Dozens of protests and rallies opposing ICE raids and government immigration policies were held across the country on Monday, with more planned for the rest of the week, after a weekend of protests and unrest in Los Angeles.
Since Sunday, the anti-ICE movement has spread across California and beyond, with events held from New York to Texas. Activists plan more events on Tuesday, with events due in New York, Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta. A series of so-called “No Kings” nationwide demonstrations are planned for Saturday.
Some 56 people were arrested in L.A. over the weekend as some 700 marines and more than 2,000 National Guard troops were deployed by President Donald Trump in response to protests that began on Friday, sparking an extraordinary showdown with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who strongly criticized the move as executive overreach.
The state of California is suing the Trump administration over the National Guard deployment, calling the move “unlawful.”
NBC News counted at least 25 rallies and demonstrations coast to coast. Some of them only involved a few dozen participants, while others attracted thousands to make a stand against the detention and removal of suspected undocumented migrants.
Many protesters across the country were trade unionists calling for the release of SEIU California President David Huerta, who was arrested on Friday.
California and the West Coast
Thousands reportedly marched through San Francisco on Monday, marking the second day of anti-ICE protests there, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The San Francisco Police Department stated on X that the demonstration was “overwhelmingly peaceful,” but added that two small groups “broke off and committed vandalism and other acts” at the end of the night. The department said it made an unspecified number of arrests.
At least 60 people were arrested at a march in San Francisco on Sunday for failing to respond to a dispersal order, NBC Bay Area reported.
“It’s important for us to show up everywhere, because what happened in L.A., what’s happening all over our country,” said Xan Joi of Berkeley, who attended Sunday’s protest with a sign that read “CA National Guard & Newsom: Protect our 1st Amendment rights.”
Jesse McKinnon, of Pleasant Hill, carried a sign that read “Softball dad against tyranny.”
NBC L.A. reported that at least 1,000 people joined a protest at a federal building in Santa Ana, Orange County. The number of arrests is unknown, but they came after police declared the gathering unlawful.
Hundreds gathered at City Hall in San Jose on Sunday, and two separate protests occurred in San Diego.
“This policy hits close to home, our family is a family of immigrants,” Vanessa Garcia-Morales of San Jose told NBC Bay Area.
Referring to one of her two sons, who was at the rally, she said, “His life is at risk, truthfully, with the policy that’s happening, he can very much be targeted by just the way he looks.”
Protests took place across the Portland, Oregon, metro area, including a march in Seattle and one in Las Vegas.
New York and the East Coast
At least nine people were taken into custody in New York after a tense standoff between protestors and police at a rally on Monday, according to NBC New York.
NYPD confirmed there were “multiple arrests when people refused to comply” outside Trump Tower in Midtown around 1 p.m., before a “disorderly group” was arrested at 6:50 p.m. for blocking traffic and refusing to comply.
The event targeted ICE raids and the travel ban imposed on 12 countries worldwide this week, with restrictions on people from 7 more countries.
Protesters also gathered in Boston, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.
Texas, the South and the Midwest
At least one person was arrested on Monday in Dallas, police said, with charges pending, as protesters and law enforcement met in a standoff that shut down a busy intersection.
The Daily Texan reported that some 500 gathered at the Texas Capitol on Monday, while hundreds gathered in San Antonio, according to Spectrum News 1.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, referring to the deployment of National Guard troops to L.A., said on X that “an organized assault has been waged against federal law enforcement officials.”
Rallies and demonstrations also took place in Charlotte, Atlanta, Louisville, Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, and Oklahoma City.
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem signaled on Tuesday that she would continue the agency’s program of raids and deportations despite the widespread protests.
“ICE will continue to enforce the law,” Noem said.
