The school was on lockdown. 

Nov. 12 was supposed to be an evening of youth soccer at P.S. 1, a public elementary school in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn. Yet the fun and games in the school’s gym turned dark when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up outside and took someone off the streets. 

According to multiple witnesses, the federal officers stayed parked on the corner for roughly two hours in three cars with tinted windows. Their presence outside the school where nearly 90% of the students are Latino sparked fear and led many community members to shelter inside. 

Aaron Kraus, one of the soccer coaches, said the experience left him questioning whether the games could continue. 

“It’s insane that something like a youth soccer event in a school is a place they’re going to park outside of and try to target people. That’s just mindblowing,” Kraus said. “Part of me is like, should we stop? But why should we stop something that’s good for the community?”

Parents who were there throughout the evening said they believe the ICE agents took one man from a nearby building. They were left wondering why the agents then chose to stay near the scene.

“I don’t know why you would stay outside a school. There are kids here and people are scared,” one man who said his child was playing inside told TPM. The father declined to give his name due to his concerns about the heavy-handed law enforcement presence. 

These fraught questions and tense moments have become a part of life around the country since Donald Trump returned to the White House and began to implement his mass deportation agenda. In New York City, Trump’s policies have led to dramatic raids and chaos in the courts. 

Yet when the parents and children stepped out of P.S. 1 on that chilly night, they were not confronted by the sight of the masked agents. Instead, they saw a group of nearly a dozen activists who rushed onto the scene after being notified by encrypted chat groups. These rapid response networks have sprung up around the city. They are a key component of the Undocumented Underground that is resisting mass deportation in New York and around the nation.