Anti-ICE protesters swarmed into the Trump Tower atrium in Manhattan Saturday afternoon, chanting names of people who have lost their lives amid the government’s immigration crackdown.
Starting around 1 p.m., more than 30 demonstrators planted themselves for an hour and a half inside President Trump’s gilded condo tower at Fifth Ave. and 56th St. in Midtown. Chanting “Abolish ICE!” and “How many more have to die?” they held up signs with photos of people they said were killed by federal agents or otherwise died during enforcement actions or in custody.
“We went into the atrium at Trump Tower — which is open to the public — and we stood with pictures of people who have either died in ICE custody, been murdered by ICE, or were killed while trying to get away from ICE when ICE was trying to kidnap them,” Jamie Bauer, 67, an organizer with Rise and Resist, said. “And we stood in the atrium there and read the names of the people who had died. And then after each name, we said, ‘How many more have to die?’ We did a very small amount of ‘Abolish ICE’ chanting.”
“I mean, we weren’t chanting for an hour,” Bauer added. “We chanted, like, five times, ‘Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE! Abolish ICE!’ and then each of us made a small statement about why we were there.
“There were, I believe, 45 names,” Bauer said of the ICE victims whose names the protesters called out.
Trump Tower security and NYPD officers did not move to kick the protesters out or arrest them. The demonstrators peacefully left on their own, having decided beforehand that their action would only last an hour and a half.
The demonstration comes amid intense tension across the country as many demand the end of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, if not the outright dismantling of the federal agency.
“This (Trump) term’s big lie is ‘ICE is going after the worst of the worst.’ You hear that over and over again,” one protester said during the brief atrium occupation. “’The worst of the worst’ is a lie. When you hear those words, think ‘lie.’ It’s Trump’s big lie. And we’re not gonna put up with it.”
The protest was organized by Rise and Resist NYC.
No arrests were made at the protest, according to police.
