The Ocean Avenue News - oceanavenuenews.comA Brooklyn man is pleading for the release of his husband, who ICE detained during a Nov. 24 green card interview at 26 Federal Plaza.
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Faicco’s Pork Store — a Dyker Heights mainstay known for its handmade sausages, old-world butchery and unwavering neighborhood loyalty — received a New York State Senate Proclamation over the weekend celebrating more than a century of family-run culinary tradition.
New York state Sen. Stephen T. Chan visited the 11th Avenue shop on Dec. 6, joining three generations of the Faicco family and a crowd of longtime customers to mark the occasion. The award recognizes the business’s “decades of exceptional service, tradition and culinary excellence in Brooklyn,” according to the announcement.
Faicco’s story stretches back to the early 1900s, when Italian immigrant Eduardo Faicco opened the original Elizabeth Street shop in Manhattan. As Italian-American communities grew across the city, Eduardo’s son Joseph brought the business to Brooklyn in 1943 — a move that helped cement Faicco’s as a fixture in South Brooklyn food culture.
Over the years, the shop has become known for its steadfast commitment to traditional Italian craft. The Faiccos still prepare sausages, roasts and cured meats by hand, maintaining “old-world” techniques and working “without preservatives or shortcuts” — a style of butchery that is increasingly rare in modern food retail.
“Faicco’s Pork Store is more than a business. It’s a living piece of New York history,” Chan said during the ceremony. “For generations, the Faicco family has represented the best of our immigrant story. Through hard work, family pride and a commitment to quality, they have created a place where neighbors from every background come together to share food, culture, and community.”
The shop’s influence extends far beyond Dyker Heights. A 1975 New York Times profile that helped introduce its sausages and cured meats to a wider audience. Those holiday lines — stretching out the door as families stock up on antipasti, roasts and Italian classics — remain a winter tradition in the neighborhood.
The presentation formally recognized Louis and Matthew Faicco, along with Matthew’s son, for carrying the business into the 21st century and preserving small businesses across the neighborhood.
“Small, family-run businesses like Faicco’s are the backbone of our neighborhoods,” Chan continued. “They create jobs, preserve culture, and give our communities their character. Honoring the Faicco family is a way of honoring all the hardworking small business owners who make Brooklyn such a special place to live.”
Using taxpayer dollars, HPD hires a contractor to do the job the landlord didn’t, then bills the landlord for the work — plus fees.
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In federal courtrooms across America, a pattern has emerged in cases in which immigrants are being rounded up and jailed without a hearing.
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A collection of topical political cartoons from various artists curated by the Brooklyn Eagle editorial staff.
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THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM announced Tuesday it has added nearly 600 artworks in 2025, calling the acquisitions a significant expansion.
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THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WOULD BE RESTRICTED from arresting or detaining individuals in connection with appearances.
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A BROOKLYN HEIGHTS TOWNHOUSE owned by NYC Transit official Patrick Killackey topped Brooklyn’s luxury contracts last week.
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Since last July, leaders and members of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge and Indivisible Brooklyn have held a weekly “Vigil for Democracy” outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, where the Department of Homeland Security is using a wing to house more than 100 immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE).
On Dec. 9, New York state Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado joined the chorus of community members that had assembled on the corner of 3rd Avenue and 29th Street, holding up signs reading “Demand Humanity” or “Honk If You’re Human, No Ice,” demanding an end to ICE detention at the notorious prison complex and to inhumane immigration enforcement practices.
Delgado, who is seeking to replace Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2026, noted that protecting immigrant communities was a moral responsibility beyond political obligation and called for the passage of a slew of state legislation, aimed at protecting immigrant New Yorkers, including the New York for All Act, which would prohibit New York state and local agencies, including police and sheriffs, from collaborating with ICE, sharing sensitive information, or diverting personnel or other resources to federal immigration enforcement; the New York Dignity Not Detention Act, which would ban anyone from owning or operating immigrant detention facilities, among other provisions, and the Access to Representation Act, which would establish the right to universal representation, meaning anyone at risk of deportation who cannot afford a lawyer will be provided with one.
“I’m here to tell you, as lieutenant governor, I’m gonna do everything I can to uplift this message, to make it clear that we have a moral responsibility here in New York to see this all the way through,” Delgado said. “Communities are counting on us to fight for them, to stand with them, and to love them.”
He also called for banning the 287(g) agreement, a partnership between ICE and local/state law enforcement that allows deputized local officers to enforce certain federal immigration laws, even in sanctuary cities; and for legislation similar to California’s “No Secret Police Act,” which prohibits most law enforcement, including ICE agents, from wearing masks during operations starting January 1, 2026.
“You shouldn’t need a mask to enforce the law. If you need a mask, it’s because you’re breaking the law,” Delgado stated.
Reverend Juan Carlos Ruiz, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, has been organizing the vigil alongside Indivisible Brooklyn. Ruiz reported that two sisters of his community, who had escaped their country due to persecution and torture, were detained when they reported to their ICE check-in on Tuesday morning.
“They had done everything by the book. They had complied with what the law says, and they were taken in anyway,” Ruiz told the crowd. “So let’s continue to uplift those people that keep being disappeared, separated from their families and their communities.”
Ruiz told Brooklyn Paper that, at a meeting with the Department of Homeland Security and local business leaders and clergy, DHS told them it would “most likely” deploy the National Guard and increase ICE’s presence.
“They can come in anytime,” Ruiz said.
The threat of ICE has impacted the local economy, he said, and many locals are afraid to leave their homes to attend their typical activities.
“It’s not only us, but you can talk to any other priests or pastors, and rabbis, and they will tell you that there is a decrease in attendance,” Ruiz shared. “We have spoken to teachers. We have spoken to people in schools, and they also see a decrease in the attendance of the children. Well, kids are basically, you know, being traumatized.”
As ICE is increasingly ramping up its efforts to arrest immigrants, Hands Off NYC, a campaign that is supported by unions, faith leaders, and community groups, has been organizing workshops and business canvassing and whistle distribution events, educating and preparing New Yorkers for a potential immigration crackdown.
Indivisible Brooklyn member Lee Crawford urged New Yorkers to sign up for the upcoming Hands Off NYC Community Weekend.
“Thousands of people are being trained in understanding how to know your rights and protect our neighbors, and this weekend, Hands Off NYC is building on that training with a weekend of action beginning on the 12th, continuing through the 14th,” Crawford said. “We did it for one day last month, and it was so rewarding to be out there, to be visible together in this fabric of people who care and feel love and will fight back.”
Indivisible Brooklyn activists Bryony Romer and Jill Mont attend the weekly vigil regularly and highlighted the importance of grassroots organizing.
“I don’t think we’re going in a good direction, and I think people need to organize, and just little groups like this can make a difference, and we show people that we care, other people will not feel so lost, and that we won’t lose everything if we band together,” Mont told Brooklyn Paper, noting that, despite the Trump administration’s claims that the overwhelming majority of ICE arrests involved immigrants charged with or convicted of a crime, many immigrants held in ICE detention had no criminal convictions.
“Almost nobody’s taken has broken laws; they’ve come here, they’ve worked, they’ve actually had taxes taken out. They’ve tried to make a life here and be a good citizen,” Mont explained. “People are not being taken under the circumstances that I think the President vowed they would be. They’re being taken under very, very wrong circumstances.”
Romer told Brooklyn Paper that instilling fear was a tool used by fascists and authoritarians, noting that it was more important than ever to stand in solidarity with affected communities and organize to prevent further oppression.
“More and more people are waking up and saying no and saying, ‘This is not the country I want to live in.’ In some cases, people are saying, ‘This is not what I voted for.’ They voted for Trump, but this is not what they imagined was going to happen. So I think that we have a real opportunity to come together,” Romer said. “The goal for [the Trump administration] is to become more repressive. So we need to take action now, because we need that not to happen.”
Following weeks of speculation, City Comptroller Brad Lander officially launched a primary challenge Wednesday against U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman.
Lander enters the race with the backing of several of the country’s most prominent progressive leaders, including Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
The outgoing comptroller, who did not run for re-election this year in lieu of a failed bid for the Democratic mayoral nomination, kicked off his bid for New York’s 10th Congressional District with a Mister Rogers–themed video released earlier Wednesday morning. The district spans Lower Manhattan, including Tribeca and Chinatown, as well as a large swath of northwest Brooklyn, encompassing Sunset Park and Park Slope.
Goldman, first elected in 2022 after narrowly winning a crowded primary, has gained national attention for his aggressive criticism of President Donald Trump, particularly on immigration. But he has faced increasing friction with progressives over his staunch support for Israel, which has grown more visible since Mamdani’s decisive victories in both the June primary and November general election.
When asked about Lander’s challenge, Goldman’s campaign spokesperson Maddy Rosen said the congressman “will deal with Brad and other challengers in the new year.”
“Dan is focused on stopping the Trump administration from what they’re doing to immigrant families in his district right now,” Rosen said, adding that Goldman is “proud of his progressive record in Congress.”
Lander’s launch video makes sharp contrasts with the incumbent, criticizing “high-dollar fundraisers,” “doing AIPAC’s bidding,” and what he described as “strongly worded letters” in the face of serious crises.
“In a district that knows our safety, our freedom, our thriving is bound up together … at a moment of dark oppression, we can shine by fighting back together,” he says, before closing with a nod to Mister Rogers and a few notes of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” the theme song to “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
The announcement also highlights Lander’s recent clashes with federal immigration authorities.
In September, the comptroller was arrested along with several other elected officials at 26 Federal Plaza after attempting to inspect a holding area that advocates say ICE has been using as an ad hoc detention site for migrants leaving immigration court. Federal agents charged him with a misdemeanor for allegedly obstructing the elevator lobby.
Lander has rejected a plea offer and pushed back on the charges, accusing ICE of misusing the federal office building as a de facto detention center with harsh and unsafe conditions. He argues the agency, not elected officials, is responsible for obstructing the building’s “usual use” by keeping migrants on a floor that lacks beds, hygiene supplies and adequate oversight. He is due back in court later this month.
Despite his congressional challenge, Lander has also recently worked alongside Goldman on immigration-related issues. In late September, the two issued a joint letter urging the Department of Homeland Security to refer for felony prosecution an ICE agent who was caught on video allegedly shoving a woman to the ground in front of her children at 26 Federal Plaza. They called the agent’s reinstatement “outrageous,” urging federal authorities to take immediate action.
Lander’s campaign platform centers on resisting authoritarianism, expanding affordable housing, strengthening worker protections and reshaping U.S. foreign policy. The platform highlights his record on housing, from anti-eviction work and affordable-housing development to the Gowanus rezoning, as well as his office’s intervention that preserved more than 35,000 affordable units following the collapse of Signature Bank. He also cites his work securing paid sick leave, gig-worker protections and higher wages for delivery workers and ride-hail drivers.
On foreign policy, Lander advocates for “bridges, not bombs,” calling for reduced military spending, greater investment in global development and human rights, and a reassertion of Congress’s constitutional authority. He has long opposed Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and argues that Israelis “will only be safe and free when Palestinians are free and safe.”
Before Lander began mulling on a possible Congressional bid, it had been widely speculated that he might join the incoming Mamdani administration, given that the two cross-endorsed during the ranked-choice primary, a move crucial to Mamdani’s victory.
After conceding that mayoral primary, Lander, who is Jewish, emphasized the significance of his alliance with Mamdani, who is Muslim.
“We are not going to let anyone divide Muslim New Yorkers and Jewish New Yorkers,” Lander said. “Our safety, our hopes and our freedoms are bound up together — don’t get it twisted.”
During his campaign launch video, Lander tells voters that Mayor-elect Mamdani “can have an ally in Washington instead of an adversary in his own backyard.” Goldman, for his part, did not endorse Mamdani in the mayor’s race but said after his victory that he looked forward to working with him.
In his backing of Lander’s challenge to Goldman, Mayor-elect Mamdani called Lander a “true leader,” “trusted ally” and “partner.”
“Brad’s unwavering principles, deep knowledge, and sincere empathy are what make him a true leader,” Mamdani said in a statement. “He has been a trusted ally and partner of mine, and I’m proud to support him as I know he’ll continue delivering for those who need government to show up for them the most.”
The immediate endorsement signals a measure of loyalty but also Mamdani’s willingness to challenge the Democratic establishment, particularly after Mamdani recently advocated against the Democratic Socialists of America backing Brooklyn Council Member Chi Ossé’s challenge to House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Ossé, however, officially dropped his primary bid last week.
Meanwhile, other leading progressives like Vermont Senator Sanders praised Lander as “a relentless fighter for working people,” while Warren called him “the real deal” with the “experience, values and grit” to deliver for working families. Brooklyn Assemblymember Robert Carroll wrote that NY-10 “could not ask for a better neighbor — or a more principled progressive leader,” while State Sen. Andrew Gounardes declared, “Team Gounardes is always on Team Lander.”
Lander also secured the backing of the New York Working Families Party, which praised him for his “moral courage,” advocacy for working families, and record on affordable housing and labor protections. The party said it expects Lander to continue fighting for workers, immigrant families, and broader access to housing, education, healthcare, and public safety.
“We are all in and ready to win,” the party posted.
DSA-backed City Council Member Alexa Avilés, whose district overlaps with NY-10, is also weighing a potential run, according to October reporting by City & State. Her campaign did not respond to requests for comment at the tine of publication.