Thousands march in anti-ICE protest in New York City: ‘If it’s them today, it’s us tomorrow’ | New York
Thousands of people chanted and marched in New York City on Friday to protest the Trump administration’s increasingly massive deportation campaign.
The protesters included young and old people; They all braved the cold wearing thick coats, hats and gloves.
As the sun began to set, demonstrators chanted slogans against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), simultaneously referencing that agency, the Ku Klux Klan, and fascism.
“Abolish ICE!” and “No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA!” the crowd chanted. They also chanted “Chinga la migra,” which is a colloquial way of saying “fuck immigration enforcement” in Spanish.
The demonstration in New York was part of a nationwide day of action advocating the slogan “no work, no school, no shopping” to protest the Trump administration’s brutal crackdown on immigration.
After a series of speeches in Foley Square, demonstrators began marching north through the ice-covered streets of Manhattan.
Congressional candidate Brad Lander — a former New York City supervisor and unsuccessful bid for mayor — was among those demonstrating after spending days in Minneapolis, where federal agents sparked public outrage by shooting Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti on Jan. 7 and Jan. 24, respectively.
Lander said people in Minneapolis were “heartbroken and angry” about the killings of two 37-year-old U.S. citizens.
Lander, who protested many times in 2025 at the New York City ICE office where immigrants recently detained by the agency are kept, also said: “They are organizing to protect their neighbors and they know that the eyes of the world are on them.”
Young people and students led most of Friday’s chants.
John Eddy, a student from Las Vegas, showed up to the anti-ICE protest after refusing to attend class all day.
“We’re students; we took a full day off from school,” Eddy said. “We didn’t attend any classes. We are here.”
His friend, Abdou Seye, had just arrived from Minneapolis, where he was from and where his family lived.
“It’s really ‘Fuck ICE,'” Seye said. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
Referring to Pretti and Good, he continued: “The thing is, if it’s them today, it’s us tomorrow, so we’ve got to keep going. We’ve got to keep it going.”
Throughout the protests in Minneapolis, Seye observed how authorities aggressively confronted demonstrators there. He said his mother, who works behind the city hall, was trapped there for nearly two days because of the authorities’ tactics.
Another protester, Julia Parris of Brooklyn, decided to come to the protest today after watching mass demonstrations across the country. He had attended other demonstrations during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests that spread after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd there.
“I’m disgusted,” Parris said. “There are no words strong enough to describe how I feel about this administration. We are fed up.”
As demonstrators marked the streets of New York City, stopping traffic, people in their cars began honking their horns in solidarity. At one point, a man played music from his stereo and sat on top of his car, waving and smiling.
In addition to Good and Pretti, immigration agents under the command of the Trump administration also killed Keith Porter in Los Angeles and Silverio Villegas González in Illinois.
Friday’s national protest leaders, most of whom were University of Minnesota students, called for federal immigration enforcement to leave Minneapolis after nearly a month-long operation. Organizers say economic pressure through work stoppages and consumer boycotts is just one way to demand accountability and reform.
