Attempts to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement inside and outside a Manhattan courthouse last week is a criminal matter that goes beyond immigration violations, retired Border Patrol agent John Torres tells Newsmax.

“We’re talking about federal law, which supersedes the city laws,” Torres said on Newsmax’s “Sunday Report.” “When you look at this from a criminal perspective, they’re crossing the border illegally in violation of Title VIII, you know, Section 1325, which is a crime to cross the border without being inspected. And then you take that further, and you have people that are harboring them, shielding them, protecting them from ICE agents who are trying to locate them, in the end, you have a various network of people that are out there trying to protect illegals.”

Last Wednesday, ICE officers arrested nearly two dozen protesters, including a minister, who blocked the paths of two vans agents were using to transport immigrants detained at the courthouse.

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