“Down, down with deportation, up, up with liberation” echoed through the streets as a marching crowd of hundreds of people made its way through Downtown Boston. Participants wore masks and scarves pulled over their noses and mouths, waved signs, beat snare drums and chanted alongside each other, showing out against the Trump administration and its crackdown on immigration.

On the heels of the recent Los Angeles anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, protests and the federal government’s subsequent deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines into the city, demonstrations have erupted across the country in solidarity with Los Angeles. Despite the risk of violence, arrest, workplace consequences and deportation, hundreds of people gathered beneath the gold dome of the Massachusetts State House June 10 to protest ICE raids, marching toward Boston City Hall. 

The rally was organized by multiple organizations, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation, or PSL, the Boston South Asian Coalition and the Service Employees International Union. Police hovered around the rally and followed protesters as they took to the streets to march. Approximately two counter-protesters were vocal and lingered around the crowd, shouting and cursing, but the event remained non-violent, and anti-ICE protesters did not engage. 

Some protesters at the event — like Peggy Wang — risked their livelihoods by publicly protesting in the June 10 rally. 

On May 5 Wang, an animation studio manager at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, or MassArt, and another MassArt employee were placed on indefinite administrative leave after attending a student-organized demonstration that demanded an end to the “genocide of Palestinian people.” 

But Wang, a member of the Independent Socialist Group, attended the protest regardless. 

Many of those present at the rally shared Wang’s sentiment that exercising their right to speak out was worth risking their jobs.

“My job is on the line… but this is about supporting labor unions and organizing at a national level,” Wang said.

Speakers urged protesters to continue defending and protecting vulnerable groups, including undocumented immigrants, Palestinians, transgender people, and those marginalized in Massachusetts and beyond.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ximena Hasbach, an organizer with the PSL, was among the speakers rallying the crowd and initiating chants. 

Hasbach emphasized that a goal of the rally was to promote “defensive immigrant rights against these horrific ICE raids that we’re seeing. We’re here to say ‘Hands off LA and ICE out of Massachusetts.’”

PSL implemented accessibility and protective measures to help mitigate risks to protesters and de-escalate tensions, including positioning safety marshals in neon vests around the event. 

“[The PSL] doesn’t ever endorse violence,” Hasbach said.

It was the first protest 24-year-old Sammy Coombs, a pottery studio manager in Dudley, attended. She learned about the event by meeting activists at live music shows. 

“I can’t lie. I was a little scared to come out here, but showing up to public events is so rewarding… I believe in the good of my people and showing up for them,” Coombs said.

As Boston continues to rally against ICE and protests play out on a national stage, activism in Massachusetts is gaining steady momentum. A No King’s Day anti-Trump protest will take place in Boston and across the country on Saturday, June 14th.

“Our future is on the line,” Coombs said. “I need to show up for the things that matter.”