New York, Jan. 30 – It’s bitterly cold – the coldest night of the weeklong polar vortex gripping New York City. Despite this, an estimated 25,000 people joined a rally and march to demand that Immigration and Naturalization Service (ICE) agents get out of Minneapolis and everywhere. The action was part of a call for a National Shutdown on Jan. 30, with actions in at least 300 cities and towns across the U.S.
A week earlier, the people of Minneapolis closed the city down in protest of ICE terror and occupation – prompting the call for a national shutdown.
Today’s protest was powered by walkouts of public high school students, who filled Foley Square in lower Manhattan with creative and colorful handmade signs. Workers and community members flowed out of subways to join the young people in a steady stream of resistance. As early arrivals retreated from the cold, new protesters entered the square to take their place.
Foley Square is surrounded by court buildings and located directly behind 26 Federal Plaza, where ICE is headquartered, and detainees are held in terrible conditions.
Rally speakers included Manolo de los Santos, director of The People’s Forum, who said the people must not wait for the midterm elections to deal with ICE, but act to abolish Donald Trump’s murderous militia now. Activist and actress Susan Sarandon read the names of Keith Porter, Heber Sánchez Domínguez, and all nine people killed by ICE, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the first month of 2026.
Other speakers included student organizers from Brooklyn Tech High School, Women’s March organizer and Palestinian community member Linda Sarsour, Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union, and a representative of the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Those who gave more militant talks got the most enthusiastic response from the crowd. Whenever congressional Democrats, especially New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, were mentioned, they were passionately booed and hissed for their collaboration with the Trump regime and for funding ICE.
Many signs called for justice for Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, legal observers who were killed in cold blood by ICE this month in Minneapolis. Others featured the distinctive blue bunny hat of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was kidnapped by ICE agents in Minneapolis and used as “bait” to detain his father. Both Liam and his father are now being held captive in Texas detention camps.
As darkness enveloped the square, the marchers stepped off, chanting, “Minnesota makes us proud, general strike, shut it down!” They chanted “Shame!” outside a Home Depot location, denouncing the company’s collaboration with ICE. The march concluded at Washington Square Park with calls for people to stay in the streets.
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