Amid freezing temperatures and snow flurries, protesters gathered on Pitt’s campus oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Pittsburgh and across the U.S. on Thursday evening.
Over 100 students and community members joined together on the corner of Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard for the “ICE Out of Pittsburgh” protest. Multiple Pittsburgh organizations, including Sunrise Movement Pittsburgh and Casa San Jose, organized the protest.
Since Trump retook office last year, ICE has expanded both in budget and deployment, intending to detain and arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally. Protests against ICE erupted across the nation after U.S. citizen Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 7.
Organizers set up a table with hot chocolate, handwarmers and snacks on the corner for protesters to take as temperatures dropped, and chants of “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here” and “Money for jobs and education, not for mass incarceration” began.
Ilyas Khan, a member of Sunrise Movement Pittsburgh and a Carnegie Mellon University student, said the protest opposed the actions of ICE in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and the nation as a whole.
“We stand wholeheartedly against the fascist notion that America should only have one culture, should only have one nationality, should only have one language,” Khan said. “We are a country of immigrants, and we’re here for the Pittsburgh we all know is built on immigrants.”
Khan said the organizers want to pressure Pennsylvania’s elected officials to stop cooperating with ICE.
“We are here to pressure Mayor Corey O’Connor to end all cooperation with ICE and make Pittsburgh officially a sanctuary city,” Khan said. “We are here to pressure Sara Innamorato to work with Corey O’Connor on ending all police cooperation within the county with ICE and to pressure Governor Josh Shapiro to end state cooperation with ICE and to make Pennsylvania a leader in America in protecting its immigrant citizens.”
O’Connor has previously stated that Pittsburgh will not work with ICE.
Since the protests were close to campus, many students joined in chants and listened to the speakers as they walked by.
Mairead Palmer, a sophomore economics major at Pitt, said she was walking home from class and decided to join the protest.
“I was looking up [activist] organizations to join earlier this morning, so I thought I might as well join [the protest] since I saw it,” Palmer said. “We all know there’s something seriously wrong going on, but it’s really hard to find places to join. So you have to take the opportunities that you can get.”
Other students came from farther to use their voices. Ellie Clark, a student from Mount Holyoke College, said she wanted to protest after seeing flyers on Carnegie Mellon’s campus while visiting her friend.
“I think that we should care for all people, regardless of whether they’re American citizens or not, and I don’t think it’s fair the way ICE is treating people,” Clark said.
After an hour, protesters began marching down Fifth Avenue. The group stopped at Meyran Avenue to form a circle and read the names of ICE victims who have been killed, including Renee Nicole Good and Keith Porter.
The protest ended back in Schenley Plaza with a final message from Khan. They reminisced on the work of the Civil Rights Movement and called for the community to take more steps than just protesting.
“[The organizations] involved today will be giving out information about upcoming events where you can not only just stand and shout, but learn how to take action to proactively protect your community,” Khan said. “Liberation does not begin and end with a protest.”