Arson attack in New York City committed by an anti-ICE activist.

 

Andrew Arrabaca detained by police. Fox News/FNTV.

An arson attack in New York City was committed by an anti-ICE activist. Fox News. Andrew Arrabaca, 43, dumped an accelerant outside 26 Federal Plaza and lit up a firework to start the fire. Arrabaca was armed with a airsoft gun (a pellet gun in some reporting) and several melee weapons. Two or three people were injured, with one civilian being hit by the firework and an officer being injured as he detained Arrabaca. 26 Federal Plaza houses an immigration court along with offices for ICE and the FBI. Anti ICE literature was found on the suspect. The suspect was detained almost immediately and the fire was contained quickly. 

#BREAKING: New footage shows anti-ICE activist set fire outside immigration court in NYC. pic.twitter.com/5QncPG0KMD

— Insider Wire (@InsiderWire) July 20, 2026

My Comment:

The reporting in this case is all over the place. In some reports he was armed with a pellet gun and in others he had an airsoft gun. That's a significant difference because airsoft fires plastic pellets and won't cause much in the way of wounds, while a pellet gun fires metal pellets that could actually cause some damage. Some reports say that he fired and hit some of the victims with his gun, some say he didn't hit anyone, some say that he didn't fire it at all. And there isn't agreement of how many folks got injured. With such shoddy reporting, I had to hedge quite a bit in the summary. 

What is clear is that this attack was a failure. The injuries were minor, and the arson didn't actually set the building on fire. Indeed, where he set the fire seemed to have zero chance of actually starting a fire. Instead of inside of the building, he did it on the sidewalk. The fire was easily contained and the suspect was tackled almost immediately. 

In short, this is another example of a terrorist being very stupid. With the weapons he had, he could have done more damage than he did if he had a brain worth using. He was almost certainly never going to get away with it. Given the lack of sophistication and the almost total lack of planning, I feel comfortable in saying that this was a lone wolf attacker with no ties to a larger organization. 

I also feel pretty comfortable saying that this was a terror attack. This guy had anti-ICE literature and supposedly, a manifesto as well. He targeted a building with an immigration court and ICE offices and I am guessing his goal was to burn it all down. That he failed was due to incompetence, not lack of effort or intent. 

Why this guy was so angry about immigration enforcement is beyond me. He is apparently Hispanic, but I know a lot of Hispanic folks that support ICE and immigration efforts. He was also a former soldier during the GWOT and worked as a mechanic on Patriot missile batteries. My guess is he got radicalized online. Either way though, it's a good thing his attack was a failure.