ICE Arrests Bronx Food Pantry President Aleksander Nilaj at Manhattan Immigration Court; Judge Farbiarz Bars His Transfer Out of New Jersey

ICE detained Aleksander Nilaj, president of the Open Hand Association Food Pantry, at the Manhattan immigration court on Oct. 13. The nonprofit serves roughly 7,000 people in the Bronx each month, and Documented reports the pantry was closed in the days after his arrest. DHS says he was ordered removed on July 22, 2008; Documented reports a stay-of-removal application from 2025 is still pending in the appeals court. He was sent to Delaney Hall in Newark, where his lawyer has filed a habeas petition, and U.S. District Judge Michael E. Farbiarz barred ICE from moving him outside New Jersey until the agency shows just cause for his detention. Rep. Ritchie Torres visited him there to demand his release. The habeas case is NILAJ v. DELANEY HALL DETENTION FACILITY, 2:26-cv-13657 in the District of New Jersey; its filings are not in RECAP.

Documented could not confirm Nilaj’s current location, which it attributes to policy changes that remove records for detained immigrants with deportation orders. The arrest follows the other Bronx enforcement actions in the record (2026-10-08–ice-agent-shoots-oscar-belgal-marble-hill-bronx-child-in-car-judge-bars-deportation); the lasting loss Documented describes is to the people who relied on the pantry.