On November 13, 2025, immigrant rights advocates purchased whistles to warn people during ICE raids. Credit: Gwynne Hogan/THE CITY Earlier this month, when masked federal agents showed up on a street corner in Corona, Queens and began arresting Latino men, apparently at random stops, volunteers rushed to the scene after being alerted via Signal chat or direct message.
Police disappeared with the men they had taken into custody, and volunteers roamed the area warning people about street attacks, blowing whistles and handing out information on their rights.
The alert was relayed in a timely manner and officers returned two more times that afternoon. By then, neighbors were blowing whistles to warn each other, according to volunteers with Queens Neighborhoods United, one of many small groups that have begun tracking ICE activity in recent months.
“It was a beautiful thing in a way,” the person recalled, even though seven people were arrested in the neighborhood that afternoon.
Sightings of federal agents appear to be increasing across the city, with arrests made this week in Washington Heights and additional sightings in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. (ICE has not released arrest data since July.)
ICE operations on the streets of New York City have yet to match the intensity of the Chicago attack, which used tear gas and saw agents rappelling from high-rise buildings into private apartments. But New Yorkers responding to raids and preparing for more alarm have taken a cue from local activists and have blown thousands of whistles in recent weeks as a low-tech way to alert people when they see ICE activity.
“It could be as simple as a noise maker,” says Whitney Hu, a community activist and organizer with South Brooklyn Mutual Aid, who handed out hundreds of whistles after learning about their use in Chicago. “It’s really hard for them to sneak up and scare people because there’s about 20 people chasing them with fog horns. Technically it’s not against the law.”
In Sunset Park, Hu’s home base, young activists use Signal Chat, the Chinese community primarily uses WeChat, and Latino immigrants primarily use WhatsApp, Hu said. However, everyone knows how to use the flute.
And the code is not complicated. Short bursts indicate ICE sightings. A long whistle indicates agents are making an arrest. If you hear the whistle and are an illegal alien, “you hide. And if you are an illegal alien, get out on the street,” Hu said.
Hu is one of many New Yorkers who have been stocking up on whistles and giving them away in recent weeks.
“The day after the Canal Street attack, I ordered 1,000,” said Karina Kaufman Gutierrez, deputy director of the Street Vendors Project. The project began distributing whistles to street vendors, along with materials to know their rights and information on how to distinguish between federal immigration agents and city police and sanitation officials.
“Resistance energy”
On Saturday, community groups blown another 10,000 whistles as part of a day of action by Hands Off New York City, a coalition that includes dozens of labor unions, community groups, churches and political organizations, hosting a day of actions and events across the city.
As President Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz began in September, sending hundreds of federal agents to arrest immigrants on the streets of the Windy City, Chicagoans began using whistles to flag ICE operations in neighboring states. Loud whistles served to alert those within earshot of federal agents who were at risk of arrest. This tactic has spread to other cities, including San Francisco, Portland, and Los Angeles.
Asked about the use of the whistle, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the department’s officers are “highly trained.”
“On the face [of] They show professionalism in rioting, leaking personal information, physical attacks, and are not afraid of loud noises or whistles,” she wrote.
Much of the ICE enforcement activity so far in New York City under President Donald Trump has taken place inside government buildings such as 26 Federal Plaza, where immigrants check in with ICE for necessary appointments or appear for deportation hearings in immigration court.
But supporters in New York are bracing for the situation to change in the coming weeks, as President Trump and his administration officials push for a clash with Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani.
Federal agents arrest protesters on Canal Street on October 21, 2025. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY
Last month’s dramatic military raid on Canal Street gave New York City a glimpse of what lies ahead, but activists like Hu say they were inspired by the throngs of New Yorkers who quickly rallied to confront federal agents.
One particularly iconic image, of a woman in a polka-dot dress blocking a road while giving the middle finger to agents in an armored truck, has become a symbol of anti-ICE organizations in the city. The New York Immigration Coalition is even auctioning off the dress the woman was wearing.
“It’s the energy of hooliganism, it’s the energy of resistance,” Hu said. “That’s the energy we need to bring.”
