A bus driver caused a deafening ruckus as she leaned on her horn, nodding and smiling in support of the hundreds of people bearing signs saying “ICE out of Baltimore” and “Defend Migrant Workers” who marched down Fayette Street.
The marchers waved back. Some raised fists, others flashed peace signs.
Hundreds of people turned out for a midday rally on Wednesday in support of Maryland’s immigrant community and to protest increased raids by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on undocumented people. For many, it was a personal issue, from teachers marching for their students, family members marching to protest the detainment of their relatives, and others showing up in support of their neighbors.
Rachel Rush, who works alongside many Latinos as part of the Creative Alliance, was actively grieving by the time she arrived outside CASA’s Welcome Center. She had received word earlier that morning that a family friend and a Los Chinelos dancer at the Creative Alliance had been detained.
“He’s a great guy, I don’t know why they picked him up,” she said, fighting her tears. WYPR has not yet been able to independently verify this story.
“Our Latin community is terrified,” she said. “It just seems like they're picking random people up off the street. And I don't know how any of this is legal, and I don't know why it can't be stopped, like I just don't understand.”
CASA, an immigrant rights advocacy agency, claims that ICE is ramping up deportation efforts in the Baltimore region. Before the march, which CASA organized, it provided media with a list of 11 “verified” enforcement actions conducted since May 20th that came in through their ICE raid tip line. Jossie Flor Sapunar, CASA’s communication director, says they have more tips they are investigating but still have not finished verifying, which she says they do through viewing social media posts and interviewing multiple witnesses.
Included in that list is a May 20th enforcement action at the Home Depot on Eastern Avenue where in a viral social media video shared by the White House, masked ICE agents shove the men down onto the pavement parking lot and put them in handcuffs. Five people were detained in that action.
“These raids are not isolated incidents. They are a direct assault on our immigrant families, on working class neighborhoods and the dignity of Baltimore as a whole,” said Crisaly De Los Santos, the Central Maryland Director for CASA.
On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, ICE reportedly topped 2,000 arrests nationwide, according to CBS News. ICE agency data shows that they averaged roughly around 300 daily arrests in 2024, the last year of President Joe Biden’s term.
Out on the streets, CASA led marchers to the Royal Farms on East Fayette Street in Highlandtown and then down to the Hazlo International Foods Supermarket on Lombard Street. Both of these places have been the site of multiple ICE raids, representatives from CASA said. Outside the Royal Farms, the marchers took a knee and held a moment of silence for the people who were taken from the site and detained.
Excited faces appeared from windows and at doorways as marchers wound their way down Fayette and towards Lombard Street.
“Thank you guys, for doing this. We are happy when we are seeing this!” said Miguel Lopez, who is originally from Guatemala. In the heavily immigrant and Latino neighborhood of Highlandtown, the march seemed to bolster people who have otherwise been feeling afraid.
“We’re scared to go to work. It’s hard, you know?” said Lopez.
A woman who identified herself as Sarbia shared similar sentiments.
“I think it’s great. It will be like, cheerful for all of them that being captured and may be… innocent,” said Sarbia, who says she came to the country as a child and is undocumented herself. It’s harder to find work now, she says because of her status and fears of being picked up by ICE.
Wednesday’s peaceful protest comes as President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent 700 Marines to quell immigration protests in Los Angeles. Typically, the guard is deployed by state governors but Trump invoked something called Title 10 of the federal code which lets the president put the National Guard under federal service during a “rebellion”; a lawsuit filed Monday by the state of California claims that does not apply.
Some see that move as meant to intimidate Democratic run municipalities.
“I don't think that that fear should stop us from standing up and doing what's right for our city,” said Councilwoman Odette Ramos, who spoke at a press conference before the march and led near the front of the march for over an hour.
Ramos was “frustrated” by the need to march in the streets but said it is important to stand up against ICE.
“I want neighbors to know that there's ways that we can help. By coming out on the streets like this all the time, by protecting our neighbors and really showing what Baltimore is, which is a welcoming city.”
This story has been updated.
