MIT community rallies behind Boston “ICE Out Everywhere” protest
Speaker Chris Martinez ’27: “Immigrants are people, not criminals”
Jada Ogueh–The Tech
Levy Le–The Tech
On Friday, Jan. 30, over 100 MIT affiliates marched from Hockfield Court to join hundreds of Bostonians protesting ICE in Copley Square amidst freezing temperatures. A coalition of Boston-area organizations including Mass 50501 and the Boston Party for Socialism and Liberation organized the Boston “ICE Out Everywhere” protest to support the call from Black and Somali student groups in Minnesota to “end ICE’s reign of terror.” This protest, among others nationwide, follows the massive general strike in Minnesota where thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis to demand that ICE pull their agents from the city.
The journey to Copley Square
Around 2:30 p.m., MIT affiliates gathered in Hockfield Court. Signs planted in the ground, courtesy of the MIT Graduate Student Union (MIT GSU), read “UNIONS DEMAND: ICE OUT!”
The MIT GSU organized the MIT contingent to march to the ICE Out protest. “An injury to one is an injury to all,” said MIT GSU President Lauren Chua. In accordance with the labor movement and the union’s core principle of solidarity, MIT GSU decided to respond to the University of Minnesota students’ call for a nationwide shutdown to protest “ICE terror.”
“We were proud to organize a delegation of over a hundred MIT community members…in just five days,” Chua stated. She believes the broad participation in the protest demonstrates how many people are “horrified at how ICE is killing, abducting, and brutalizing people” nationwide.
According to Chua, MIT GSU’s mission to improve the working and living conditions of MIT graduate workers is “deeply connected to our opposition to ICE’s violent terrorization of immigrants.” She then added that 40% of graduate students at MIT are international workers. Top priorities for the upcoming contract fight include protecting international workers at MIT from ICE and the “anti-immigrant policies of the Trump administration.” Chua noted that addressing those priorities included their drafted proposals and coordinating with the broader Boston community, like the ICE Out protest.
Chua reiterated MIT GSU’s commitment to stand in solidarity with their “union siblings” at the University of Minnesota Graduate Labor Union (UE Local 1105) and immigrant workers nationwide as “long as their rights and dignity are under attack.”
Some minutes later, the MIT delegation walked towards the Kendall/MIT station, holding up signs. In conversations with The Tech, some participants revealed that some had never attended a protest before, while others were seasoned veterans.
After arriving at Copley Station, MIT community members marched through the subway chanting “ICE Out” to the surprise of passersby. Frigid wind and the sight of hundreds of Bostonians holding signs with slogans such as “ICE MELTS UNDER PRESSURE” and “ARREST JONATHAN ROSS FOR MURDER NOW!” greeted the MIT group as they emerged from underground. Jonathan Ross was the ICE officer involved in the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Among the crowd’s chants were cries of “Shame!” and “ICE Out!” Several speakers, including representatives from Mass 50501 and local high schoolers, took to the steps of the Boston Public Library, surrounded by a large crowd spilling into the surrounding streets. Meanwhile, news helicopters whirred overhead.
Perspective from an MIT speaker
Chris Martinez ’27 was one of the speakers. Martinez “saw the inspiring call for a national shutdown” from Black student groups at the University of Minnesota and “wanted to take [his] chance to follow their lead.”
When asked why he decided to speak at the protest, Martinez referenced three perspectives. As a worker, he was motivated by the “continuation of the history of strikes in the U.S.,” what workers have won for the American people, and the fact that workers’ power can “curb the Trump agenda.” The son of immigrants, Martinez was consumed by a “deep and personal pain to see members of our communities suffer at ICE’s hands.” Finally, he felt “sympathy and rage” at the deaths of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and “too many more.” Because of his perspectives and experiences, Martinez wrote he had “a duty to channel all of this into words worthy of the moment.”
Martinez was inspired by the “historic” Jan. 30 national shutdown. “In the freezing cold, I saw a fire burning amongst the people,” he wrote. “People Power and united across ‘dividing lines’ manifesting at a scale our generation has never seen.”
In response to future plans regarding ICE demonstrations, Martinez wrote, “It goes beyond rallies,” pointing towards political education and community building efforts as key strategies to organize a nationwide general strike to “get ICE OUT.”
Martinez stressed that now is the right time to get involved in organizations that oppose injustice. “Reform can’t fix institutions as pervasive as ICE, so it must be abolished,” he urged. “ICE and fascism aren’t new to the US or unique to MAGA,” Martinez said, and called out Democrats for their inaction. He also warned those telling others to “comply” that “legality has never been morality.”
“Please, don’t let them fool you. Immigrants are people, not criminals,” Martinez concluded.
Other speakers
Bryan Winter, a retired U.S. Army Sergeant and veteran’s representative for Mass 50501, also spoke at the event. “When I stare out into this sea of courageous colors…I realize now, in a way that I never have before, that this is what Liberty is,” Winter remarked. “We are not mere protestors or activists. We are patriots. We are not Democrats or Republicans. We are Americans.”
Lokesh, who provided only their first name out of privacy concerns, the chair of the Northeastern University Young Democratic Socialists of America, followed Winter’s speech. Lokesh emphasized how international students who are a part of NEU’s graduate union are living in fear. “Facism has arrived,” they remarked.
Lokesh then addressed the white members of the crowd. They stated that it is easier to relate to a white man — referring to Alex Pretti — than the hundreds of migrant workers who have faced oppression prior to the Trump Administration. They urged the crowd to have empathy for those workers as well. Lokesh also asked students to remember their privilege and power. They pointed out that deportations are part of the “larger systemic issue” of capitalism. “If they can suppress the immigrant worker,” Lokesh noted, “they can suppress you next.”
Sometime around 5 p.m., the crowd marched through the streets around Copley Square to protest ICE. The demonstrators chanted, “Immigrants are welcome here, say it loud, say it clear.”