Sunset Park Immigrants Invited to Legal Defense Workshop as Trump Comes to Power

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — The head of local activist group El Grito de Sunset Park said that in the wake of Donald Trump's election, his organization will step up community trainings focused on the legal rights of immigrants, while also initiating a new campaign monitoring the activities of officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

On Oct. 20, El Grito held its first bi-monthly legal defense workshop in Sunset Park, put on in conjunction with Brooklyn Defender Services. The next workshop is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m., and will take place at 219 51st St.

The program, known as the Participatory Defense Initiative, is designed to teach the neighborhood's residents how to defend themselves if they or family members are charged with a crime, according to El Grito head Dennis Flores.

Trump has repeatedly said he plans to deport all undocumented residents in the United States, and his incoming administration's transition website calls for "Zero Tolerance for Criminal Aliens."

"We are taking proactive approaches of how to protect ourselves, starting with educating our community about our rights," Flores said. "We want to make sure we don't get picked off"

"People will be getting stopped for the color of their skin, what they look like," Flores predicted. "They're going to go after families, hard working-class people."

"Young people whose parents are undocumented, they're afraid for their parents, that their families are going to be torn apart," he continued. "It's a troubling time."

Flores also said El Grito will also start filming and monitoring the activities of ICE agents to push back against illegal conduct.

Despite his concerns with Trump's proposals, Flores said immigrants have already spent the Obama years under historic levels of pressure.

According to government estimates, 2.5 million individuals were deported from the U.S. between 2009 and 2015, more than during the entire 20th century, according to a recent ABC News report. Of those deported last year, 91 percent had a previous criminal record, according to the statistics.

"We know him as the Deporter-in-Chief," Flores said of Obama. "Coming off of that, just be prepared."

Image via Gage Skidmore