Boston Protest Marks One Year of Second Trump Administration, Renews Calls to Abolish ICE
Hundreds took to the streets of Boston on Tuesday, January 20, 2025, to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and demonstrate against the policies of the second Trump administration, marking the one-year anniversary of its inauguration. The rally, which followed a series of nationwide walkouts, brought demonstrators to Copley Square and culminated in a march through Boston Common.
The protest underscored a growing wave of discontent with the administration’s approach to immigration, foreign policy, and domestic issues. “I think that issues are always going to come up and change, but our analysis is always pretty clear, which is like all of these different attacks,” explained Bonnie Jin, co-chair of Boston Democrats Socialists of America, to Boston.com. “Whether it is the illegal intervention in Venezuela or the militarism that we have seen in our streets in Minnesota, it’s all connected to this attack on working people.”
Despite sub-freezing temperatures, organizers harnessed the weather as a rallying cry, leading chants of “It’s cold out, but the struggle is hot.” The frigid conditions later inspired more pointed slogans, including “F— ICE,” reflecting the intensity of the protesters’ feelings.
Representatives from several organizations, including the Boston branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Boston Democratic Socialists of America, and the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network, delivered speeches. Students from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and Somerville High School, who had earlier participated in walkouts, also voiced their opposition.
“Whether it’s ICE terror in our communities, attacks on healthcare and SNAP, wars abroad, they think that using force and strength and bullying is going to beat us into submission,” stated Joe Tache, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, during his address. “It’s not going to happen because the truth is that is not strength; it’s cowardice masked as strength.”
The Boston PSL organized the rally, which directly responded to the administration’s immigration enforcement policies, the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent, and the intervention in Venezuela, including the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. After the speeches, protesters marched down Boylston Street and around Boston Common, chanting slogans such as “We want justice, you say how? ICE out of Boston now” and “One year longer, one year stronger.”
The passage of time since January 20, 2025, fueled a renewed sense of urgency among the demonstrators. Stephen Downey Jr., a protester at the rally, expressed his frustration with the current political climate, telling Boston.com, “I’m tired of this fascist regime. I’m tired of this rapist and pedophile and 34 [time] convicted felon sitting in office, ruining everyone’s lives, taking everyone’s health care, and everyone just supporting it. It’s time for us to stand up now and make a choice before it’s too late.”
The demonstration served as a powerful display of resistance and a clear indication that opposition to the administration’s policies remains strong, even as it enters its second year.
