ICE Arrests Bronx Food Pantry President at Manhattan Immigration Court; Pantry Closes

ICE arrested Aleksander Nilaj, president of the Open Hand(s) Association Food Pantry in the Bronx, on October 13 at the Manhattan immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza. The pantry, which serves roughly 7,000 people a month, closed after his arrest, and he was sent to Delaney Hall in Newark. DHS says he is an Albanian national who overstayed a temporary admission and was ordered removed by an immigration judge in 2008. His lawyer filed a habeas petition, and U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz barred ICE from moving him out of New Jersey.