Gustavo Rivera wants you to know your rights

As state Sen. Gustavo Rivera made his way from business to business in his Bronx district on a recent day in December, at least one person already had some idea of how he would respond if federal immigration agents came into his shop. “I know, it’s like, ‘Look at my ID, fuck off,’” a bakery manager told Rivera as the lawmaker was gearing up to explain what rights the bakery employees have if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement came knocking. “That is so on point, it’s beautiful,” Rivera responded. “But we want to give you a couple more things.”

The bakery was the second-to-last stop of the afternoon for Rivera after spending a few hours offering condensed Know Your Rights trainings to business owners and managers. He came armed with palm cards that explained the rights afforded to you should ICE attempt an arrest.

“Regardless of immigration status, everyone has rights as residents in the state of New York,” Rivera explained to a diner owner at the start of the canvass. Not everyone he spoke with that day proactively expressed the same level of familiarity with immigration enforcement best practices as the bakery manager. 

The canvass on that December day was only the third that Rivera himself participated in, though his staff and other volunteers had completed many more in prior weeks. He found that most people he interacted with were receptive to the information he had to offer, even if some initially had reservations. “The experience that I've had is people have been overwhelmingly welcoming to it, and they're like, asking us questions,” Rivera told City & State. 

His speech to business owners largely stuck to a script, whether in English or in Spanish. He explained that everyone has the right if they are arrested to remain silent and to have an attorney. He laid out the difference between an administrative warrant signed by an immigration official and a judicial warrant signed by a judge – only the latter permits federal agents to enter private areas or search someone’s belongings to locate a person. He carried laminated signs that declared “Private: No entry without a judicial warrant” in both English and Spanish, which he offered to each business to put up outside an employee lounge, kitchen or other area generally closed to the public.

Rivera also emphasized that bystanders have a right to record ICE agents. “As long as you feel safe, we encourage everybody to record every interaction with an ICE agent,” he said. Rivera said he explained to business owners that recording ICE could not only provide a deterrent to potential improper conduct by federal agents, “but also that it makes it easier for people to be identified if somebody is, like, kidnapped.”

The federal government has flooded cities like New York with immigration agents, increasing enforcement action in sometimes very high-profile ways. A sweep of Chinatown’s Canal Street  in October received significant attention and resulted in protests against the raid. Data analyzed by The City found that deportations have increased dramatically in the city since President Donald Trump returned to office. And while data shows that the number of arrests dropped from highs in the summer, the data only went until mid-October and did not account for high-profile enforcement actions that happened after the cutoff. 

Rivera said that in recent weeks, he and his staff have seen ICE and Department of Homeland Security agents in his incredibly diverse district, which stretches from Riverdale across to Norwood and down through Fordham, with Van Nest and part of Morris Park as its eastern borders. “Just in the last two weeks, we've seen Department of Homeland Security trucks parked right on the corner of Fordham (Road) and the Grand Concourse, which is just a block from my office,” he said. Rivera called the education efforts an “obligation” as part of his public service, but that he is “heartbroken that this is where the hell we are.”

Rivera and a number of other lawmakers have pushed for years to pass additional protections for immigrants, including the New York for All Act that would codify and expand sanctuary city laws around the state. Rivera rang the alarm bells before Trump even officially returned to office in November 2024, but legislators so far haven’t passed any significant new bills and the governor has not voiced her support for bills like New York for All. 

But Rivera expressed hope that seeing the realities of the Trump administration in action will motivate legislators, even moderate ones, to action. He expressed pride at seeing how state Sen. Pat Fahy, a left-leaning moderate from Albany, had become one of the strongest voices in the state Senate Democratic conference advocating for greater immigrant protections. “She has trouble getting through a sentence when she starts talking, because she gets so angry,” Rivera recalled. “And I'm like, that's exactly how everybody should feel.”

Legislators will have a lot on their plate in the 2026 session, with immigration just one of the many issues coming from the federal government they will have to deal with. But in the meantime, Rivera plans to continue proactively providing information to his constituents and to encourage his colleagues to do the same in their own districts.