(The Center Square) – As the weekend approaches, so too are a fresh wave of protests expected in reaction to the violent clashes between U.S. residents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In Pittsburgh, over 100 protesters marched down Forbes Avenue in Oakland Thursday, demanding an end to the ICE raids that have rocked the country.
“We stand wholeheartedly against the fascist notion that America should only have one culture, should only have one nationality, should only have one language,” said Ilyan Khan, a climate organizer and Carnegie Mellon student. “We are a country of immigrants, and we’re here for the Pittsburgh we all know is built on immigrants.”
Though tensions have been mounting since intensified ICE presence began across the U.S. last year, much of the current backlash comes from news coming out of Minneapolis, Minn. There, observer Renee Nicole Good was shot Jan. 7, and sustained pressure from a citywide ICE deployment has spurred a deluge of images and videos leading to international outrage.
President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a possibility he has raised in the past which would allow for the militarization of U.S. forces domestically. U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Penn Hills, proposed an amendment to the act last year amidst federal crackdowns in Los Angeles.
As Pittsburghers rally, Mayor Corey O’Connor has maintained his campaign stance — the city will not cooperate with ICE, an issue on which he aligns with his predecessor, progressive Ed Gainey.
O’Connor is a member of the Democratic Mayors Association which also includes Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey- who came out strongly against the activity of ICE in his city.
“This tragedy was avoidable, and it reflects the predictable outcome of the dangerous, chaos-driven approach to public safety pushed by the Trump Administration, not the values of our communities,” wrote the association in a statement. “Mayors are on the ground every day working to keep our communities safe. If Trump were serious about public safety, he would work with our cities, not against them. If he were serious, he would stop spreading propaganda and lies, and end the fear, the force, and the federal overreach.”
Many of the organized demonstrations across the country have aligned themselves with Indivisible, a grassroots progressive movement that supports non-violent action in opposition to Trump and the broader Republican agenda. The group says it “provides movement coordination, resources, training, and tools to fuel a powerful and aligned national movement of Indivisible groups and activists to organize for change.”
The group began organizing in 2016 following the first election of President Donald Trump. Republicans, including Trump, have speculated that protesters inside and outside the Indivisible fold are paid agitators, though Vice President JD Vance recently told The Center Square he doesn’t “have the evidence to say that one way or the other.”
“What I do know is that she was violating the law, and if you just look at the eyewitness accounts, they were saying she was there to prevent the enforcement of the law, she was trying to obstruct a legitimate law enforcement operation, that much is obviously clear,” he said during a Jan. 8 White House press briefing. “The rest of it, of course, is part of the reason why we investigate.”
Indivisible provides details for dozens of demonstrations scheduled across the commonwealth with five upcoming in Pittsburgh alone. In Shadyside, a daily “Outrage Hour” invites protestors to focus on “positive messages like ‘Welcome the stranger,’” rather than “crude attacks on Trump and conservatives.” Similar events meet weekly on Mondays in Squirrel Hill and Regent Square.
Though anti-ICE demonstrations frequently display an overlap in concerns about the Trump administration, several protests have targeted aims. For instance, one group is pushing Citizens Bank to pull out of investments in private prison firms like the GEO Group.
GEO runs Moshannon Valley Processing Center, which holds the distinction of being the largest ICE detention facility in the northeast. A 2023 investigation headed up by law students at Temple University accused the facility of human rights violations citing “punitive, inhumane, and dangerous conditions.”
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pittsburgh, was denied entry to the facility last summer.
“Denying us entry is another example of the Trump administration’s executive overreach,” Lee said. “Congress has to be permitted to conduct oversight over immigration detention centers because it is the only way that we know that our neighbors are protected from abuse and to help them to gain access to counsel and a chance at release. Our community deserves to know how people are being treated inside these taxpayer-funded facilities.”
Sarah Roderick-Fitch contributed to this report.
