Federal officials have denied Youman Wilder’s claims that he had to step in when immigration officials attempted to question his young players during a practice in New York City earlier this month.
The event happened on Thursday, July 3, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (New York City) agents approached and started talking to some of the young baseball players who were out for an outdoor practice on the west side of the city, the coach told Scripps News.
According to Wilder, the men had recognizable gear, suggesting that they were immigration police. He added that because he lived in Washington Heights, a largely Latino neighborhood where ICE raids have occurred, he also knew they were ICE agents.
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According to Wilder, he remained composed and told the boys under his care to hide in a batting cage, placing himself between them and the authorities.
He told local station WABC that there were roughly six officers. According to him, the kids that come to practice are citizens of the United States.
“Our kids are from [the] Dominican Republic, Africa. Our kids are from Central America. We have some kids from Haiti. But they’re all American kids,” he told Scripps.
“We were just practicing, finishing up a practice and I went to shoot some hoops. And next thing I knew, we just see these guys coming in their uniforms,” Wilder recounted, adding, “I didn’t really pay attention to it until they came towards our kids and the next thing I see — well, I hear — is they’re asking them where they’re from, how old are they? Just inappropriate questions.”
“I told my kids to walk to the back of the cages, right here, and I said, ‘They’re going to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights, they’re not going to say anything,'” Wilder, who has a law degree, told WABC.
“There’s only one way to get into the cage, so my whole thing was I can control that,” he said to Scripps. “I was in front of the entrance and that’s when I just said, you know, ‘I may die here, but they will not take one of these kids.’ “
He said one of the officers raised his voice.
“That’s when I was called a YouTube lawyer, and I said, ‘No, I just know how the Constitution works,'” Wilder recounted.
“I got some tough New York City kids, so for them to be scared, it means something is really happening,” Wilder later said in an interview with CNN. As the kids shuffled away from the agents, Wilder said he reassured them by saying, “Listen, I’m not going to let them get through me.”
In the same CNN interview, Wilder continued, “I just said to myself, ‘I’m willing to die to make sure you get home.” He even doubled down on his statement, saying, “I’m willing to die today.”
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Wilder wanted to emphasize that the children who play baseball with him are not victims, but honorable children with promising futures. Forty-five of his players, he stated, have been selected for the Major Leagues.
However, he revealed that many of the children have been too afraid to return and play baseball after the incident.
Meanwhile, an ICE spokeswoman informed People that “these allegations are false.”
“ICE has not conducted any recent enforcement activity in the vicinity of Riverside Park,” the official explained.
His testimony is the most recent in an upsurge of bizarre stories to emerge amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, which he successfully campaigned on last year.
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