New Yorkers have been training at churches and community centers across the city in recent weeks in preparation for an expected ramp-up in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
Over 80 people gathered at a church in Inwood, Manhattan for a “deportation defense” training on a recent Monday evening.
“We’re here because our neighbors are in danger,” event organizer John Mark Rozendaal told the all-ages crowd. “We’ve seen them abducted in courthouses. And now we’re seeing in Chicago and Portland, our neighbors abducted from the streets.”
Rozendaal added: “We don’t know what we can do to stop this. But we know we can try.”
Such trainings, which are largely organized by mutual aid and advocacy groups, have become more popular and numerous following an ICE raid on Canal Street in Lower Manhattan in late October, according to local organizers and advocates. Word about the trainings has spread via encrypted messaging platforms like Signal.
The preparations come as the Trump administration’s “border czar” Tom Homan has renewed promises to “flood the zone” with ICE officers in New York City because of the city’s sanctuary protections in place for immigrants – amid stepped up enforcement in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Charlotte. Organizers are especially concerned about a potential immigration crackdown after Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is sworn in on Jan. 1.
In an aerial view, students stage a walkout at East Mecklenburg High School in protest of U.S. Border Patrol operations targeting immigrants on NoV. 18, 2025, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Mamdani spoke directly to Trump in his acceptance speech on election night, telling him to "turn the volume up" as he vowed to protect immigrants. "So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us," Mamdani said. The two men are scheduled to hold their first face-to-face meeting Friday at the White House.
State officials under Gov. Kathy Hochul have already begun preparing for a potential federal crackdown. The City Council on Thursday held a hearing where officials discussed their own preparations.
Immigrant advocates, volunteers and others aren’t waiting for the crackdown to begin.
In addition to hosting trainings, New Yorkers across the city have formed community “patrols”: groups that routinely scour known hotspots of ICE activity with the goal of intervening and disrupting their operations.
Some organizers have been canvassing their neighborhoods — such as Sunset Park and Washington Heights — with pamphlets and fliers explaining what rights residents and business owners have in the event ICE visits their home or business.
Activists are also taking cues from other cities, like Chicago and Los Angeles, where President Donald Trump has centered his immigration crackdown in recent months. Some mutual aid and advocacy groups have begun handing out whistles, which have emerged as a symbol of resistance in Chicago and as practical tools to alert others to ICE sightings.
As Border Patrol and ICE agents have cracked down in other cities, complaints about racial profiling and excessive force have emerged. Some Latino residents, including green card holders, say federal agents targeted them for questioning because of their race and skin color. A federal judge in Illinois has banned federal immigration agents from using riot control weapons like tear gas against people who don’t pose an immediate threat, after the federal government routinely used such methods on protesters and journalists in Chicago.
Organizers with the Hands Off NYC coalition, which organized the “No Kings” protests against Trump earlier this year, have been talking to unions, elected officials, and other organizers in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. about how to prepare for a federal immigration crackdown, according to Hae-Lin Choi, one of the coalition's founders.
Choi said some of the biggest lessons her group has learned from other cities include the importance of mass trainings about how to respond to ICE sightings and “strong neighborhood defense structures.” On the latter, Choi said it’s important to organize individuals, even “block by block.” Some “deportation defense” trainings emphasize the importance of getting to know your neighbors.
Keya Chatterjee, the executive director of Free D.C., an advocacy group supporting self-determination in the city, said this neighborhood-level organizing has been crucial in Washington, D.C.
“Neighborhoods are the unit that keeps us most safe, no matter what disaster you’re experiencing, whether it’s a heat wave or hurricane or anything else,” Chatterjee said. “ The biggest indicator of ability to survive and reduce harm is — are your immediate neighbors able to come together and take care of each other?”
“Deportation defense” trainings
Trainings have emerged as helpful tools for community organizers to make more New Yorkers knowledgeable about how to respond to ICE activity in their neighborhoods. The content of the trainings varies depending on who's hosting them, but organizers and advocates said they generally include an overview of one’s rights when interacting with local and federal law enforcement officers, as well as how to respond when you see ICE agents.
During the recent session in Inwood, which a Gothamist reporter attended, two trainers who identified themselves to attendees via pseudonyms instructed the group on how to respond to ICE sightings by using the “Five Ds”: document, disseminate, direct, delay and disrupt. First, they said, observers should photograph, film and otherwise document what the officers are doing, and disseminate that information to “rapid-response” groups, which usually operate over Signal and can quickly dispatch individuals to respond.
Then, they said, observers should work to slow ICE officers down to buy time for others to respond — such as community organizers, other residents, media and lawyers — and ultimately disrupt the officers’ actions.
Rozendaal, the event organizer, said he was inspired by community organizers in Rogers Park in Chicago who created a rapid-response group to monitor and quickly intervene during ICE sightings.
Canvassing small businesses
Retiree Phyllis Arnold, 71, entered a bagel shop in Park Slope on a recent Saturday afternoon with a clipboard full of pamphlets, fliers, and posters.
“My name’s Phyllis. I live in the neighborhood,” she told the manager behind the register. “We are here to talk with businesses about how to stay safe from ICE.”
Volunteers Ann Schaetzel (left) and Phyllis Arnold (right) in Park Slope.
Arnold was one of 30 participants in a recent canvassing effort organized by local community groups, synagogues and city councilmembers, which targeted local businesses in Park Slope to educate owners and managers about their employees’ rights if and when ICE visits their establishments. The effort was part of the Hands Off NYC “Day of Community Action” on Nov. 15, in which several community groups organized events aimed at combating ICE activity in New York City — including protests, whistle giveaways and other canvassing efforts.
At the bagel shop, Arnold explained that clearly marking private, employee-only spaces was one of the most important things the business could do.
“ When ICE comes in, they can come in like any other member of the public, you know, and order a bagel and cream cheese,” she said.
Arnold held up an “employees only” sign. She explained, “ In order for ICE to get through this, at least legally, they have to have a warrant.” Lawyers say that in order for ICE officers to enter private spaces, such as within a business or home, they generally need a judicial warrant or an occupant’s permission.
