Thousands march in Boston to call for Mass. to cut ties with ICE

Protests against ICE have increased nationwide and in Boston on Saturday thousands of protesters braved the bitter cold to call for the state to cut ties with the agency amid unrest during the crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Mario St. Hillaire was among the protesters calling for Massachusetts to take a strong stand.

“I think it’s very important that we as a city, where we started it all, where we decided we did not want any more kings, we did not want any more rule,” he said.

The protests come in the wake of the killings of Alex Pretty and Renee Good by federal agents.

Demonstratosr included a coalition of groups, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

“It’s just awful,” St. Hillaire added. “Just thinking about that they could shoot anyone and they could just kind of get away with it and people would still try to defend them.”

Saturday’s protest came a day after hundreds of people gathered at a similar rally in Copley Square.

Earlier this week, Gov Maura Healey announced she was introducing legislation meant to prevent ICE agents from entering schools, daycares, churches, hospitals, and also in courthouses without warrants.

Lauren Teller said, “If we do nothing, nothing will change but if we all do something. we will open the door together and we will make a change but we had to do something. We can’t do nothing.”

The protests in Boston were peaceful.