Immigrants and advocates gathered on Boston Common for a May Day demonstration Friday, acting out scenes showing the types of abuse and misconduct that immigrant workers sometimes face from their bosses and simulating encounters they’ve had with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.
In one scene, workers asked about unpaid back wages and bathroom breaks while washing and packing fish, with a manager threatening to fire them or call ICE.
In another, three immigrant women were detained by masked immigration agents and placed into a cardboard vehicle labeled “ICE, CIA, CBP.”
The unique scenes played out in front of hundreds of supporters, part of the annual ”Day Without an Immigrant“ protest. It was held at a time when many immigrant workers are feeling the impact of shifting immigration policies at work, and as the Trump administration continues its crackdown aimed at mass deportation.
The rally, organized by LUCE Immigrant Justice Network and allies, included several undocumented immigrants who spoke of their own personal interactions with ICE.
“It is important for them to hear it,” said Alicia López, director of Mujeres Victoriosas, a New Bedford organization, pointing toward the State House. “And everyone else in Massachusetts to hear [what] the undocumented community are still demanding, because yes we are. And what do we want? We want ICE out of our courts. We want ICE out of schools. We want ICE of Massachusetts.”
López said immigrants contribute to the economy significantly, but are living in fear.
“We want a path to U.S. citizenship, we want legalization,” said Lopez.
Marla, a Brazilian immigrant living in Lynn, spoke about her husband who was detained and deported last year. She declined to provide her last name over fears she herself could be detained.
Marla was seven months pregnant when her husband was pulled over and arrested by ICE in September 2025.
“We sold much of our things and used all of our funds to hire a lawyer,” she told the crowd through an interpreter. Her husband was deported in December, and in January, she gave birth alone.
“I am here in the struggle to be able to have the dignity of going to work, school, the supermarket or even church without worrying about being arrested,” she said.
The rally highlighted an expanded version of the Protect ACT, legislation pending on Beacon Hill that would restrict state and local cooperation with federal immigration agents. On Thursday, the Massachusetts Senate advanced its own version out of committee. The bill still needs a vote in the full chamber. The Massachusetts House approved its own version of the legislation in March.
At Friday’s demonstration, advocates said that while the measure does strengthen protections against some information-sharing with immigration authorities, it doesn’t expand virtual court access, which could protect immigrants from ICE arrests conducted at state courthouses, and it doesn’t prohibit other types of federal collaboration.
Rally organizers also honored local immigrants who’ve been detained and deported, including Emmanuel Damas, a Dorchester resident and Haitian asylum-seeker who died in ICE custody in March after an untreated toothache turned into a fatal infection.
