Protesters braved freezing temperatures and snow as they filled the sidewalk in front of The Arch on Friday — some for as many as three hours.
“It is so amazing that you are all here in these freezing temperatures,” Medill sophomore and former Daily staffer Aanika Sawhney said to the crowd. “But let me tell you something, guys: ICE melts!”
Over 50 Northwestern students participated in the demonstration against Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, which began around 9 a.m. and lasted until noon.
Chants of “Northwestern, escucha, estamos en la lucha” and “no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here” echoed across the street from the sidewalk in front of The Arch, while protesters handed out flyers to passersby, and a couple of students drummed as they marched in a circle.
The crowd grew throughout the day as more students lined up with banners and passed around hand warmers to protect against the cold. Several vehicles honked as they drove by, including an NU intercampus shuttle.
It coincided with a nationwide strike to boycott work, school and purchases, with the goal to “shut down” the economy in protest of recent ICE activity, according to the announcement by @startswiththis on Instagram.
Weinberg first-year Isabella Machado said she first learned about the protest from Instagram on Wednesday night.
The daughter of immigrants, she said recent immigration enforcement is dehumanizing and that she was disappointed more students did not show up to protest.
“There’s nothing embarrassing about being like a kind, caring human being, even if it isn’t you that’s being affected,” Machado said. “There are real people out there — families, children — you should support them.”
Weinberg sophomore Jordy Gonzalez’s parents also immigrated to the United States. He said he was disgusted by the position many immigrant families have been placed in.
Gonzalez drew parallels between the Trump administration and Hitler’s Germany and expressed hope that the demonstration’s message would spark further action among NU families.
“If students start making their voices heard, their parents are going to care,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of students here have people whose parents are in important places.”
NU students passed out flyers with the names of people killed since Jan. 23, 2025, as a result of increased immigration enforcement, including Alex Pretti, who was shot Saturday after filming ICE in Minneapolis, and Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, who passed away in a Texas ICE facility Jan. 5.
Protesters took their march into the crosswalk, walking to the other side of the street and back again when the walk sign was on.
Weinberg sophomore Sophie Beveridge helped make signs from cardboard scraps Thursday night to offer to anyone who came to the protest.
“Now, literally every single one of these signs is being held by someone,” she said. “That’s really powerful and encouraging to see, and I’m proud of us for standing up, for coming together and just showing that we’re gonna keep supporting each other through all this hatred and injustice.”
Medill junior Vincent Diaz Bonacquisti played with his band at A&O’s Benefit concert on Thursday, which raised money for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
He spoke at the end of the demonstration and said they were participating in the nationwide strike to support Minneapolis. In his speech, he emphasized the importance of “moments like this.”
“The Trump administration is relying on you being too exhausted to organize, too desensitized to violence and too demoralized to believe in the possibility of radical systemic change,” Diaz Bonacquisti said. “I mean this when I say it, f—k ICE, f—k U.S. nationalism, y ¡que viva el pueblo!”
Maia Alvarez, Emily Dissanayake, Marisa Guerra Echeverria, Summer Hu, Isabella Jacob, Ridhima Kodali, Nineth Kanieski Koso and Xuan Day Tran contributed reporting.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the date students made signs to prepare for the protest. The Daily regrets this error.
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