By Ella Torres, February 10, 2026
Chants could be heard from blocks away as thousands of protestors gathered Jan. 31 outside of Los Angeles City Hall, unified by one singular message, “ICE out of LA.”
Amid escalating immigration enforcement tactics and a rising number of deaths at the hands of federal immigration officers, including Renee Good and Alex Pretti, protesters called for reformation and accountability from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Donald Trump.
“I think we continually need to be using our voices to express outrage with what’s happening in our country,” said Alyssa Jacobsen, an LA native attending the protest.
Many of the signs protestors carried relayed messages of sympathy or calls to justice surrounding both victims. Chants like “Chinga La Migra” and “Whose Streets, Our Streets” echoed throughout the typically quiet downtown corridor.
Despite the heavy atmosphere, a sense of community pulsated through the crowd as people danced to the Latin music on the speakers and ate bacon-wrapped hot dogs from street vendors. On the other side of city hall, protestors gathered in shade to make signs and pass out water.
The two-day long protest was organized by 50501 Movement, a nationwide organization focused on holding protests in all 50 states with the intent of upholding democracy and civil liberties. Though the protest remained peaceful with minimal police interference Jan. 31, protesters were met with tear gas and non-lethal rubber bullets the day prior.
“Yesterday, (the police) completely overreached at the Metropolitan Detention Center,” said Hunter Dunn, the media liaison for 50501 SoCal. “When I went to check in on some friends who were there, I had a gas mask on. That didn’t help me. There was that much tear gas. In many cases (the police) went after unarmed and completely peaceful protestors.”
The second day of the protest focused on H.R. 1, also known as Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, that provides more than $75 billion in supplemental funding to ICE until Sept. 30, 2029, to expand immigration detention and deportation operations, the largest single investment in interior immigration enforcement since the Department of Homeland Security’s creation in 2023, according to the National Immigration Forum.
The 50501 Movement called for elected officials to remove funding for ICE from the bill until changes are made to the agency’s training and tactics.
“I personally have gone through the hardships and the heartbreak of seeing someone you love get taken away from you” said Asalia, a woman from the protest who withheld sharing her last name because of her father was deported as a child. “It’s not just unjust. It’s very inhumane the way that they grab your loved ones like their animals.”
The Los Angeles protest was one of the 80 documented ICE Out protests organized by 50501 Movement. The demonstrations spanned across all 50 states with organizers promising more to come.
Photos courtesy of Grace Esquibel
