Dozens of New Yorkers outraged by recent deaths involving ICE agents in different parts of the country gathered Tuesday night in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan to protest the agency’s actions and demand its abolition.
About a hundred people gathered in the plaza in front of 26 Federal Plaza, where ICE agents with their faces covered have detained numerous immigrants attending court-ordered immigration hearings over the last year.
The protesters carried various messages. A woman held a sign that said: “In some attic, a girl is writing about ICE,” referring to Anne Frank and drawing parallels between the persecution she suffered during Nazism and the immigration detentions as part of the Trump administration’s deportation campaign.
Another protester wore a T-shirt depicting ICE agents arresting Jesus Christ, while several participants held up individual letters that, when put together, formed the message: “F**k ICE.”
“We are not here just because we want to be, but because we have to be here. We have to go out into the streets and fight for what is right,” said Kate Gonzales of People’s Forum, an advocacy organization for low-income workers. “Our anger brings us here.”
Much of the anger arose following the deaths of Joan Sebastián Guerrero, who was shot to death by ICE agents on July 13 in Biddeford, Maine, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who died on July 7 in Houston, Texas.
The protest occurred just hours after another ICE-related death in Florida, where a 28-year-old man fleeing from agents was run over and killed after being hit by a truck.
In recent days, demonstrations have multiplied throughout the country to demand an end to the violence and ask for changes in immigration law enforcement practices.
Following these incidents, national media reported that ICE agents received an internal memo instructing them to temporarily suspend arrests during traffic operations. President Donald Trump would have later contradicted that guideline through a publication on social networks, according to The Associated Press.
During Tuesday’s protest, protesters demanded the agency’s complete elimination.
“These tragedies reflect an immigration enforcement system that continues to put lives, families and communities at risk,” said Erik Villalobos of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “The reality is that we are all at risk. This is a direct attack against immigrant communities, against people of color and against the working class. We have to make that clear.”
Protesters marched around 26 Federal Plaza before returning to Foley Square.
