Training provided Brooklynites with know-your-rights education, ICE preparedness resources, and community organizing tools
BROOKLYN, NY – On Saturday, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Hands Off NYC hosted a boroughwide Know Your Rights & ICE Preparedness Training to provide Brooklynites with essential information and resources as ICE continues to spread fear across our communities. Saturday’s training arrives two weeks after hundreds of Brooklynites mobilized outside of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center to protest ICE’s detention of Chidoze Wilson Okeke.
Roughly 200 Brooklynites gathered at Brooklyn Borough Hall to discuss the current rise of authoritarianism, learn more about their constitutional and civil rights, and develop strategies for safely spotting and responding to ICE.
“At a time when immigrant communities are under attack, we have a responsibility to ensure our neighbors know their rights and are empowered to organize against the federal governments brazen mass deportation agenda. ICE’s recent standoff in Bushwick goes against our nature as a sanctuary city and created real fear for many families across our borough. We won’t sit idly by as ICE comes from our neighbors, and I’m proud to partner with Hands Off NYC to host this essential training for Brooklynites,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
“As ICE continues to unleash its abduction program across our city, now is the time to train, build connections within your community, and learn how to fight back,” said Hae-Lin Choi, Co-Founder of Hands Off NYC. “This weekend, hundreds of Brooklynites showed up to say we won’t capitulate to Trump’s bullying or ICE’s attempts to terrorize our communities. New York will take to the streets and protect our neighbors.”
This training was organized in partnership with Council Members Alexa Avilés, Chris Banks, Jennifer Gutiérrez, Shahana Hanif, Crystal Hudson, Rita Joseph, Sandy Nurse, Chi Ossé, Lincoln Restler, and Kayla Santosuosso. Partnering organizations included the NAACP NYS Conference, Churches United for Fair Housing, Mixteca, Make the Road New York, and the Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group.
Borough President Reynoso hosted this training as part of his broader immigration initiative, “Our City, Our Sanctuary,” which aims to make it easier for Brooklynites to learn about their rights and access trusted community resources.
