A man armed with fireworks, gasoline, weapons, and a manifesto attacked the entrance to 26 Federal Plaza in New York City, and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is now investigating the incident.
Andrew John Arrabaca, 43, an Army veteran from Poughkeepsie, New York, was arrested Monday morning after he allegedly doused the front steps of the Lower Manhattan federal building in gasoline and set them on fire using fireworks, injuring at least two people. A Federal Protective Service officer tackled and detained Arrabaca on scene, sustaining minor injuries in the process. The suspect was pulling a wagon loaded with fireworks, anti-ICE literature, and a sign that read "ICE off our streets," Breitbart News reported.
The attack unfolded around 8:30 a.m. at a building that houses the FBI's New York field office, an immigration court, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office, and an ICE field office, making it one of the most prominent federal facilities in the city. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the incident on X shortly afterward.
Patel posted:
"This morning an individual deployed an incendiary device outside of 26 Federal Plaza in New York. The individual is in custody and two minor injuries reported thus far. FBI [Joint Terrorism Task Force] is investigating the incident."
The Department of Homeland Security followed with its own statement on X, providing a more detailed account of the attack and the officer who stopped it.
"...an anti-ICE rioter launched fireworks outside of 26 Federal Plaza, grazing a bystander, and poured what is believed to be gasoline on the stairs of the entrance to the building and set it on fire. A FPS Protective Security Officer swiftly tackled and detained the agitator, sustaining minor injuries during the incident."
The suspect's arsenal went well beyond fireworks and a jug of gasoline. DHS said Arrabaca's bag contained what appeared to be two pellet guns and a manifesto, Fox News reported. The Washington Times provided a fuller inventory: two airsoft rifles, several knives, two axes, and a machete were recovered from Arrabaca at the scene.
ABC 7 New York described the suspect as "a man armed with a collection of weapons" who started a fire using "some kind of flammable liquid." He was also reportedly menacing pedestrians with a firearm before being taken down, and the NYPD Emergency Service Unit established a perimeter while the bomb squad was called in, Just the News reported.
FBI Assistant Director James Barnacle left no ambiguity about the suspect's intent. The Washington Times quoted Barnacle saying:
"The building was attacked. Mr. Arrabaca was looking to injure people and harm people."
Barnacle's assessment was supported by Arrabaca's own reported words. The suspect told authorities he was "OK if he hurt or killed people" entering the building, whether they were federal employees or civilians. That statement, combined with the manifesto and the anti-ICE literature loaded into his wagon, paints a picture of a deliberate, ideologically motivated attack on a federal facility.
A top FBI official described Arrabaca as an anti-ICE activist, elaborating that he used a cart carrying anti-ICE literature to carry out the attack, National Review reported. The suspect reportedly yelled anti-ICE slurs as he was being placed under arrest.
The JTTF designation, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, is worth noting. The task force handles cases involving potential domestic and international terrorism. Its involvement signals that federal investigators are treating this as more than a routine criminal incident. No formal terrorism charges have been announced, and the suspect's full legal exposure remains unclear. No charges, statutes, or case numbers had been released as of publication.
Two people suffered minor injuries and were treated and released, consistent across multiple reports. The DHS account broke those injuries down as one bystander grazed by fireworks and one FPS officer hurt while subduing Arrabaca. Both accounts point to two injuries total, though the sources do not explicitly reconcile the figures.
The FPS officer who stopped the attack deserves particular recognition. Federal Protective Service officers guard more than 9,000 federal facilities across the country. This one ran toward a man armed with incendiary devices, bladed weapons, and airsoft rifles, and brought him to the ground before anyone was seriously hurt. That is the kind of decisive action that prevents a headline from being far worse.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani weighed in on the attack, calling it "deeply disturbing" and saying he was "relieved no one was seriously injured and that a suspect is in custody." The statement was measured and appropriate. But Mamdani's broader political record on immigration enforcement raises questions about the environment in which this kind of attack takes place.
Mamdani has been a vocal advocate for abolishing ICE. He has explored aggressive legal maneuvers that push the boundaries of his authority, and his administration has repeatedly clashed with federal law enforcement priorities.
None of that makes Mamdani responsible for Arrabaca's actions. But when a city's political leadership spends years demonizing a federal law enforcement agency, calling for its abolition, obstructing its operations, treating its officers as adversaries rather than partners, it is fair to ask whether that rhetoric contributes to a climate where an individual feels justified in showing up with gasoline and a manifesto.
Mamdani's relationship with law enforcement has been strained on multiple fronts. An NYPD captain was stripped of command after publicly criticizing the mayor, a move that sent a clear message about dissent within the ranks.
The broader legal landscape in New York has also complicated federal enforcement. A federal judge blocked ICE courthouse arrests in Manhattan earlier this year, forcing a return to more restrictive policies that hampered the agency's ability to detain illegal immigrants in one of the most target-rich environments in the country.
The building Arrabaca targeted is not just any federal office. 26 Federal Plaza is a hub for immigration proceedings in New York. It houses an immigration court where removal cases are heard, a USCIS office that processes applications, and the ICE field office responsible for enforcement operations across the metropolitan area. Attacking its entrance was a direct assault on the federal government's ability to enforce immigration law in the nation's largest city.
The incident comes at a time when anti-ICE sentiment has moved beyond protest signs and city council resolutions. Across the country, activists have blockaded ICE facilities, doxxed agents, and harassed employees at their homes. Arrabaca's attack represents an escalation, from obstruction to violence, from political theater to an incendiary device on the steps of a federal building.
The suspect's manifesto has not been publicly released, and its contents remain unknown. Whether it articulates a coherent political ideology or reads as the ramblings of a disturbed individual may shape how the case is ultimately prosecuted. But the wagon, the sign, the literature, and the slurs all point in the same direction.
Arrabaca's background adds another layer. He is a 43-year-old Army veteran, someone who served the country he allegedly attacked. How a former servicemember arrived at the point of loading a wagon with weapons, gasoline, and anti-government literature and wheeling it to the front door of a federal building is a question the investigation will need to answer.
Incendiary attacks on government buildings are not unprecedented. An illegal immigrant was recently sentenced to life for a deadly firebombing in Boulder, Colorado, a case that underscored how political rage, left unchecked, can turn lethal.
Several open questions remain. Authorities have not announced formal charges. The full contents of the manifesto are unknown. The extent of any structural damage to the building has not been disclosed. And investigators have not said whether Arrabaca acted alone or had any connections to organized anti-ICE groups.
What is clear is that a federal officer's quick action prevented what could have been a catastrophe. The FPS officer who tackled Arrabaca did not wait for backup, did not hesitate, and did not let a man with gasoline, fireworks, and bladed weapons continue his attack on a building full of federal workers and civilians.
Years of rhetoric treating immigration enforcement as an act of cruelty, and ICE agents as villains, were always going to produce consequences. On Monday morning in Lower Manhattan, those consequences arrived in a wagon.