By: Tzirel Rosenblatt

As the federal government signals an intensified effort to enforce immigration laws in America’s largest cities, a new front in the national debate has opened on the streets of New York. According to an exclusive report on Sunday by The New York Post, thousands of left-wing activists aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are organizing what they describe as “rapid response battalions” intended to monitor, confront, and potentially obstruct federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations across the five boroughs.

ALERT: Woman reveals that a quick response group she’s in was able impede and obstruct an ICE operation that ended in the detainee being let loose:

“When we got the call for this ICE sighting, within minutes, we had 20 to 30 observers on foot and in vehicle, myself included.… pic.twitter.com/4rYXbWfitN

— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) January 18, 2026

The development represents one of the most ambitious efforts yet by grassroots political groups to resist the Trump administration’s renewed focus on deporting illegal migrants, particularly those with criminal records. Yet it also raises serious questions about the boundaries between lawful protest and interference with federal law enforcement—a line critics say these activists appear increasingly willing to blur.

At a monthly meeting held Thursday night, leaders of the DSA’s Immigrant Justice Working Group outlined an expansive plan to train and deploy more than 4,000 volunteers to counter what they anticipate will be a major ICE crackdown in New York City. The meeting, as detailed by The New York Post, took place at the People’s Forum in Midtown Manhattan, a venue known for hosting far-left political events and decorated with portraits of communist icons Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

Speaking to a room of more than 100 attendees, a DSA organizer who identified herself only as Marina warned that New York could soon become the epicenter of federal enforcement activity.

“As we’ve seen in other cities, we still do anticipate a big wave of federal immigration enforcement,” she told the crowd, according to The New York Post report. “It can be confusing, it can be scary, it can be kind of uncertain what’s happening in New York right now. But we want to be on our front foot if and when it does.”

The plan, organizers said, involves training roughly 2,000 DSA members and an additional 2,000 sympathetic non-members, while simultaneously recruiting 50 new trainers to expand the network. The group also intends to convert its ICE hotline into a 24-hour operation capable of fielding tips about enforcement activity in real time.

The strategy, as reported by The New York Post, is multifaceted. Volunteers will be taught to canvass immigrant neighborhoods, respond to reports of ICE sightings, and mobilize quickly to locations where agents are conducting arrests. Once on the scene, activists are encouraged to create crowds around federal officers, document their actions, and loudly broadcast their presence to nearby residents.

The tactic, known internally as “form a crowd, stay loud,” is designed to overwhelm ICE agents through sheer numbers and attention. Organizers even distributed rape whistles to participants, claiming they can be used to alert entire blocks when federal officers appear.

“The whistles carry far and wide,” Marina reportedly told attendees, promising that the devices would help transform routine arrests into highly visible public spectacles.

Another organizer, Leemah Nasrati—a pro bono refugee lawyer who helps conduct the DSA’s “Know Your Rights” trainings—assured participants that the group already possessed “a lot of whistles” and could supply more as needed.

The image of activists swarming federal officers with whistles in hand is a striking one, and critics argue it underscores how far elements of the political left have moved toward direct confrontation with law enforcement. Indeed, The New York Post report described the meeting as evidence of a growing effort to import tactics used by anti-ICE protesters in cities such as Minneapolis, where confrontations with agents have at times turned chaotic.

Much of the rhetoric at the gathering, according to The New York Post report, reflected a deeply ideological worldview that casts immigration enforcement as part of a broader system of oppression.

“The immigrant crisis is part of the US imperialist project, and yet we treat immigrants to the experience of ICE,” declared one organizer named Landry, a Crown Heights tenant activist and DSA member.

Others went further, labeling ICE itself a fundamentally illegitimate institution. “ICE is a violent organization and has been emboldened to respond to a lot of the work that many of you participated in,” another leader told the audience.

Such statements reflect a hardening of attitudes within segments of the progressive movement, where opposition to immigration enforcement is increasingly framed not merely as a policy disagreement but as a moral crusade.

The timing of the mobilization is not accidental. As The New York Post report noted, many attendees said they were galvanized by the recent death of Renee Good, a Minneapolis woman who was fatally shot earlier this month during a confrontation with ICE agents. Good had been involved with a local anti-ICE group that trained activists to resist federal operations—a model New York organizers now appear eager to replicate.

Transforming thousands of volunteers into an organized network, however, requires money. Throughout the nearly two-hour meeting, organizers repeatedly asked for donations, passing around a red beanie to collect cash contributions—a socialist twist on the traditional church collection plate, as The New York Post report wryly observed.

While leaders declined to disclose the total cost of their plans, they made clear that the effort would require significant resources, from communications infrastructure to legal support and training materials.

Recruitment efforts are already underway in immigrant-dense neighborhoods such as Chinatown, Bushwick, and Jackson Heights. Activists have been canvassing these areas in search of sympathetic residents willing to join the cause. “There are more of us than them,” Nasrati told the group, urging members to join a tightly controlled Signal messaging channel used to coordinate rapid responses.

The activism comes as federal officials openly signal that New York City is likely to be a major focus of upcoming ICE operations. According to a report cited by The New York Post, the agency has more than doubled its personnel over the past year and is preparing to expand enforcement efforts nationwide.

A senior White House source recently told WIRED magazine that after high-profile operations in Minnesota, “California and New York are next,” a remark that has only heightened tensions between local activists and federal authorities.

ICE officials maintain that their primary targets are illegal migrants with criminal records. In December, the agency announced the arrest of numerous individuals convicted of serious offenses, including forcible rape, aggravated sexual assault of a child, and strangulation.

“ICE law enforcement officers are sending criminal illegal aliens where they should have been all along – HOME for the holidays,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin declared at the time, in comments reported by The New York Post.

To accommodate the anticipated surge in detainees, the Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to open a new ICE detention facility in Chester, New York, roughly an hour outside the city. The center will be capable of holding 1,500 migrants, more than doubling the region’s current detention capacity.

At present, the only major ICE facility serving the New York area is a 1,000-bed center in Newark, New Jersey, which the Trump administration reopened last year. The expansion, according to The New York Post report, is widely viewed as a precursor to a major enforcement push.

The aggressive posture of the DSA and its allies raises thorny legal questions. While Americans have a constitutional right to protest, deliberately interfering with federal law enforcement operations can carry serious criminal penalties. Obstructing an ICE arrest, for example, could potentially be prosecuted as a federal offense.

Civil liberties experts warn that activists may be underestimating the risks. Creating crowds around agents, filming operations, and blowing whistles may fall within protected speech—but physically blocking arrests or refusing to disperse could quickly cross the line.

Local officials have thus far offered mixed signals. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose political roots lie in New York’s progressive movement, has expressed support for immigrant communities and criticism of federal deportation policies. Yet he has also insisted that the city will not tolerate violence or unlawful interference with police activity.

Still, critics argue that rhetoric from City Hall has helped embolden activists. The perception that New York is a “sanctuary city,” they say, has created an environment in which federal agents are increasingly viewed as unwelcome interlopers rather than legitimate law enforcement officers.

Public opinion in New York remains deeply divided on the issue. Many residents, particularly in immigrant communities, fear aggressive deportation tactics and worry about families being torn apart. Others, however, express frustration that federal immigration laws are selectively enforced—or openly defied—within the city.

For those concerned about rising crime and public safety, the idea of activists obstructing ICE arrests is deeply troubling. The crimes attributed to some illegal migrants, they argue, demonstrate the need for more robust enforcement, not less.

The debate is likely to intensify in the coming months as federal operations ramp up and activists attempt to carry out their ambitious plans. What is clear, as The New York Post has chronicled, is that New York City is once again poised to become a battleground in the nation’s ongoing struggle over immigration policy.

Whether the DSA’s efforts will succeed in deterring ICE enforcement remains to be seen. In the past, large public demonstrations have occasionally caused agents to abandon planned arrests. But federal officials insist they are prepared to adapt to new tactics and will not be intimidated.

What is certain is that the confrontation unfolding in New York reflects a broader national clash between two irreconcilable visions of immigration: one that prioritizes border security and the rule of law, and another that views enforcement as inherently unjust.

As whistles are distributed, hotlines staffed, and volunteers trained, the city stands on the brink of a volatile new chapter. For better or worse, the streets of New York are once again becoming a stage on which America’s deepest political conflicts are being played out in real time.

And as The New York Post report observed, the outcome of this struggle will have consequences far beyond the five boroughs—shaping the future of immigration enforcement, civil protest, and the rule of law in cities across the nation.