Two major streets, Broadway and Pine, were shut down Jan. 31 as hundreds of protesters rallied at Seattle Central College (SCC). Following last week’s nationwide “ICE Out” protests, demonstrators protested against the Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement operations across the nation. The protest movement has been fueled by the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last month.

Nurses and healthcare workers rallied outside Harborview and Swedish medical centers before joining another demonstration led by educators in front of SCC, many of whom wore their work scrubs. They joined an already large crowd of people wearing bright, protest-related shirts and wielding signs.“We will remember and teach your tyrannies,” read one sign, held by an attendee in a bright red Seattle Public Schools (SPS) shirt. 

“My wife’s a nurse, so when we saw what was going on, we knew we had to get out here,” Darrin Egenes, a protester in attendance, said. “I feel a lot of anger towards the administration as far as what they’re doing, basically just ignoring constitutional rights.”

Egenes said he had been following the ongoing protests through social media, but this was his first time attending one in person. He appreciated that the protest was an approachable way to have his voice heard.

The rally began around 1 p.m., opening with two songs from Seattle-based folk singer Jim Page, calling for people to unite and protect their neighbors. Page was accompanied by a small band sporting tubas and trombones. Families, many with small children in their arms or strollers, swayed to the music.

After Page concluded, a series of speeches from educators ranging from elementary, high school and college levels began. Speakers called for an end to ICE’s presence around Seattle public schools, sharing stories of students crying in their classrooms and offices because their families had been detained. 

During the discourse about Seattle public school safety, the recent deaths of two students at Rainier Beach High School were heavy on people’s minds. Although not directly related to concerns around ICE, the speakers invited those in attendance to a vigil for the students at Rainier Beach Community Center after the rally.

“I’m here because bodies mean volume, and finding solidarity with other educators in this way is really important. We’ve seen a lot of people sharing the same idea: that we all have individual rights and that the Gestapo is not welcome here. A lot of us are worried the same way I am that we’re going to be the next city to be insurged because our governor is fighting back, which I appreciate, but it means we have to have each other’s backs,” Katrina Weiss, a Soundview Union member, said.

Multiple organizations were in attendance alongside individual protestors, who shared information and recruited attendees to get involved in their causes. One of these groups was Socialist Alternative, a publication focused on the rights of working-class people. 

“I think the capitalist system is not providing what working people need. We need funding for housing, for schools, for stamp benefits, not ICE. We’re seeing the Trump administration, in unprecedented ways, throw money at ICE,” Hannah Swoboda, an organizer with Socialist Alternative, said. “We’re talking to folks about the need to do what they did in Minneapolis, go out on strike to push ICE out of our cities and fight for what working people need.”