More than 3,000 people beared 15-degree weather to attend a rally in front of the Massachusetts State House today, protesting the federal government’s mobilization of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) against undocumented migrants, legal residents, and US citizens. It was one of several protests occurring nation-wide in solidarity with the residents of Minneapolis, which has been the focal point of a massive ICE operation that led to the deaths of two American citizens and at least 3,000 arrests according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The rally was organized by several local advocacy groups that have been pushing for an end to ICE detentions, including Indivisible Mass Coalition, Massachusetts Education and Justice Alliance, and Mass 50501, the group that also organized October’s “No Kings” protest.

“We are here because the brave people of the Twin Cities made a call,” said Ximena Hasbach, an organizer from the Party of Socialism and Liberation, who emceed the event. “They said, ‘We are under siege. We are under attack.’”

President Trump has recently referred to those arrested in Minnesota as “hardened, vicious, horrible criminals,” but members of his administration have also responded to outcry over ICE actions with promises of safer operations in the future. On Thursday, White House Border Czar Tom Homan announced that the federal government was working on a plan to “draw down” some of the ICE agents stationed in Minnesota.

But, Hasbach told protestors to not take the Trump administration at its word. “We have them on the back foot,” she said. “Now is actually the time to go harder, to shut it down, because we know our own power, and they know it, too.”

Massachusetts has had its own share of clashes with ICE. Last May, chaos erupted between a crowd of about two dozen onlookers and ICE agents as Worchester resident Rosane Ferreira De Oliveira was detained. (Ferreira was later granted asylum.) Police bodycam footage showed Ferriera’s 17-year-old daughter chasing after the unmarked car that took her mother to an ICE detention center, before being tackled and subsequently arrested.

Immigration enforcement is conducted by federal government, although sometimes with the cooperation of state and local partners to help identify and detain individuals who are suspected of being undocumented. Eight cities in Massachusetts, including Boston, are “sanctuary cities,” meaning local police are barred from assisting in ICE arrests. While Gov. Maura Healey introduced a bill on Thursday to block ICE agents from entering schools, daycares, child care centers, churches, healthcare facilities, and courthouses, state governments are limited in their ability to prevent ICE from coming into their states.

Protestors called for the state to end all collaborations with the agency, and to take further steps to protect immigrant communities.

“There’s [been] severe infringements on the Constitution, and it’s disturbing how bad it’s gotten. Some people are not aware of the rights that they don’t have right now,” said Shaunna Gately, who came to Boston for the protest from her home in Essex County. “I feel bad for people that don’t understand what this country was built upon. I’m a daughter of the revolution. My family has lived in Massachusetts since the 1600s, and my family has had to fight like this before. We’ll do it again, but begrudgingly.”

Rebecca Winter, executive director of Mass 50501, also spoke at the event. She used her remarks to advocate against large-scale deportations and to highlight the increasingly dangerous nature of the work of activists.

“In Minnesota, they are arresting protesters, American citizens, and throwing them into crowded ICE detention facilities without adequate access to food or water,” Winter said. “They are denying them phone calls and legal representation. This is how authoritarianism works.”

Some protestors said they believe immigration enforcement is important but that the Trump administration in recent months had gone too far.

“I just want the tenor of the country to change,” said John Miley, a Belmont resident. “If [ICE] were targeting violent felons as they say, okay, understandable. But this mass Gestapo type operation is too much.”

Miley also said the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens who were killed by federal agents while trying to observe their actions, were a motivating factor for him to protest.

“The shootings in Minneapolis is certainly the tipping point,” he said.

Multiple speakers referenced the deaths of not only Good and Pretti, but others who have died while in ICE custody at detention facilities. According to The Guardian, at least 32 people died while in ICE custody in 2025.

The timing of this rally has special significance for Massachusetts, which has one of the largest Haitian populations in the US – more than 45,000 of whom are in the country legally through the Temporary Protected Status program (TPS). TPS provides individuals from certain countries facing conflict or disaster the ability to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation. The program for Haitians is set to expire for on Feb. 3 unless federal courts intervene.

Organizers are bracing for what the end of TPS for Haitians may mean for their communities.

“Our schools are full of amazing Haitian American students from families that bring so many assets to our schools,” President of the Boston Teachers Union Erik Berg told CommonWealth Beacon. “The fact that TPS may be ending next week could really further devastate our kids and our school communities.”

Berg attended the protest with dozens of his fellow union members. He said that recent ICE actions have had an adverse effect on young students and their families.

“We have students who are afraid to go to school. We have parents who are afraid to send their kids to school,” he said. “It’s not right, and it’s critical that educators and the unions are out in front of a movement to defend democracy, uphold our Constitution and stand for a fair education for everyone.”

There was no significant counterprotest or disruption during the rally. People of all political orientations were welcome, Winter said.

“What is happening right now isn’t a left versus right issue. … This is about up versus down” Winter said in an interview before the rally began. “So, we have Republicans with us today. We have veterans with us today. We have libertarians and yeah, we do have plenty of people on the left, but we are making space.”