Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik criticized New York officials over failures to cooperate with immigration authorities to identify protesters who on Thursday broke into the ground floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan.

“I’ve heard numerous cops telling me that the upper echelon at the NYPD, primarily the police commissioner, is not helping and not supporting ICE and the members of federal agencies in getting the names of the people that got into this building,” Kerik said on Newsmax’s Wake Up America. “Keep in mind, this is the residence of the president of the United States, his private residence. His wife, the first lady, her son lives there, goes there. 

The New York Police Department on Thursday removed dozens of demonstrators inside of the lobby who were protesting the detainment of of a Columbia University graduate who helped lead pro-Palestinian protest on the Ivy League campus, Just the News reported. 

The detainee, Mahmoud Khalil, was taken into custody over the weekend by federal agents and is now reportedly in a holding facility in Louisiana awaiting a hearing. The Trump administration wants to deport Khalil despite his Green Card, which has sparked backlash. 

Kerik also said about the sit-in: “Every person that was arrested in that forum should be identified, their name should be turned over to the Secret Service. They should have never been in a position like this. I think it's outrageous. If the NYPD is not cooperating, I think Secret Service has to subpoena those names, get them and make sure they’re identified and investigated for being in that building."