Nearly 100 protestors gathered outside of the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Government Center on Saturday to protest against the continued Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in Boston. The rally was organized in response to a surge in ICE activity in and around Boston over the past week. 

Organized by the Boston Party for Socialism and Liberation, the rally focused on the Department of Homeland Security’s recent launch of “Operation Patriot 2.0,” a new deportation initiative to build on Operation Patriot, a previous campaign that resulted in 1,500 statewide arrests in May. The new initiative aims to target “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens living in the state of Massachusetts,” according to Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement announcing the program last week.

As two Homeland Security police officers looked on from inside the building, a number of rally-goers held signs in Spanish and English alike with sayings such as “ICE Fuera Ahora,” or “out now,” “ICE out of Boston now,” and “Trump: end the war on immigrants.” Many of the group’s chants were also in Spanish, with leaders attempting to connect members of all communities despite possible language barriers.

“We’re out here protesting the increase, what they call ‘flood of ICE,’ in Boston communities,” Joe Tache, an organizer with Boston PSL, told The Beacon.

Immigrants in Boston are protected by the city’s Trust Act, which limits the Boston Police from assisting federal immigration authorities. Although Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state, Governor Maura Healey has said the surge in ICE efforts “is all part of the theater of the Trump administration.” 

“Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but protect them at the peril of law-abiding American citizens,” McLaughlin wrote. President Trump has targeted Democrat-led cities like Boston since his inauguration and recently launched a lawsuit against the city for policies like the Trust Act.

“Anytime I see one of our community members rounded up, taken hostage by a masked thug, my heart can’t help but break,” Tache said to the crowd.

Accompanying Operation Patriot 2.0, ICE announced plans to add more detention facilities across New England. By the end of the year, ICE will have more than 1,600 detention beds in the region, according to the Boston Globe.

“Donald Trump and Tom Homan have been threatening Boston ever since January, and they’ve been continuously increasing and ramping up the fear in our communities,” Tache told The Beacon. “We’re out here to say that we’re not afraid, we’re going to stay in solidarity with all of our neighbors—immigrant and non-immigrant alike—and we’re going to keep coming out until we get justice for our neighbors.”

Massachusetts has been experiencing immigration crackdowns since Trump’s inauguration in January, with a peak in arrests during the original Operation Patriot. As of Sept. 7, ICE has 58,766 individuals in custody nationwide. 70.8% of current detainees have no criminal convictions.

“The Trump administration is really banking on the idea that we’ll lose our hope, that we’ll think that we’re already defeated, that there’s nothing we can do to make a change, but it’s actually completely not true,” Ximena Hasbach, a PSL organizer, said to The Beacon.

“Even just this week in Chicago, we were seeing people rise up together, taking the streets, organizing in their neighborhoods and their communities,” she added. “And, [we are] seeing the Trump administration have to kind of take a step back and say, we’re actually not sending the National Guard to Chicago anymore.” 

According to Hasbach, ICE agents have been seen outside of a Home Depot in Somerville, outside of a Spanish Mass in Mission Hill, outside of schools in Roslindale and East Boston, and outside the courthouse in Chelsea—all areas with significant Hispanic populations.

“Are these the people, these mothers, these churchgoers, these workers, are they the ones that we need protection from?” she questioned.

Hasbach, Tache, and other speakers addressed the crowd about the increase in ICE presence in the Boston area recently and their disappointment in local leadership. Speakers did not mention the efforts Wu has made to fight back against the federal government, but did lead a chant calling for “shame” on Healey over her refusal to make Massachusetts a sanctuary state.

“It’s clear that our government, the Democrats, they’re not [going to] do anything about the increased ICE attacks,” said Dominique St. Pierre, a community organizer in Somerville. “It’s up to us to come together and demand that ICE get out of Boston, out of Massachusetts.”

One speaker, a community organizer from Dorchester who declined to provide a name due to safety concerns, echoed similar sentiments and spoke about PSL’s platform.

“We have to be serious about what this fight will take, what it will take to win. As we always say in the [PSL,] we are not outnumbered, we are simply out-organized,” she said. “Right now, we are on the breeding grounds of revolution, and the seeds have been planted. It is up to you to water it.”