The Trump administration’s crackdown has featured high-profile surges of federal agents into Democratic-led cities and clashes with protesters in which federal agents have used tear gas and flashbang grenades. A Department of Homeland Security hiring spree has more than doubled the number of ICE agents and officers across the country.
The Trump administration has said it is targeting the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.” In the first nine months of Trump’s second term, immigration agents arrested around 75,000 people without a criminal record and held at least 170 U.S. citizens against their will. NPR reporters have witnessed immigration agents questioning people of color in Minneapolis about their immigration status.
“We are out here today to demand an end to racism, to demand an end of the oppression of our communities,” Talia Giles, a Kensington resident and member of the Party of Socialism and Liberation, said during Monday’s protest. “‘Cause let’s be clear, that’s what this is about. They’re detaining citizens, kidnapping people off the streets, including right here in Philly.”