On Friday afternoon, thousands of demonstrators gathered in downtown Los Angeles, waving signs, chanting “ICE out of LA” and marching in protest of the presence and recent actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the country.
As part of an immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has sent hundreds, and even thousands, of federal agents into major cities across the country, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Minneapolis.
In recent operations to detain undocumented immigrants, federal agents have frequently arrested U.S. citizens and legal residents, often using violence and racial profiling. The Trump administration has also made efforts to provide new extensions of the ICE and Border Patrol agents’ powers, including expanding warrantless arrests and suggesting they have absolute immunity.
Minneapolis has recently become a flashpoint for ICE and Border Patrol-led violence and clashes with protesters in the midst of what a Trump administration official called the “largest immigration operation ever.” In the past month, two U.S. citizens — Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti — have been shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.
In the unrest following the violence, organizers across the country called for a nationwide strike, including business shutdowns and cross-country demonstrations. Businesses across LA either closed, donated or otherwise supported the protest as part of the strike. California is home to millions of immigrants, which make up about 28% of the population; in Los Angeles County, about one-third of the population is foreign-born, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
The protest began at 1 p.m. in front of City Hall. Around 2:30 p.m., the thousands of demonstrators who had gathered began marching east down toward North Main St. Protesters waved American flags and those of other countries, including Mexico, Venezuela and Guatemala.
Thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 30 to call for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to leave American cities. (Photo by Constanza Montemayor)
Brooke Teal Robbins, a member of Indivisible — one of multiple coalitions that organized Friday’s protests — said she hoped the protest would encourage people to become more civically educated and engaged. She added she felt it’s important for civilians to understand their agency within their own state governments to participate in lawmaking, such as through referendums and citizen-led ballot initiatives.
“California happens to be a hybrid of both representative democracy and direct democracy,” Robbins said. “What people don’t understand is that in states that lawfully have direct democracy, citizens can pass laws, in solidarity with those who are not citizens.”
Evan Dickerson, a protest attendee, said he was in attendance to protest federal agents’ violence against civilians. He added he was proud to see local businesses, such as gyms and retail stores, closed for the day.
The demonstrations are part of an ongoing effort to improve the state of the country, which extends beyond a single day of protests, Dickerson added.
“It’s not acceptable to not just kill people in the street, but to kidnap people without due process, to take people from all over our country without any actual charges, and to just throw them into detention centers and essentially concentration camps,” Dickerson said. “It’s very un-American.”
He added he was concerned for his neighbors and community, many of whom are people of color and immigrants.
“You can’t live in LA and not know immigrants,” he said.
Marwan Mahmud, another demonstrator, said he felt the federal agents’ operations could impact anyone. He attended the protest as an opportunity to stand united against the immigration crackdown with other civilians, he said.
He added he believes excessive government spending was unnecessarily emboldening ICE, which is now the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the country, according to NPR.
“Our tax dollars should be going to just better causes altogether…, and there’s no reason why all that money should be allocated for an institution to kill and oppress people further,” Mahmud said.
Robbins said there would likely be more protests against ICE in the coming weeks, and that a third nationwide “No Kings” protest will take place on March 28. She added that she planned to attend and hoped people would find ways to call for a peaceful future for American diversity.
“It’s important that we don’t discourage each other — that’s what a coalition is. You don’t need to have a title,” Robbins said. “You just have to have solidarity with like-mindedness… the whole idea of America is we’re supposed to peacefully coexist.”