Journalist Hospitalized After Clash with Masked Agents at N.Y.C. Immigration Court

A journalist was taken away in a stretcher after an incident with federal agents at a Manhattan immigration courthouse on Tuesday, Sept. 30, per The New York Times.

Dean Moses, an amNewYork video journalist, was at 26 Federal Plaza on the 12th floor and documented two women getting into an elevator, followed by masked agents. As he captured the video, one of the agents cursed at Moses. The agent then shoved Moses out of the elevator and towards the group of a dozen journalists and camera crews.

“I walked into the elevator behind them, and they started screaming at me,” Moses told amNewYork. “Then they pushed me, grabbed me by my arms, and started pulling me out of the elevator. I tried to hold on, but I got shoved out.”

Witnesses said that another agent pushed freelance photojournalist Olga Fedorova from the hallway onto the floor.

“I just knew that I had to try to get photos of whatever is happening,” Fedorova told The New York Times. “It was incredibly quick.”

A third journalist, L. Vural Elibol, was injured after he was found on the floor — but it remains unclear how he ended up on the floor. Fedorova told The New York Times that when she saw him on the floor, his camera was next to him and still on. “He was covering his face and he was moaning in pain and he was unable to move,” she said.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Elibol is a video journalist for the Turkish news agency Anadolu Ajansı. After the incident, a nurse in the building assisted him before he was transported to the hospital on a stretcher.

“He was just like laying down on the floor,” his colleague Mostafa Bassim told The New York Times. “He couldn’t talk or, like, function at all.”

“He was semiconscious, but he didn’t move from the position for 35 to 40 minutes,” Moses told amNewYork.

“If they tell us to get out, to not cross a certain line, we follow their orders,” Fedorova told The Associated Press. “In this case, it was not clear to anyone that this was a detention at all.”

Officers were at the building “making the arrest of an illegal alien from Peru,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to PEOPLE.

“Officers were swarmed by agitators and members of the press, which obstructed operations,” the statement said. “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 also said that the particular building has been the target of “multiple threats,” including receiving a threatening letter with a “white suspicious powder” in August. She also referred to the shooting at a Dallas ICE office last week.

“Again, we are urging the media and politicians to stop fanning the flames of division and stop demonization of law enforcement,” McLaughlin said.

In response to the incident, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said via X that the federal agents were abusing “law-abiding immigrants and the reporters telling their stories,” adding, “What the hell are we doing here?”