A Brooklyn deacon was detained by federal immigration officials at his Bensonhurst home on Thursday as part of a raid that also swept up about half a dozen other Brooklyn residents, according to elected and church officials.
Deacon Sebastian Renoj Barreno was detained on Bay Ridge Parkway by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after years of leading the community, according to Pastor Erick Salgado of Iglesia Jovenes Cristianos church group.
“ICE agent came and they were outside just waiting for everyone who walking out of this building, and they took like six or seven members of our community, including one of my leader, Sebastian Renoj Barreno, who has been a leader of my church for over 18 years,” Salgado said on Friday during a press conference in front of Barreno’s home. “[He has] no criminal record, no problem, not even a traffic ticket.”
Salgado, who did not disclose where Barreno immigrated from, expressed the church community's peaceful existence and denounced the idea that ICE is only coming after those with criminal records.
When President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, there were roughly 40,000 people being held in immigration detention. By the start of December, that number had risen by almost 75% with nearly 66,000 people held in immigration detention across the United States, according to the American Immigration Council.
A third of all ICE arrests have had no criminal records, according to the Deportation Data Project.
Salgado said Barreno, who has legal representation, is now in a detention center in New Jersey.
“The man was not a criminal,” said City Council Member Susan Zhuang, who represents Bensonhurst. “He is an active member of our community who served and uplifted our neighborhood and our constituents.”
Salgado said that ICE agents have been primarily detaining blue-collar workers near the New Utrecht and 18 Avenue subway stations in recent mornings.
“Right now, especially this week, every single day, we get phone calls from different communities,” about federal immigration agents in the community, said Zhuang. “Not only in the Spanish-speaking community, it’s every single community.”
Zhuang said her office offers free immigration representation and volunteer lawyers were available for everyone in the area.
“There's no due process,” Zhuang said. “People will follow the law, get detained. I just don’t understand what we can do here to help our community members.”
Zhuang also said on X that a PTA parent from her district was recently detained by immigration officials.
Community leaders said they did not know if Barreno had an order of removal on his record or why he was detained.
