012326 Live report from New York City support rally for Minneapolis General Strike Against ICE Abductions

·15 min·1 clip

Thousands fill New York streets in a massive, hastily organized protest against ICE abductions and corporate complicity.

The episode is a live field report from Paul DeRienzo covering a solidarity rally in New York City. The rally supports a general strike in Minneapolis protesting ICE abductions. DeRienzo opens by stating this is the largest protest he's seen in New York in at least ten years, organized on very short notice. He describes the protest's physical scale, stretching from Union Square up Sixth Avenue to 23rd Street, curb to curb. A key target is the Home Depot on 23rd Street, accused of conspiring with ICE to have customers arrested. The reporter lists numerous participating unions, including the New York Labor Council, 1199, UAW, UFT, and nurses. Speeches were uncompromising, calling for ICE to be abolished entirely, labeled a fascist institution. The protest also focused on Palantir, a data company owned by Peter Thiel, whose technology is used by ICE for surveillance and arrests. DeRienzo details shocking ICE tactics, such as using a five-year-old child as bait to lure people for arrest. He connects the protest to the Minneapolis general strike, where businesses are closed to exert economic pressure. The reporter observes similar shutdowns in Jamaica, Queens. He describes the crowd's movement, blocking Fifth Avenue and converging on Madison Square Park. The coalition is notably diverse, uniting union members with people of various faiths—Christians, Jews, Muslims—which he compares to anti-Vietnam War protests. Speakers included union leaders, nurses on strike, youth groups, and local politicians. Signs carried messages like "ICE is almost ISIS" and "The melting pot has become an incinerator." DeRienzo notes many protesters, like a retired teacher, hadn't demonstrated since the 1970s. The report concludes with traffic slowly clearing as police manage the dispersal, emphasizing the protest's significant disruption and the ongoing call for sustained action against the Trump administration's policies.

As heard by us

A street-level report on a fast-built New York protest, union turnout, and blunt anti-ICE anger.

Paul DeRienzo's live report has the feel of being in the middle of the crowd, as he traces a New York City solidarity rally that, by his account, was assembled on short notice and still pulled thousands into the streets.

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Why you'd press play

You want the feel of a huge New York protest while it is still unfolding.

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