It was “Rage Against the Deportation Machine” in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon.

The immigration court at Lower Manhattan’s Federal Plaza has become the hub of ICE activity in New York for almost a year. Masked agents have regularly detained immigrant individuals and entire families as they attend their legally-mandated court hearings. Since the summer of 2025, the activity has splintered off from the hallways and onto the streets — including an infamous raid on Chinatown’s Canal Street and, most recently, a brutal assault on a man in Brooklyn.

Morello, a Rock and Hall of Fame inductee, said enough is enough, and he did not hold back on his feelings about ICE operations, and President Donald Trump’s relentless immigration crackdown.

“A close family friend was recently kidnapped by ICE. A grandmother, a law-abiding, hard-working grandmother, coming home one night from the grocery store, she was jumped by mass government thugs, thrown into an unmarked van, and deported without a hint of due process,” Morello said. “This immigrant grandma never murdered 180 school girls in Iran by bombing them to pieces. And this immigrant grandma never sexually assaulted underage kids with Trump’s worldly class buddies on Epstein Island.”

Morello was joined by the likes of the New York Immigration Coalition President Murad Awawdeh and Allan Dabrio Marrero, who was detained inside the facility and held in ICE custody for five months.Photo by Dean Moses

Morello was joined by the likes of the New York Immigration Coalition President Murad Awawdeh and Allan Dabrio Marrero, who was detained inside the facility and held in ICE custody for five months.

Flanked by signs reading “Hands Off NYC!” and hundreds of onlookers, speakers demanded the passage of the “New York for All Act.” This proposed legislation aims to prevent local law enforcement from aiding and cooperating ICE agents.

Tom Morello of Rage Against Machine stood alongside immigrant advocates outside 26 Federal Plaza on Tuesday afternoon and sang in protest of ICE in the Big Apple.Photo by Dean Moses

Morello said he, too, is a fan of the state legislation.

“New York for All, for example, is an inspiration and template for action against this terrible rising tide of state terror, demonstrating that together, we must stand up for our neighbors and for ourselves, for democracy and for justice, because ain’t nobody coming to save us,” Morello said. “It is now or never. That is why right now, every act of art is an act of resistance. Right now, every truth spoken is a beacon of light in the gathering darkness. And right now, let every freedom song be a trumpet of hope to the heroes among you who will stand up and undo this madness. We are living in a time where ideas are a crime, where gender is a crime, where skin color is a crime, where the truth is a crime, while the real criminals dine and toast with dictatorship.”

Standing in the shadow of 26 Federal Plaza, Morello made a statement by lifting his guitar and singing Woody Guthrie’s classic anthem, “This Land is Your Land.”

Morello made a statement by lifting his guitar and singing “This land is our land.”Photo by Dean Moses