Another Zuccotti Park-Style Encampment, This Time Over Immigration

For about a week, the square outside of the federal immigration court in lower Manhattan has become a makeshift headquarters for activists trying to help undocumented immigrants while protesting President Trump's so-called "zero tolerance" policies.

About 10 people have set up a 24-hour camp in Foley Square, offering food, medical help, and connections to free legal services to immigrants reporting for appointments at Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the high-rise office building behind them. When a van leaves the building—presumably with immigrants headed for a detention center—the group springs into action and jeers at the vehicle as it passes.

"We don't have the ability to, you know, stop those vans, but we can at least cause a scene about it," says Makaela Duran-Crelin, a member of NYC Shut It Down, one of a number of pro-immigrant groups that is represented at the camp.

Members rotate shifts at the camp, but Duran-Crelin said they make sure to have at least six people there at any time to maintain their presence outside the courthouse. And for the most part, she said the police haven't bothered the protesters much. NYPD officers once asked them to remove their signs early in their stay, but placards with phrases like "Abolish ICE" and "cages for kids not right in America" have since sprouted up again around the campsite.

Much like the Occupy Wall Street demonstration at Zuccotti Park further south, which lasted for just under two months, participants said they plan to stay at the camp indefinitely.