“From LA to Buffalo” Buffalonians chanted as they protested U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests and deportations across the U.S. and in Western New York on Wednesday night. They marched from Niagara Square in front of City Hall to ICE’s Buffalo Field Office at 250 Delaware where they chanted and read speeches.
The event was a locally-organized “ICE out of our communities” protest. One protester who is part of several of the organizing groups, Daphne, spoke with a BTPM reporter after the event, saying they chose to focus on ICE’s actions as it's the most intense issue in their eyes at the moment.
"It's kind of like if you got a kitchen and you've got a bunch of stuff burning on the pan, and you got to do triage of like, 'okay, I can't deal with every single pan that's burning all at once. So, we're going to deal with the one that is the most intense',” Daphne said.
Activists expressed concern with local action being taken by ICE, especially the addition of five new detention facilities to keep up with arrests in Western New York, which was reported by Investigative Post last Friday.
The co-organizing groups included labor and workers rights organizations, Democratic Socialist groups, student activists and the Green Party.
