Overview

• On July 3, six uniformed ICE officers approached a Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy youth practice and questioned players about their country of origin, prompting coach Youman Wilder to instruct them to invoke their Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
• The officers threatened to handcuff Wilder for obstructing justice after he told the children not to respond to ICE’s questions.
• ICE has neither confirmed agents were at the practice nor provided any public statement despite media inquiries.
• Wilder shifted practice times and locations out of concern for the children’s safety, yet only two players have returned to sessions due to ongoing family fears.
• The episode underscores growing friction between federal immigration enforcement and Manhattan’s sanctuary city policies, especially as reports of ICE impersonators stoke further mistrust.