March, 2026
By Jackelyn Reyes, 12th Grade
Editor’s note: This article was chosen by the editorial staff as an honorable mention opinion piece for The Cardinal Post’s First Annual Op-Ed Contest.
The government’s response to protests against ICE exposed a conflict between immigration enforcement and freedom. Instead of protecting Americans’ right to peacefully protest, aggressive crowd-control tactics take that right away.
Protests are meant to give people a voice, but law enforcement responses at ICE-related protests make these events into places of fear. At many protests against ICE actions they cause family separations, deportations and the law enforcement gives the officers riot gear, pepper spray and other unsafe weapons to use at big arrests even when it is peaceful. These responses show how police actions that do more than protect order instead, they make people feel they don’t want to join protests, and it gets us further from a peaceful world. When officers come prepared for violence that are meant to be nonviolent, it is shown to protesters that speaking out may come at a personal cost. As a result, many people feel afraid to attend protests, which weakens democracy and makes peaceful change harder to achieve.
Personally, I have seen an ICE-related protest near a grocery store. One group was protesting against ICE, while another group supported it. It was powerful to see people stand up for their rights and their communities. However, it is also dangerous how these protests can become, especially when ICE’s presence makes people have fear and tension. When I passed by the area later, I saw a man interviewing a young Black African American woman who did not support ICE. What stood out to me was how she expressed her position calmly and confidently, using her words instead of violence. Watching her explain her beliefs without anger or aggressively was a relief, because this is not what we usually see. Usually, these situations increase into a problem by frustration. That moment made me realize what protests should look like. People deserve to be heard without violence or intimidation.
Protests exist because staying silent allows systems like ICE to isolate and harm people without accountability. Showing up is a way of not being silent. However, when anger takes over and situations turn violent, it puts protesters at risk and distracts from the message we are trying to send. Protesting ICE is about being heard, protecting communities, and pushing for a change. It should not come with the fear of force or punishment. If the government truly values freedom, it must respect the right to peacefully ensure that protests remain safe spaces, not danger.
The Cardinal Post 