Center City Anti-ICE protest: 15 Arrests, 2 Officers Injured

US-POLITICS-IMMIGRATION — Source: MATTHEW HATCHER / Getty

A peaceful protest in Center City on Tuesday turned violent with Philadelphia police officers after demonstrators blocked roadways, voicing their opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions.

Officials said 15 people were arrested while two officers and two protestors suffered minor injuries.

Police began making arrests on Market Street between 10th and 11th streets in Center City at around 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Video caught police and protesters getting into a scuffle before several people were detained.

Tom Homan, President Trump’s boarder czar, alluded to the protests as an act of a ‘third world nation’.

“We can conduct ICE raids, but it’s about it’s about the threats and the violence right now. I mean, this job is already dangerous — I’ve done this for a long time,” Homan said. “These men and women have to wear a gun you know, in the capital of Kevlar vest its dangerous. But I mean, our ICE officers have been attacked. It’s like we’re a third world nation where people think it’s ok to threaten law enforcement and their families.”

Also on Tuesday, federal agents arrested a man in South Philadelphia on the morning of the protests, leaving the immigrant community there on edge.

Videos of the arrest were shared social media, showing agents for the Drug Enforcement Agency arresting a man around the area of 7th and Snyder streets at around 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

Protesters in Philadelphia said they plan to continue their demonstrations, and say they will only get bigger if ICE raids continue.

“I think we just want ice out of our communities and we want to show the city of Philadelphia and the country that together we’re going to rise up,” a protester said.