Protestors gather in Orlando with various signs to stand against local cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement action on Saturday.
Joseph Wiedeman
Orlando’s chapter of 50501, in partnership with 11 other local organizations, organized a protest Saturday at the southwest corner of Fashion Square against ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in Orlando.
ICE activity in Central Florida has risen significantly in recent weeks, according to a TikTok posted by Representative Maxwell Frost. This protest was a part of a larger national response to the federal immigration crackdown.
The protest also follows the mayor’s office statement to the community that the city is unable to regulate federal activity, including the construction of an ICE detention facility, because of the Constitution’s supremacy clause.
“The city is unable to take action to limit or regulate any activity by the federal government,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in a press release earlier this week.
Saturday protestors gathered in Orlando advocating against local compliance with the border federal immigration crackdown.
Joseph Wiedeman
Nationally, the protests are being used to recognize the federal killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The protest was promoted by Florida House Rep. Anna Eskamani on her Instagram page.
Eskamani is the current representative for District 42, the greater Orlando area. She promoted and attended the protest, arriving around the halfway mark of the event.
“It’s really important to, of course, advocate for your values, but also to be thoughtful to what the law says and doesn’t say and mitigate harm for your community in the face of this extreme coming from places like the Trump administration and the DeSantis administration,” Eskamani said.
Michelle Andrade, a 31-year-old regular at 50501’s Thursday night meetings, is a local Oviedo resident. She helped in the promotion and organization of Saturday’s protest, along with the distribution of fliers regarding a potential detainment facility in Lake Nona. Andrade was removed from a Seminole County town hall meeting on Jan. 29 after confronting Rep. Cory Mills on his vote to fund ICE.
“Our rights are being taken from us,” Andrade said. “Right now, it is immigrants, and you might not think that it’s going to affect you, but it does eventually affect everybody.”
ICE protests erupted nationally after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, leading to national protests, including one held Saturday in Orlando.
Joseph Wiedeman
This understanding was also reached by the mother-daughter duo of Theresa Schumacher and Madeline Schumacher, both Florida natives, who said they felt they had to be there. Theresa Schumacher, 54, talked about her time witnessing the protests for civil rights and how protesting has been important for decades for a variety of causes.
“[You] have to be brave enough to come out and protest,” Theresa Schumacher said. “Here we are in another time in life, and I do feel really good about the side that I am on.”
The same held for those on the opposing side of the ideological aisle. Official counter-protesting sites were replaced by pro-ICE protestors driving by the event and expressing their dissent through various means.
Protestors unrolled a banner with the slogan “ICE Out for Good, ICE = GESTAPO” just minutes after the start of the protest in Orlando, Saturday.
Joseph Wiedeman
Three older women, driving by in a car, were vocal in their opposition. They held their open palms out the window as though they were praying. The driver held up a Bible while yelling, “Jesus loves you. ICE is good.”
One man strolled down the block proudly wearing his black-and-red MAGA hat, dismissing insults and questions with silence.
Among the crowd sang one little voice, belonging to a small 9-year-old girl, whose parents asked her be identified as Tee. This was her first protest, and she said she felt it was important to be out there.
“The police are not being fair. Trump is not being fair, too,” she said.
However, there were not just young voices at the protest.
Don Morgan, a 78-year-old Vietnam War veteran and native of Orlando, said he joined the protest out of what he calls “the American dilemma.” Morgan is worried about further actions of the administration and the steps they will take to keep demonstrations like this from happening in the future.
“We are headed towards a situation where we are not going to even be able to vote,” he said. “We have to wake up to that and do something about it now. January 2026, you should do something now.”