{"id":149777,"date":"2026-03-02T16:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T16:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/149777\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T16:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T16:06:14","slug":"ice-out-jersey-city-youth-led-protest-marches-down-grove-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/149777\/","title":{"rendered":"‘ICE OUT Jersey City’ youth-led protest marches down Grove Street"},"content":{"rendered":"

An entirely youth-led protest referred to as \u201cICE OUT Jersey City\u201d<\/a> marched down Grove Street yesterday afternoon, calling to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid a recent wave of actions in Hudson County.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Dan Israel\/Hudson County View<\/p>\n

Protestors gathered at the Grove Street Path Station and proceeded down the street to City Hall. Uttering chants calling for the abolition of ICE and the protection of immigrant communities, nearly 100 people showed up in solidarity from Jersey City to Newark.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf safety makes children afraid in their own homes, then something is broken! Safety is not panic at the door,\u201d Jersey City High School and College Democrats Chair Janhitha Veeramachaneni, the main rally organizer, stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafety is not children holding their breath. And safety is not fear in our neighborhoods. All of that is what we call fear. And we refuse to call fear security.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Veeramachaneni, she and other students see ICE\u2019s impact every day in the classroom in the form of empty desks and classmates disappearing in the hallways.<\/p>\n

She added that many who wanted to attend the protest couldn\u2019t out of fear for themselves or their families, stating that isn\u2019t the type of city, county, state or community she wants to live in where that is a choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be safe, the real kind of safe. Stability for families, accountability for law enforcement, fairness in policy, and empathy for our neighbors, that is what safety looks like,\u201d Veeramachaneni added.<\/p>\n

A number of other students and youth followed Veeramachaneni speaking on the stairs of Jersey City City Hall, echoing calls for the abolition of ICE, decrying their enforcement tactics, denouncing the conditions at detainment centers, and calling for continued action until the \u201cterror\u201d ceases.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the course of the past week,\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0seen\u00a0more and more\u00a0reckless actions conducted by ICE,\u00a0including arresting a Columbia student inside of her own dorm, even though she had a student visa,\u201d\u00a0said Carlos Pineda, a County Prep High School student.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven more unfortunately, they had negligent actions that led to the death of a refugee from Myanmar in upstate New York. That is simply unacceptable \u2026 Although the reality seems very grim, I think the most important part about us being here is that we have to be unapologetic about what we believe. It is the belief that the government shouldn\u2019t be hurting immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alison Garcia, of Atlantic City\u2019s El Pueblo Unido school, shared the story of her mom being deported.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day after my 17th birthday, my mom was detained and deported two weeks late. She was arrested on criminal charges, but she never got to prove her innocence \u2026 How am I supposed to be planning for my future, when I know that I am not with my mom right now?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom will not be here for graduation, for my prom, to help me to move into college where I need her. I will never be able to live here with her ever again, simply because she could not get her due process that she deserved.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, a number of local elected officials also spoke out against ICE at the rally, including Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa, Ward D Councilman Jake Ephros, and Ward E Councilwoman Eleana Little.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat ICE is doing is wrong, and we will not be silent. If we do not stand up for our constitutional rights, that are guaranteed to every person standing, sitting, breathing, and living in the United States, then it\u2019s a matter of time before they come for the rest of us,\u201d Zuppa declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do not speak up for the most marginalized people who do not have a voice or are not privileged to have the advocacy, they will come for everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ephros said the immigration enforcement situation locally is particularly disappointing with Heights University Hospital, formerly Christ Hospital, shutting down.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so obvious how shameful it is that here in Jersey, we are opening up Roxbury Concentration Camp but closing down Christ Hospital. That is unacceptable\u2026 This is the kind of nonsense we are living through, and I\u2019m proud to be here with youth organizers, from across Jersey City and beyond, for us saying \u2018No more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Little called this \u201cthe rise of fascism\u201d and commended the students who organized and attended Sunday\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur schools are not a battleground. They are a sanctuary of learning,\u201d began McNair High School Athletic Director Kristen Zadroga-Hart.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I will use every tool available to me, every policy, every legal protection, every conversation with administrators, with parents, and with community members to make sure our students can come to school without fear \u2026 I\u2019m a proud daughter of immigrants, and I will protect our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, state Senators Angela McKnight (LD-31) and Raj Mukherji (LD-32) spoke passionately about ICE\u2019s impact on families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand with my colleagues down in Trenton with all the pieces of legislation that will abolish ICE,\u201d expressed McKnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel for the little kids who no longer have their mom or their dad. Imagine being a five-year-old or a 17-year-old and you are no longer working with your mom or your dad. Or you were used as a tool to lure your family in. That is heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mukherji then decried the training, or lack there, of ICE agents across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we have masked gunmen not keeping anybody safe with inadequate training, running around on city streets in America, killing Americans, locking up people, separating parents from their children, luring children, luring parents out with their children, with 5-year-olds that are my kids\u2019 ages, and then I got to explain to them this dichotomy of respecting folks who wear a uniform while ICE is running around deploying Gestapo tactics,\u201d Mukherji said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not the America that any of us deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assembly members Ravi Bhalla and Katie Brennan (D-32) pledged to keep fighting alongside legislators in Trenton against ICE in every way possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a movie. This is not a TikTok or Instagram reel. The stories we\u2019ve heard shows that this is reality for some people,\u201d stated Bhalla.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re coming for me. They\u2019re coming for you. Thank you for standing up. Because yes, we are going to make it as painful as freaking possible. We\u2019re going to use every tool that the state has. We\u2019re going to tax the hell out of them. We are going to make sure that we can protect the people in our communities,\u201d added Brennan.<\/p>\n

The event occurred in the wake of a walkout against ICE<\/a> coordinated by students at Ferris, Dickinson, Snyder, and County Prep high schools and an attempted walkout at McNair Academic High School among other demonstrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An entirely youth-led protest referred to as \u201cICE OUT Jersey City\u201d marched down Grove Street yesterday afternoon, calling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[44351,62700,62701,62702,62703,9,11,10,62704,17552],"class_list":["post-149777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-angela-mcknight","tag-ice-our-jersey-city","tag-janhitha-veeramachaneni","tag-jersey-city-high-school-and-college-democrats","tag-katie-brennan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-raj-mukherji","tag-ravi-bhalla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}