Dozens arrested protesting Trump immigration policies at Philadelphia July 4 parade

Philadelphia police arrested dozens of people who interrupted the city’s Fourth of July parade to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies. 

Thirty-three people were detained in the protest organized by Never Again Action, according to the Philadelphia Police Department, which said there were no injuries or damage to property.

{mosads}About 300 protesters had gathered outside Immigration Customs Enforcement headquarters in Philadelphia. The demonstrators later interrupted the parade, the police said.

The demonstration was part of the “Never Again Week of Action,” in which Jewish communities are participating in similar events across the U.S., according to according to Philadelphia radio station WHYY. 

“Jews are shutting down ICE, because when we say never again, we mean it,” said a Facebook event for the nationwide demonstrations, evoking language often used to refer to preventing atrocities like the Holocaust. 

President Trump has vowed that a series of ICE raids to deport immigrants in the country illegally will begin after the July 4 holiday.

Separately, tensions are rising over the treatment of migrants detained at the border. A watchdog report this week described squalid and overcrowded conditions at some detention centers. 

The group holding the Philadelphia protests highlighted what is said was the poor treatment of children at the facilities. 

“During this next week #JewsAgainstICE across the US will take action to fight back against ICE and to remind the world that Never Again means Never Again for Anyone,” it said.

The group also posted a video of the Philadelphia event. 

ICE officials told The Hill in a statement Friday that the agency respects the rights of people to voice their opinion peacefully without interference, but said the calls to abolish ICE were “misguided.”

“The recent calls to abolish ICE are dangerously misguided and overlook the vital work that ICE officers and special agents perform each day to keep the citizens of Pennsylvania safe,” the agency said.

One march organizer, Sarah Giskin, told WHYY that protesters wanted a local ICE field office and Berks County, Pa. migrant detention center to be closed. 

“This is the Jewish community basically getting together to say ‘never again.’ It’s something we usually say about the Holocaust, but ‘never again’ is now,” she told the radio station. “Philadelphia is supposed to be a sanctuary city. ICE should not be operating here at all.”

An ICE spokesperson told the radio station in a statement that the agency is committed to producing “safe and humane environments” for those in its custody. 

It added that the facility in Berks County facility had “an outstanding track record with the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.”

Updated at 10:57 a.m.