On Friday, over 1,000 demonstrators rallied in Providence as part of a nationwide day of protest against recent escalations in federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis — including the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of immigration officials earlier this month.
At Brown, students and community members gathered on the steps of the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library at 1 p.m. as part of a student walkout. In sub-freezing temperatures, organizers led around 1,000 protesters in chants, yelling “All unite for immigrants’ rights” and “ICE is not welcome here.”
In an attempt at “shutting down business as usual,” student leaders called on the College Hill community to join the walkout rather than attend class on Friday afternoon, said Brown Rise Up Co-President Simon Aron ’28. The walkout was organized by a coalition of activist groups, including BRU, Sunrise Brown, the Deportation Defense Network and the R.I. Student Climate Coalition.
Dakota Pippins ’29, a spokesperson for Brown Rise Up, told The Herald that the activist groups held the student walkout to call for the end of “ICE brutality across the nation” and the “ever-increasing authoritarian takeover of the government by the Trump administration.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Friday’s rallies come in the wake of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. Pretti was the second person to be killed by immigration officials in Minneapolis this month, following the shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7.
In a speech to the crowd, Laurence Nunes ’27 spoke on behalf of fraternity Beta Omega Chi and condemned the murders of Pretti and Good as “the latest in a long series of attempts to quell the flames of the masses.”
“They want to use their violence to scare us into silence, into inaction,” he said in his speech. “But we know that our power to shut down our schools, our power to shut down our cities, will always be greater than them.”
Over the past several months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been active in Providence. In November and September, individuals were detained on College Hill. Two weeks ago, several agents breached security at Garrahy Judicial Complex as they pursued two men through the building.
“I feel like it’s a responsibility for all of us to show up,” said Jomar Canales Conde GS, a first-year MFA student who attended the protest at the Rock. As a student from Puerto Rico, he said the purpose of the walkout feels “personal” to him.
Noah Cohen ’27 and his friends chose to skip class to attend the rally, he said. He added that showing support for vulnerable community members is “the right thing to do to be an active citizen.”
“I hope that people at Brown and across the nation will finally stop being so complacent with everything that's going on,” Cohen added.
Diego Castillo ’27, an organizer with the College Hill chapter of the Deportation Defense Network, called the strike “a way to show the billionaire elite that we’re not going to stand by.”
He criticized the actions of immigration enforcement agents who he said “terrorize” immigrants and the working class.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Just before 2 p.m., protestors marched down College Hill and along Main Street to join a citywide protest at the Rhode Island State House, stopping traffic along the way. There, they met with around 1,000 additional protestors.
The rally at the State House was organized by local groups such as the Rhode Island chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance and the Providence Student Union.
After several speeches, the crowd marched along Canal Street and through downtown Providence, chanting “ICE off our streets” and “shut it down.”
Laurel Bestock ’99, an associate professor of the history of art and architecture, archaeology and the ancient world and Egyptology and Assyriology, attended both the rally at the Rock and the march in downtown Providence.
“I am deeply disturbed by what is happening in Minneapolis and in Rhode Island. This is not the country I wanted to be,” she said. “We have to protect immigrant rights. We have to reclaim our country.”
Bestock added that she was “psyched” by the number of protestors at the rally, particularly the amount of students. “I’m psyched to see the amount of people not in my class today,” she added.
Malcolm Davidson, a seventh grader at the Wheeler School, said he left class early to attend the rally with his mother and a friend.
“The youth have very powerful voices in matters like this,” Davidson said. “We’re not afraid to speak up.”
Stefanie Gallo, a volunteer for the Deportation Defense Network, attended the rally at the State House with her two young children. She called for “due process for people that are standing on American soil.”
“I am exercising my First Amendment rights and showing my children that they should do the same,” Gallo added.
“Non-cooperation is one of the most effective tactics we’ve seen that students and workers can use to force governments who don’t care about us to act,” Aron said. “And what today is, is the start of that.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated which immigration agency was involved in Alex Pretti’s death. The Herald regrets the error.
Zarina Hamilton is a sophomore and a University News editor at The Herald.
Michelle Bi is a sophomore and metro section editor at The Herald.
