Anti-ICE Protests Intensify Nationwide

Protests against ICE and federal immigration enforcement have intensified across the U.S., with more than 150 people marching in St. Albans, Vt., to the Department of Homeland Security facility to read detainees’ names and spotlight cases including Mohsen Mahdawi, Ramona Ozturk and eight farmworkers in Enosburgh while criticizing Vermont’s contract to house federal detainees. Organizers from Indivisible/Justice for All and local groups say raids have spread fear in communities and state officials and a legislative panel are probing whether detained immigrants receive adequate legal protections. In Chicago, confrontations involving Border Patrol and ICE agents and residents — including the use of tear gas during an attempt to detain a construction worker — prompted outrage from local officials and cancellations of community events. In Portland, steady protests and encampments outside the South Portland ICE facility have produced dozens of arrests (police say 58 to date) and a running legal battle, including a 9th Circuit temporary suspension related to National Guard involvement. Video and eyewitness reports of chaotic, sometimes violent confrontations in places such as New York’s Chinatown and Chicago’s Little Village underscore that clashes between immigration authorities and communities are intensifying nationwide.