Riverdale Residents Organize Rapid Response Team as ICE Activity Intensifies

As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations continue to escalate under President Trump’s administration, Riverdale is taking action. 

On Nov. 6, dozens of residents gathered at Riverdale Temple Ballroom for a presentation on what to do if ICE is spotted in the neighborhood. 

After initial speeches, one resident had a different idea on how to make an impact. Seventy-one-year-old Hannah Sherak announced she was starting a local rapid response team, a group of people who monitor ICE raids and support those impacted. 

Though still in its early stages, Sherak said 34 people — from former activists to lawyers — filled out forms expressing interest in joining. 

“We have time now, we don’t necessarily have it later,” Sherak told The Press. “The idea of connecting people to each other so that we’re not all alone and feeling helpless brought me to this.” 

The former teacher, social worker and author was inspired by her mother, who wrote a memoir about growing up in Germany while fascism spread. The Jewish community, and others who were aware of the rising threat, were in denial, Sherak explained. 

Sherak said she felt compelled to confront ICE’s actions and ensure she and her neighbors were prepared. 

She provided whistles for those in attendance to draw attention if ICE is seen, and explained various roles would be available. 

“All of us have different equations in our lives about what we can afford to risk and what we can’t,” Sherak said. “Ways in which we know how to be brave and ways in which we know we’re not, and the same is true of the people we’re with.” 

Women of Reform Judaism member Morgan Evers, who spearheaded the event, also drew on her Jewish roots. Evers said tactics used by federal agents resemble those seen during the Holocaust. 

“People disappearing off the street, a secret police coming into people’s homes and just ripping them out of their beds and arresting them,” Evers said. “Holding them unjustly for no other crime except the crime of the identity that they portrayed.” 

In May, John F. Kennedy Campus student Dylan Josue Lopez Contreras was arrested at a mandatory immigration appearance at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. After being held in an ICE detention center for more than four months, a judge denied Contreras asylum and ordered his deportation to Venezuela. His legal team was preparing to appeal the decision at the time of The Press’ reporting in September. 

This is the most widely known instance of ICE activity impacting greater Riverdale. However, as residents listened intently to activist Jonathan Gatrelle outline what to do if they encounter ICE, it was clear preparation was top of mind to many in the room. 

Gatrelle, who was arrested during the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, told the audience that the first step is confirming whether the agents they see are from ICE. One way is to look for the Department of Homeland Security logo, which features an eagle. If officers are in plain clothes, look at their vehicles, he said. 

It’s helpful to report an ICE interaction to organizations with hotlines that can provide legal assistance, such as the Immigrant Defense Project or the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. 

He also said documentation is critical, and it is legal to film ICE if you do not interfere with an arrest. Stay two arm lengths away, and take note of everything — time, place, badge numbers, warrants and license plates, to name a few. The information should be given to a lawyer or an organization like Make the Road New York. 

If a resident who is an American citizen is arrested, and they do not touch or threaten the officer, it will likely result in a day in jail and a possible court appearance, but no long-term consequences. 

“Your rights are for the courtroom,” Gatrelle said. “When they bring you before the judge, and there’s video proof that you were doing what you were doing — staying five feet back, that you asked for their badge number — you will be absolved of any crimes  … If you go in, you will come out, and it won’t stick to you.” 

Those in the audience had various motivations for attending, from a history in public service to a desire to be better informed. 

Ellen Chapnick, a retired dean for social justice initiatives at Columbia Law School, told The Press it’s incumbent on citizens to do what they can to protect immigrants. 

“This is the time to organize, to get ready and to fight off what we need to on a local basis,” she said.