Fuerza brings ‘ICE Out of Courts’ campaign to Waltham District Courthouse

More than 100 people marched up and down Linden Street in front of the Waltham District Court on Friday to protest ICE arrests at courthouses across the state.

The March 20 rally was organized by Fuerza Waltham, a member of the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts. It was part of the “Ice Out of Massachusetts Courts” campaign, and organizers handed out QR codes which directed people to a petition. 

Jonathan Paz, founder of Fuerza, made clear the campaign’s demands on his Instagram shortly after the rally concluded. Echoing LUCE’s online literature, he wrote “Here are the demands: 

• Pass legislation to ban ICE courthouses arrests
• Mandate virtual access to all MA Courts
• Stop courthouse and law enforcement cooperation with ICE 
• Ensure transparency, reporting & accountability 
• Support community-led observer programs”

The petition states it will “target” Chief Justices Kimberly Budd and Heidi Brieger, Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka and Massachusetts House Speaker Ron Mariano. LUCE’s website goes on, “Our state government has a responsibility to do everything in its power to stop its courts from being used as staging grounds for targeting and handing over our community members to federal immigration officers.”

The crowd marched and chanted with signs for about 45 minutes before gathering in a parking lot across the street for songs, speeches and victim testimonies read in both Spanish and English. Led by members of the Waltham Singers, the crowd could be heard singing, “Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo,” meaning “Only the people save the people.”

Gloribel Rivas-Soldz, one of the organizers of the event, said in her speech, “We know that ICE and the Trump administration want all of us to be afraid of each other. They want to decide who is and is not worthy of basic human rights … That’s why you being here is so important, because you are proving that we will not be stopped.”

The victim testimonies were submitted anonymously and read by Fuerza members. They featured a grandmother who was afraid to go to the grocery store and commute to work on the bus, as well as a woman whose husband had been apprehended by ICE and the subsequent anxiety she dealt with. 

Fuerza has been involved with the campaign over the last several months, accompanying members of the immigrant community to the court when they attend hearings for crimes or violations. Paz, along with Fuerza member Phil Katz, said that court staff treated them unfairly by forcing them to turn off their phones when they entered the courthouse. 

Despite the presence of Fuerza, Paz said he witnessed ICE agents apprehend people outside the courthouse. “We’ve seen people taken by ICE before, during and after their day in court.”

Paz also spoke about the campaign’s demand for the 287(g) agreement between ICE and the Massachusetts Department of Correction to be dissolved. This agreement model is held between ICE and more than 1,000 county, municipal and state law enforcement agencies across the nation. It allows ICE to deputize these local law officers to act in ICE’s stead and gives them the ability to perform the actions of an immigration officer. 

“We are the only blue state with a super blue majority that still has one of those [agreements],” Paz said in his speech during the rally. According to ICE’s website, four states which voted blue in the 2024 presidential election have 287(g) agreements: New York, Maryland, Virginia and Massachusetts. They are most popular in Texas, Alabama and Georgia. 

The Waltham Educators Association was also in attendance, and the crowd heard a brief speech from Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “It is the central value we have as educators that every student gets an education in our public schools. They don’t have to pay, they don’t need a passport … if they live here, they deserve to be educated,” Page said.

The petition is currently open for signatures. Organizers said they plan to continue courthouse accompaniments and advocacy efforts as the ICE Out of Massachusetts Courts campaign pushes for a legislative response.

Correction posted March 24, 10:58 p.m. This story originally reported that Paz and Katz said court staff had taken away their phones. Katz notified us that they had made them turn off their phones.