On Friday, approximately 200 students and community members gathered at the Fountain of Freedom to protest against the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents. The protest was the first campus rally of the spring semester and was part of a “national shutdown” initially organized by protesters in Minneapolis.
Participants gathered in near single-degree weather, holding signs such as “ICE IS SCUM” and “Immigrants Built This Nation” with anti-ICE and anti-Trump rhetoric. Many also voiced support for Palestine and denounced fascism.
The event featured several student and community speakers who spoke out against the presence of ICE in Princeton and the nation at large. Last month, ICE agents detained two individuals in Princeton.
In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, former co-coordinator of Sunrise Princeton Isaac Barsoum ’28 shared that The Princeton Progressive Coalition (ProCo) aimed to show solidarity with “students, particularly groups of Somali students, in Minneapolis, who initially called for the nationwide protest.”
Barsoum is an associate Opinion editor for the ‘Prince.’
“Princeton and the country together are saying that we are done with the terror and the violence perpetuated against our cities and our neighbors by ICE,” Barsoum said. “I would hope that as the national movement grows, we will continue to be a part of it,” he added.
Participants shared that they hoped ICE protests would raise awareness of the Trump administration’s actions and demanded increased accountability for ICE agents.
“[The goal] is to raise any kind of awareness and to be more organized … in terms of getting involved with the community and resisting ICE, terror, and all that this government is doing to communities in this country,” Austin Guo ’26 told the ‘Prince.’
Sam Evangelista ’29 also called for increased accountability for ICE activity.
“The administration is driving fear and using that as a cause to take away Fourth and Second Amendment rights,” Evangelista told The Daily Princetonian. “The single most warranted change that would cause [protest] action to drop off would be seeing ICE agents held accountable … and subject to the law,” he continued.
Geosciences professor Allan Rubin said he hopes to be “one more body” in the protest against ICE.
“It’s two things: it’s people dying who shouldn’t be killed, and it’s the government lying about those victims as if they can say whatever they want and get away with it,” Rubin told the ‘Prince.’ “I find that very offensive.”
After gathering at the fountain, organizers led protesters north on Washington Road before turning left on Nassau Street and returning to University grounds. The group eventually congregated in front of Nassau Hall, where students and community members gave another round of speeches.
ProCo, alongside a network of progressive groups including Resistencia en Acción NJ, the Young Democratic Socialists of America Princeton, Sunrise Princeton, Princeton Students for Justice in Palestine, Students for Prison Education, Abolition, and Reform, the Princeton College Democrats, and the Alliance of Jewish Progressives, co-sponsored the rally.
“We will continue to protest as long as ICE is invading our cities, deporting our neighbors, killing people in the streets, and the Trump administration continues to practice its tyranny against the American people,” Barsoum said.
David Estrada is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Los Angeles and can be reached at de8214[at]princeton.edu.
Amaya Taylor is a staff News writer and associate Prospect editor from Memphis, Tennessee. She can be reached at amayataylor[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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