Thousands protested in downtown Tucson on Friday afternoon — and later marched toward the University of Arizona, then swung back downtown — as part of a national demonstration against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Protest organizers across the country called for Friday, Jan. 30, to be a "no work, no school, no shopping" day, and Tucson Unified School District announced Thursday it was closing at least 21 schools for the day because it expected a high volume of staff absences.
Early on in the afternoon protest, the crowd downtown swelled to an estimated several thousand protesters as other participants, who had marched from the UA and midtown Catalina Park, merged and joined those in front of the federal building, where protesters were blocking both directions of Congress Street.
Slogans on signs included "ICE out of our communities," "Speak out while you still can!", "Do justice, love kindness, abolish ICE," and "ICE stands for Inhumane, Callous, Evil." Another said "A Change 'Gon Come," echoing a Sam Cooke song that was playing on loudspeakers at the start of the 2 p.m. protest.
The throng of several thousand, most brandishing signs, begin their march through Tucson for the ICE OUT demonstration Friday.
After rallying downtown, Tucson protesters later marched with their sea of signs east down Broadway, circled back onto Congress, then through the Fourth Avenue underpass and on toward the university, shutting off streets. They arrived back downtown — except for those who had peeled off — about three hours after the protest began, and rallied for another hour.
A protester waves an upside down U.S. flag, a symbol of distress, as others, part of the thousands who shut down downtown Tucson Friday afternoon, begin to line the Garces Footbridge over Congress Street for the ICE OUT demonstration.
Demonstrations, organized through nationalshutdown.org, took place across the country, including multiple sites in Tucson. The Associated Press reports they come amid nationwide outrage over the killing of two people in Minnesota, most recently Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse who was shot multiple times Jan. 24 by Border Patrol officers after he used his cellphone to record officers conducting an immigration enforcement operation. About three weeks ago, Renee Good was fatally shot behind the wheel of her car by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Democratic Tucson City Council member Miranda Schubert was part of the march early Friday afternoon from the University of Arizona to downtown. She said she hopes the national day of action “can finally abolish ICE and start to change the tide of rising authoritarianism.”
Teenagers sitting in the road at Broadway/Congress and Granada during Tucson's ICE protest on Jan. 30, 2026. Video by Kimberly Kalil, Arizona Daily Star
“It's so diverse," she said of the Tucson march and protest. "Everybody is here, we're all here. All ages, all walks of life. It's incredible, I have chills. I expected a big turnout, but it's still more than I expected. Just to be in it is overwhelming.
“We can actually make a change, make a difference," Schubert said.
Democrat Rocque Perez, a former Tucson City Council member who is running for Arizona Senate in Legislative District 20, said he came out to protest because all Tucsonans “have an imperative to turn out for our most vulnerable communities, and right now that includes our Hispanic community, whether they're undocumented or not.”
“Regardless of whether you are a Democrat, whether you are a socialist, whether you (are part of any political party), I think we're all united in Tucsonans and saying (to ICE), ‘not our community, not our neighbors,’ and that's what you're seeing here today,” Perez said.
Protesters brandish their signs during the ICE OUT demonstration Friday in Tucson, including this one showing the blue bunny hut worn by a 5-year-old when he was detained by ICE along with his father last week in Minneapolis and sent to detention in Texas.
Sue Goodman, 69, said she was protesting because “this regime that is destroying our country and the world order” needs to be stopped.
A time-lapse of Tucson's ICE protest on Jan. 20, 2026, from the bridge over Congress by the Pima County building. Video by Kimberly Kalil, Arizona Daily Star
“The more people can build community, the more that they can make themselves aware of the bullshit that's going on to our immigrant neighbors, to our allies, to everybody, the better,” she said. “I've been protesting for many different reasons for many years. This one is probably the most important … (because) we now have a fascist government, and they're killing citizens in the United States.
“It was never about getting rid of the big, bad, ugly criminals that may have ended up in this country. They use racism as a pretext, because they sure as hell are racist, but what they're doing is just trying to take control of people,” Goodman said of the immigration crackdown. “It's an authoritarian regime. Read your history. It's going to get worse before it gets better, so everybody needs to fight back on this issue.”
Goodman said she was happy to see students participating because of the Tucson school closures.
“There are so many young people out here. They have sort of a ‘deer in the headlights’ (look to them), but they're psyched, and they’re experiencing this,” she said. “To have this energy here with so many young people participating, they're going to carry the torch … they're going to help tremendously against this fight against fascism.”
Brittany Parsons, a teacher at Miles Elementary School, brought her daughter Emery Merten, a fifth grader at the school, to the protest downtown.
Emery said this was her first protest, and she tagged along at the encouragement of her mom and others “because I don't think what ICE is doing is very good.”
A protester waves a sign from the Garces Footbridge over the thousands of demonstrators marching along Congress Street for the ICE OUT demonstration Friday. The protesters marched through downtown, Fourth Avenue and University Boulevard, shutting down major thoroughfares for hours.
She said she was surprised by the number of people out in the streets. “I just didn't expect people to be here, because a lot of the people that I'm friends with agree with like Trump and that stuff,” Emery said. “I'm just shocked that there are a lot of other people that are on our side.”
Brittany Parsons said she and her daughter began the day at a small protest in front of Miles Elementary, but she asked if Emery wanted to join her downtown because “I felt compelled to show her what it looks like to stand up for what you believe in.”
As a teacher at the school, "We decided, as a collective whole, to participate in the sick out, the national call to stand in solidarity with the people of Minnesota and everything else,” Parsons said. "I am shocked at how large it is, and it's been incredibly peaceful. Everybody's been welcoming."
Schools in multiple states, including Colorado, preemptively canceled classes in anticipation of mass absences, the Associated Press reported.
Numerous Tucson businesses also announced they were closed Friday.
