THE ORANGES, NJ — Hundreds of people took part in a march against ICE in the Oranges last weekend.
Saturday's protest started at West Orange Town Hall and continued on Main Street, passing Orange Town Hall and ending at East Orange Town Hall.
The marchers held signs that read: "Abolish ICE," "Plenos Derechos" and "Billionaires Are The Real Enemy, Not Immigrants."
Watch video footage from the march here and here, via Laundry Workers Center.
ICE IN ESSEX COUNTY
Several ICE arrests have recently been reported across the Oranges and other parts of Essex County.
In July, several landscapers were arrested on Rutgers Street and Van Reyper Place in Belleville. Each was accused of being "unlawfully present in the United States."
In August, federal immigration agents arrested four people in the South Orange-Maplewood area, including two roofers, a handyman and the sous chef at a local restaurant.
Federal immigration agents made appearances in the Bloomfield-Montclair area in September, detaining four people on Elm Street near Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair. Another ICE appearance took place the previous month, when two employees at Raymond's on Church Street in Montclair were among six people who were detained by federal immigration agents. The workers were reportedly on the way to their jobs at the time.
In September, federal immigration agents detained someone near an elementary school in Bloomfield, setting off a temporary shelter-in-place until the situation cleared.
Several high-profile arrests have also taken place in the state's largest city, Newark – where an ICE-related car chase stirred up controversy last winter.
As part of his campaign platform in 2024, President Donald Trump vowed to immediately launch a nationwide immigration crackdown as soon as he was elected.
"Our southern border is overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries, and illicit narcotics that harm Americans," Trump declared.
Homeland Security officials, including Secretary Markwayne Mullin, have insisted that ICE is going after some of the "worst of the worst" criminals in the nation.
"Every day, the patriots of ICE are working to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our country," he said Thursday, sharing a list of recent arrests that have been taking place across the U.S.
Advocates and family members of ICE detainees have pushed back against the claim that most of them are "criminals," however.
Earlier this year, data research organization Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reported that out of 60,311 people held in ICE detention across the nation, about 70.8 percent had no criminal conviction before being apprehended – and many of those who do were convicted only of minor offenses such as traffic violations.
Large-scale ICE raids also took place under former President Joe Biden's watch, including in New Jersey.
Before Trump took office for his second term, hundreds of people were being arrested and deported from the ICE office in Newark every month under the Biden administration.
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