Thousands marched in Downtown Albuquerque on Friday, Jan. 30, to protest against President Donald Trump’s Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a nationwide strike that called for no school, work or shopping for the day.
Chants of “Abolish ICE” and “Immigrants are welcome here” echoed throughout the Civic Plaza and streets of Downtown Albuquerque.
City of Albuquerque offices in Downtown, including City Hall, closed at 1 p.m. as a result of the protest to “minimize vehicle traffic from Downtown workers,” according to the City of Albuquerque.
Some local businesses closed down early and joined the strike, including Michael Thomas Coffee and Zendo Coffee, while others remained open and donated a percentage of sales to organizations supporting immigrants, particularly the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center and the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee.
James Hernandez was among several protesters who called for the abolition of ICE and said he took off work to join the protest.
“A lot of us are demanding nothing more than to abolish an agency that is unconstitutional, that is trampling on our rights and that is harming our most vulnerable people,” Hernandez said.
UNM graduate student Dominic Oddo came to the protest with United Graduate Workers of the University of New Mexico, who were co-sponsors of the event.
“We’ve seen people terrorized across the country, but especially given the tensions in Minnesota, we’re seeing that it’s up to organized labor to stand up to this kind of thing,” Oddo said.
Since early December, ICE has intensified enforcement operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, according to The Guardian, which has drawn national criticism after the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot by ICE agents.
Protestors brought drums, cowbells, horns, plastic buckets and other instruments to create music before, during and after the march.
Malaya Peixinho joined the march and participated by singing traditional songs and dancing.
“I think that we’re on a slippery slope to an incredibly fascist regime, and if we don’t fight now, if we don’t act now, then we’re going to get there,” Peixinho said. “It’s our right, it’s our duty to use our voices and speak up, so that’s why I came.”
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Local high school students walked out of class to protest, including students from Albuquerque High School, Siembra Leadership High School and Amy Biehl High School.
College and Career High School students Sophia Price-Juarez, Marilyn Oretega-Weil, Aviel Vazquez and Erik Vazquez came to the protest as a group, with this being the first protest for Price-Juarez, she said.
“We have the power to change things and unlike what the (Trump) administration’s been trying to say, these aren’t a bunch of violent criminals all protesting the natural rule of law, this is just thousands of concerned citizens hoping to make a change for the better,” Erik Vasquez said.
Aviel Vazquez, whose family is from Puerto Rico, compared ICE’s tactics to those used by Nazi Germany on Jews in the 1930s.
“This is a repeat of history, and if we don’t learn now, we will be in a horrible state in the nation,” Aviel Vazquez said. “The signs are right there, and that’s why I believe that I have to stand up because I don’t want to live in that society where I can be persecuted just for my skin color.”
On Sep. 8, 2025, in a ruling in the case Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem, the Supreme Court granted an emergency request from the Trump administration that temporarily halted a judge’s order barring ICE agents from questioning people on their immigration status based on how they look, what language they speak, what work they do, or where they happen to be, according to USA Today.
Both a Los Angeles, Calif. federal court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that these actions amounted to illegal racial profiling, according to the American Immigration Council.
Price-Juarez and Oretega-Weil said they have immigrant family members and feel scared of losing family and friends.
“I have brown grandparents and brown parents and even though I don’t look that way, I’m still scared for what’s happening,” Oretega-Weil said. “Even though they’re fully American citizens, I’m scared that they will still get deported because of ignorance and disgusting behaviors.”
Bianca Ontiveros is a labor and delivery nurse who participated in the protest and said some of her patients come from Arizona and Texas, “fleeing from rape or from husbands that are forcing themselves on them.”
“As nurses, we are here to treat whoever comes through our doors, and to hear that people are not letting those people have those opportunities to choose or to just get decent health care infuriates me,” Ontiveros said through tears. “It’s not okay that they don’t have people with them. They don’t have that community.”
Zach Gold attended the march with Ontiveros and said that the change he hopes to see at the “bare minimum,” is for people to have “just a little empathy for each other.”
“All you need to do is put yourself in the shoes of another human being on this planet,” Gold said. “Think about what it looks like to live in their reality and understand the challenges they face. I’m a white, male, straight dude. It doesn’t get easier in this world for me.”
Local middle school student Ezra, who declined to share his last name for privacy, said he skipped school to join the protest and spoke to the crowd at Civic Plaza.
“I think the school system is okay to an extent, we’re getting kids out there to learn and to get degrees at a certain point,” Ezra told the Daily Lobo. “But you can skip that one day to do something more important, to change the world for the better, to speak on what you believe, because this is democracy, this is freedom, we’re living in a time where we’re trying to be hushed.”
Leila Chapa is the social media and photo editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
