BREAKING: ICE Agents Forced To Retreat After Showdown With Roofers

More than 100 demonstrators in a sanctuary city forced officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to retreat after slashing their tires and threatening their lives.

The chaotic scene, captured on video in upstate New York, is already being held up as an example of the dangers faced by ICE agents in blue states that refuse to cooperate with the deportation of illegal immigrants. A dramatic standoff between ICE agents, roofers, and protestors nearly turned deadly before authorities cut and ran.

The fracas began after ICE agents arrested one roofer, causing his colleagues to come down from their scaffolding and confront them in the area of Rochester’s Park Avenue. Officials from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol were also on hand to assist.

One roofer was taken into custody while the others were ordered to disperse. Within minutes, however, more than 100 protestors appeared at the scene, chanting “shame” and “gestapo” as ICE officers led the man away.

A CBP vehicle was forced to retreat in reverse after its four tires were slashed, causing the motley crowd to clap and cheer. The vehicle was towed several blocks away from the scene, Fox News reported.

After four hours, federal authorities eventually abandoned their remaining attempts to apprehend illegal immigrants at the job site.

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The ICE raid comes one month after the Rochester City Council voted unanimously to reaffirm the city’s sanctuary policies, which prevent local authorities from working with federal agents to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

The Western New York Coalition of Farmworker-Serving Agencies helped mediate the standoff, according to a statement from the group.

“The coalition is committed to standing alongside farmworkers, immigrants, and migrants to ensure dignity, fairness, and access to justice,” coalition Executive Director Irene Sanchez said in a news release.

Across the nation, the Trump administration is ramping up deportations and ICE raids in Democratic-run cities like Chicago and Boston, where local leaders can do little but denounce the presence of federal agents. Some, like Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, have decried the encroachment as geared toward instilling fear in immigrant communities.

White House border czar Tom Homan disabused MSNBC viewers of that notion on Tuesday, naming several of the violent suspects picked up during “Operation Patriot 2.0” this week.

“President Trump’s been clear we’re going to prioritize public safety threats and national security threats, and data shows that’s exactly what we’re doing,” White House border czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday. “But if you want me to sit here and bless someone being here illegally, I’m not going to do that because they cheated the system.”