Wife says immigration activist detained by ICE won't give up fight

The wife of a Brooklyn man and immigration activist who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this past week says she and her husband are not giving up their fight.

Ravi Ragbir, an immigrant from Trinidad, was detained Thursday during a routine check-in with immigration officials in Manhattan. Ragbir has served as the executive director of the new Sanctuary Coalition of New York City.

Ragbir's wife, Amy Gottlieb, says her husband fainted during his detainment and had to be taken to a hospital. 

A large rally was held in lower Manhattan in response to Ragbir's detainment, during which Councilmembers Jumaane Williams and Ydanis Rodriguez were among 18 people arrested.

Rodriguez then took to Twitter to criticize the NYPD, saying officers put Ragbir in a chokehold and tried to use what he called dirty tricks to confuse people.

In response the Sergeants Benevolent Association called Rodriguez a coward and a liar.

Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city will investigate whether the officers responded appropriately to the protest.

During his time in the United States, Ragbir has lived with the threat of deportation as the result of a conviction for wire fraud more than 10 years ago. ICE officials say he has exhausted all his petitions and appeals to stay in the country. 

Gottlieb also says she is on her way to the Krone Service Processing Center in Miami, Florida to try to visit her husband and says her legal team has a hearing on Tuesday to ask the government to allow Ragbir to be closer to his family.