Under steady rain on a grey Saturday, two separate protest marches wound their way from Philadelphia’s City Hall to the city’s federal detention center, reflecting a growing nationwide backlash against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and President Donald Trump’s escalating foreign and domestic agenda.
Though distinct in tone and composition, both demonstrations shared a common message: ICE must be removed from American communities, and Washington must halt what protesters describe as an illegal and dangerous intervention in Venezuela.
The first march, held in the morning and organized by groups affiliated with the national “No Kings” movement, drew several hundred participants, many of them older white Americans. By the afternoon, another crowd — more racially diverse and visibly militant, with many wearing keffiyehs and N95 masks — gathered under the banner of the local Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Together, the protests in Philadelphia were part of a wave of more than 1,000 demonstrations planned across all 50 US states this weekend, sparked by a series of ICE-related shootings, including the fatal killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis earlier this week.
“These protests are about more than one agency or one death,” said Deborah Rose Hinchey, co-chair of Philadelphia’s DSA chapter. “From Venezuela to Minneapolis, what we’re seeing is a regime scrambling to maintain power — willing to kill its own citizens and foreign citizens alike.”
The current surge in protests follows three ICE-linked shootings in the past week, one of them fatal. The killing of Good, a legal observer shot by ICE agents during a protest in Minneapolis on Wednesday, has become a rallying cry for activists and civil liberties groups.
National organizations including Indivisible and the American Civil Liberties Union called for the “ICE Out for Good” weekend of action, while the DSA separately announced a national day of protest against what it calls Trump’s “illegal war” in Venezuela.
Demonstrators argue the two issues are inseparable — pointing to the Trump administration’s seizure of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro last week as evidence of what they describe as an increasingly authoritarian approach to both immigration enforcement and foreign policy.
“They’re murdering legal observers. They’re being blatant about invading countries for oil,” said Rick Krajewski, a Democratic Pennsylvania state representative, who addressed the afternoon crowd in Philadelphia. “This is not fringe rhetoric. This is murder and illegal war crimes.”
Philadelphia was far from alone. Large crowds marched Saturday in Boston, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. In Minneapolis, despite freezing temperatures and snow-covered streets, police estimated that tens of thousands of protesters filled downtown, chanting “Fuck ICE, ICE out!” and repeatedly calling out Renee Nicole Good’s name.
Earlier that day, US representatives Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig attempted to enter an ICE facility in Minneapolis. The lawmakers later accused the agency of unlawfully blocking their entry, further inflaming tensions between federal authorities and Democratic officials.
Protests have erupted nationwide since Good’s killing, with several incidents escalating into confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement. On Thursday night in Hartford, Connecticut, vehicles believed to be operated by ICE agents drove into a crowd of protesters. Three people were arrested, and Hartford police said they were investigating possible criminal charges related to the incident.
That same evening, six protesters were arrested in Portland, where another ICE shooting occurred earlier this week.
Nowhere has the anger been more intense than in Minnesota. State officials announced Saturday that 30 protesters were arrested Friday night for alleged property damage.
On Saturday morning, an Associated Press photographer witnessed two ICE agents carrying long guns confront a protester who had been following them. The agents reportedly issued what they called a “first and final warning” before leaving the area.
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota governor Tim Walz, both Democrats, publicly expressed support for local law enforcement. However, the Minneapolis police union issued a statement backing ICE — a stark contrast to Democratic leaders, including Frey himself, who previously told ICE to “fuck off” during earlier disputes over immigration enforcement.
In Philadelphia, police presence remained light, and no arrests were reported at either march. Protesters described a heavy emotional atmosphere rather than open confrontation.
Anna, a history teacher who carried a Philadelphia Federation of Teachers flag during the morning march, said she felt compelled to attend after her students raised questions about Good’s killing in class.
“Most of my students are Black, and they’ve already experienced violence from the system,” she said. “They see this and realize there’s just another force out there that can harm them.”
Several protesters requested anonymity or pseudonyms, citing fear and anxiety following Good’s death.
Ellen, an older activist who said she has protested ICE in Philadelphia for 15 years, recalled early enforcement actions that targeted local taxi drivers.
“It’s been years of outrageous acts against our friends and neighbors,” she said. “Now they’re murdering Americans, not just harassing immigrants.”
Among the crowd were Mary and Cara, friends who said they were driven to protest by what they see as the normalization of state violence since Trump returned to office last year.
“I’m Jewish, and I’ve studied the Holocaust my entire life,” Mary said. “This is how it happens. Things escalate, people become numb, and then suddenly it’s too late.”
Cara criticized the scale of government spending on immigration enforcement while millions of Americans struggle to meet basic needs.
“Until every child is fed and housed, there’s no justification for spending money on ICE,” she said.
That argument was echoed repeatedly throughout the day, particularly at the afternoon DSA rally.
Francesca, a member of the national DSA political committee, told the crowd that recent events — from the war in Gaza to the Venezuela intervention — have pushed many Americans past a breaking point.
“Things are piling up,” she said. “The genocide in Gaza, the aggression against Venezuela, the illegal kidnapping of Maduro — and now state executions carried out by ICE.”
She pointed to rising rent, healthcare costs and grocery prices as evidence of what protesters see as a distorted set of national priorities.
“People can’t make it to the end of the month,” Francesca said. “But there is always money for war.”
Organizers believe the contradiction between economic hardship at home and aggressive enforcement and military spending abroad will continue to fuel unrest.
“I think the more the American public sees what this totalitarian regime is doing,” said Hinchey, “the more we’ll see days like today — thousands of people in the streets, even in pouring rain.”
With demonstrations planned to continue through Sunday and tensions remaining high in several major cities, activists say the movement against ICE and Trump’s foreign policy is only beginning to take shape — and that the killing of Renee Nicole Good has become a defining moment in a rapidly intensifying national confrontation.
