Fourteen protesters were arrested outside the Bergen County Jail Tuesday as they tried to block an Immigration and Customs Enforcement van that they believed to be carrying immigrant detainees to the airport for deportation.  

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail and contracts with ICE to lock up undocumented immigrants, carried and dragged the sitting protesters out of the way of the ICE van before bringing them inside the jail to be booked. A sheriff spokeswoman said they were charged with offenses including rioting and criminal trespassing; one was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer after he ran toward an officer. 

A video of the arrests that was shared with Gothamist/WNYC by an activist on the scene shows a superior officer putting one protester in a headlock and then forcibly twisting the ankle of another. The spokeswoman said the use of force is being reviewed by its professional standards unit.

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