By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Federal authorities arrested a suspect Monday after an incendiary device was detonated outside a Lower Manhattan government complex that houses federal immigration agencies, an immigration court and multiple other offices.
“This morning an individual deployed an incendiary device outside of 26 Federal Plaza in New York,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement posted to X. “The individual is in custody and two minor injuries reported thus far.”
Patel said the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is leading the investigation.
Authorities did not immediately identify the suspect or disclose a possible motive. The FBI also had not released details about the type of device used, where it was placed or the circumstances surrounding the two reported injuries.
The address is home to the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, a major federal complex in Lower Manhattan.
The building contains the New York Federal Plaza Immigration Court, which operates under the Department of Justice, along with offices for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Other agencies and institutions located at the complex include the FBI’s Manhattan field office, the Social Security Administration, the General Services Administration and the U.S. Court of International Trade.
The incident occurred amid heightened concern within the Department of Homeland Security over threats and assaults directed at ICE personnel and facilities.
DHS officials have said attacks against immigration officers have increased sharply in recent months and have blamed hostile public rhetoric surrounding the agency for contributing to the escalation.
“Because of the dangerous smears and hoaxes spread by sanctuary politicians, our officers are facing a 3,300 percent increase in vehicle attacks by illegal aliens [and] anti-ICE agitators,” acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement last week.
“We are once again calling on sanctuary politicians, agitators, and the media to turn the temperature down and stop calling for violence and resistance against ICE law enforcement.”
The department reported in January that assaults against ICE officers had increased by 1,300 percent.
Federal officials have pointed to several serious attacks involving immigration facilities as evidence of the risks facing agency employees and detainees.
Last year, a gunman armed with a rifle opened fire at an ICE office in Dallas. An illegal immigrant being held by the agency was killed, and the suspected shooter later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
In a separate case, eight people linked to an antifa cell in Texas received substantial prison sentences in March for their roles in a July 4, 2025, incident at an ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas.
Investigators had not established any public connection between those previous incidents and Monday’s explosion in New York.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force brings together federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate suspected terrorism, politically motivated violence and other threats involving federal interests.
Authorities are expected to examine surveillance footage, witness accounts, physical evidence from the device and the suspect’s background as they work to determine whether the incident was directed specifically at ICE or another agency housed inside the building.
The federal complex remained the focus of the investigation Monday as officials assessed security and sought additional information about the attack.
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