Inside NYC’s upwardly mobile Gen Z agitator groups (pop-up mobs) and how they target ICE enforcement

NY Post ^ | Published May 6, 2026, 6:00 a.m. ET | By Chadwick Moore

[dennisw]

545 Comments

The anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in Bushwick on Saturday night included a tight-knit group of young semi-pro protesters, familiar from previous clashes with cops.

This network of Gen Z agitators — largely young, upwardly mobile transplants to New York City — seem intent on picking a fight with authority first and cause second, moving seamlessly from climate activism to anti-Israel protest and now anti-ICE and immigration enforcement.

They organize through decentralized non-public networks, such as Discord and encrypted messaging apps, which you have to be a vetted member to join, according to sources, which is how they got word out that ICE was at the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center on Saturday night.

“You’re either on a text list or an email list. You get notifications. We saw this in Minnesota [in January]. There were events that precipitated the two tragic deaths there where [protesters] were all alerted by these tip lines, ‘ICE is out, go to this address and disrupt,’” Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), told The Post.

“In New York City, you have a political structure that supports this sort of agitation against ICE,” he added.

The encrypted messaging app networks, some of which appear to have ties with public social media accounts, also seem to include local City Council Member Sandy Nurse — a self-described “anti-capitalist” co-chair of the NYC Council Progressive Caucus who ran on divesting funding from the NYPD.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS:

[The Louiswu]

They organize through decentralized non-public networks, such as Discord and encrypted messaging apps, which you have to be a vetted member to join, according to sources, which is how they got word out that ICE was at the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center on Saturday night.

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Since the govt can intercept and read all digital traffic such info should be easy game.

[dennisw]

 

 

 

[HYPOCRACY]

NICE vs. not nice

[butlerweave]

When they run things it’s done bend over a kiss you a$$ goodbye

[AppyPappy]

The problem is 100% judges. If they were treated like “violent insurrectionists”, they would disappear.

[Brian Griffin]

What percentage of these people are getting student loans?

[DouglasKC]

Didn’t Trump change I.C.E to N.I.C.E? So wouldn’t they now be anti-NICE?

[Frank Drebin]

They can’t run bathwater.

[PapaBear3625]

Professional protester = PAID protester

Need to discover the network of “non profits” that fund this, and cancel their grants.

[Libloather]

Is there a Discord app to fight commies?

[No name given]

There SHOULD be one if there isn’t already.

[No name given]

And seize the assets of the financiers Reid Hoffman, Neville Roy Singham and George Soros then throw them all in prison.

[PGR88]

I guarantee you, they are ALL earn a living and are funded by government at some level.

[packrat35]

professional protestors. Most don’t believe in anything, just want to protest against somethig.