Fire At Federal Plaza In NYC Allegedly Started By Anti-ICE Activist, Former Army Soldier

A man who the federal government says is an anti-ICE protester has been arrested and accused of using fireworks to start a fire outside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan on Monday morning.

According to ABC 7, the FBI has identified 43-year-old Andrew Arrabaca as the man accused of dousing a stairwell at the plaza with gasoline, igniting it with a firework, and firing five to seven pellets from an airsoft gun around 8:30 a.m. Arrabaca, a former U.S. Army soldier who served from 2001-2005 and worked as a mechanic on Patriot missile systems, was said to have been in possession of two axes, a hammer, a machete, and knives in addition to fireworks and gasoline.

“Mr. Arrabaca came armed, with bad intentions,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle said in a statement.

Fortunately, no one was killed or badly injured in the fire — which reportedly spread quickly but was extinguished before it reached the building where immigrants are processed, and federal agents are located — although several people did suffer minor injuries.

The Department of Homeland Security characterized Andrew Arrabaca as an “anti-ICE rioter,” which, to be fair, is generally how DHS has described any protester who finds themselves in an altercation with federal agents, even when it’s demonstrably untrue. Still, in this case, the NYPD also said it was “looking at the cart the suspect wheeled with him,” and that it had a sign that read, “ICE Off Our Streets,” which is, at the very least, a little less on the nose than when FBI Director Kash Patel claimed “anti-ICE” was written on a bullet casing left at the scene of a shooting attack on an ICE vehicle in Dallas last year.

It’s unclear what Andrew Arrabaca’s motive for allegedly starting the fire was. ICE agents shot and killed two immigrants within a week of each other this month, prompting national outrage and protests. As we previously reported, favorability toward the agency has continued to plummet on the heels of the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good.

None of that would excuse the fire, of course, as the people who would have been seriously injured or killed had nothing to do with any of the recent aforementioned shootings, and even if they did, this just wasn’t the way.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has not been shy about expressing his support for immigrants in the U.S., called the incident “deeply disturbing.”

“I’m relieved no one was seriously injured and that a suspect is in custody,” Mamdani said. “My team is in touch with the NYPD and we will support the federal investigation. Our administration will continue to ensure that every New Yorker is safe in their city – and hold accountable any who threaten that.”

The FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the incident.

SEE ALSO:

The FBI Will Reportedly Stop Investigating ICE Confrontations. Why?

ICE Agents In Plainclothes Attempt To Arrest Migrant At Las Vegas Airport, Then Flee When Bystanders Asked Why