtown Hospital, the FDNY said. He was discharged in stable condition, according to his colleague Mostafa Bassim.
Neither Elibol nor Fedorova could be reached. The News contacted the Anadolu Agency for comment.
Bruce Cotler, the president of the New York Press Photographers Association, called the incident “a tragedy” for press freedom.
“It’s a travesty that they’re picking on and attacking photojournalists doing their jobs. It’s so wrong. We are just there to cover the news,” Cotler said. “The bad part is, they’re not going to get in trouble; their faces are covered.”
In a statement, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin claimed journalists and “agitators” had obstructed operations and highlighted alleged threats against the facility, accusing the press and politicians of “fanning the flames of division” and demonizing law enforcement.
“Officers repeatedly told the crowd of agitators and journalists to get back, move, and get out of the elevator. 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,” McLaughlin said.
Photographers who spoke to The News denied the presence of “agitators,” or anyone but the press, and said the two women in the video had not been detained by masked agents patrolling the halls as they left a court hearing, as has been the case for virtually all arrests documented by the press corps this year, nor were they escorted into the elevator. Moses said the agents slipped into the elevator as the woman went to leave the building.
“This is a public elevator. They didn’t make any announcement they were taking her,” Moses told The News.
“They pushed me off, and as another guy pulled me from behind, I hear the other [journalists] fall,” he continued. “I just heard the resounding thud as they hit the floor.”
The incident marks the latest in a string of controversies to play out at the scandal-plagued federal facility, including an incident last week captured in widely circulated scenes of ICE agents forcefully shoving the wife of a man who was detained to the floor, resulting in an agent’s brief suspension, CBS reported.
More than a dozen local officials were arrested at the building earlier this month after trying to inspect the building’s 10th floor, where immigrants are initially detained. The holding area is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court, in which a judge recently ordered DHS to improve inhumane conditions.
DHS has also refused to allow members of Congress access to the 10th floor.
“Donald Trump’s ICE in action: Just days after one officer was disciplined for slamming a detainee’s wife to the ground, masked agents are now assaulting journalists and even sending one to the hospital. This is a direct attack on our First Amendment, our right to a free press, and should not happen in a democracy. Every officer involved must be held accountable without delay,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan) said in a statement on X of Tuesday’s footage.
Gov. Kathy Hochul condemned the footage and said, “This abuse of law-abiding immigrants and the reporters telling their stories must end. What the hell are we doing here?”
More than 1,000 people who turned up to court-mandated hearings for asylum applications and other immigration proceedings have been detained at the lower Manhattan complex since Trump’s return to power, according to the Deportation Data Project.
Masked and armed agents downtown have been routinely grabbing people as they walk out of courtrooms, including many who had moments earlier been told they were safe in the country for the time being by immigration judges.
The approach has led to accusations that the federal government is targeting people following the rules as low-hanging fruit, despite Trump’s claims that they are going after criminals.
Immigration judges, lawyers for the DHS, and ICE agents are all part of the executive branch, meaning they ultimately answer to Trump.
Keith, who has been documenting the scene at 26 Federal Plaza daily, said she had not witnessed that sort of aggression towards media members from federal agents until Tuesday morning.
“This is definitely the most egregious example for sure,” she said. “I’ve never seen them be that violent with the press … Normally, they do yell at us a lot, but they don’t put their hands on us.”
Originally Published: September 30, 2025 at 2:31 PM EDT
