Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Providence Tuesday afternoon to protest the Trump administration’s actions surrounding immigration enforcement.
The protest followed the fatal shooting of Renee Good earlier this month in Minneapolis by an officer from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which has been active in Rhode Island over the last year.
The protest began in below-freezing temperatures at 3 p.m. outside of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. About 250 demonstrators and organizers from the Graduate Labor Organization, the Rhode Island chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Brown Rise Up and the Deportation Defense Network of R.I. chanted, “when immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back.”
Protestors marched across the Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge, also known as the Providence River Pedestrian Bridge, in solidarity against the Trump administration’s actions surrounding immigration enforcement.
Kenneth Kalu ’27, a student who spoke at the rally outside of the Rock, told The Herald that he was protesting “in solidarity” with both Providence and Minneapolis — two communities that have been “victimized” by ICE activity, he said.
Last Thursday, several ICE agents breached court security as they pursued two men through Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence. Kalu described the incident as a “microcosm” of “the broader campaign that ICE is waging against us.”
ICE did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment about the incident.
Thursday’s incident followed several months of increased detainments and immigration enforcement activity in Providence and Rhode Island.
At the protest, some members of the Deportation Defense Network called on the Rhode Island court system to hold virtual immigration hearings to ensure ICE agents cannot detain people exiting their hearings. The Deportation Defense Network operates a courthouse patrol initiative to keep an eye out for ICE presence, The Herald previously reported. In October 2025, Providence City Council passed a resolution directing the Providence Municipal Court and Probate Court to accommodate requests for remote hearings.
“Pretty much every week we’ve been out there, they’re trying to take someone,” Matisse Doucet ’27, a volunteer with the Deportation Defense Network, told The Herald. But Thursday’s incident represented “a new level of escalation we haven’t seen before.”
Doucet called on Rhode Island’s U.S. representatives to abolish ICE entirely, saying that they should “put their money where their mouth is.”
“Representative Magaziner has been sharply critical of the untargeted, violent and excessive manner in which the Trump Administration has engaged in immigration enforcement,” Noah Boucher, communications director for U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner ’06 (D-R.I. 2) wrote in a Tuesday statement to The Herald.
The offices of U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed, U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I. 1) and Democrats of Rhode Island did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment.
After a series of speeches and chants, the crowd marched down College Hill and across the Providence River to 195 District Park, where they joined more demonstrators.
The protest ended at the Rhode Island Superior Court, where the group rallied across the street around the World War I Memorial.
Several neighborhood residents emerged from their houses to clap and cheer, and some drivers passing by honked their horns. For part of the march, a police car trailed the crowd.
At the park, Providence resident Justin Grey told The Herald that after seeing posts on social media about the demonstration, they were there to protest for the first time.
Grey described Good’s killing as a “very catalyzing event for a lot of people.” They added that they view ICE as “a fascist occupying force.”
ICE did not immediately respond to The Herald’s request for comment regarding accusations of fascism.
Grey called on the Providence Police Department to take action against ICE agents if they break city or state laws. The PPD did not immediately respond to The Herald’s inquiry into whether the department has plans to do so.
Andrew Coburn, another Providence resident, said he was concerned that ICE was “going after our immigrant neighbors” who lack permanent legal status, as well as “racially profiling” people without regard to their legal status.
Finally, the group marched to the Rhode Island Superior Court and gathered across the street at Memorial Park.
Susan Schwarzwald P’07 told The Herald she feels “very strongly about these issues” as the “proud daughter” of a refugee.
“We need real legislative action to protect immigrants and refugees in our community,” she said. “We have to protect people, and we have to allow them to have decent lives.”
Michelle Bi is a sophomore and metro section editor at The Herald.
