Glasgow students, citizens across the UK respond to increasing state violence in the United States.
At noon on Friday, 23 January, a group of about 30-40 people gathered on Library Hill to protest recent actions by American Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Two security officers looked on as students listened to speakers and chanted “Fuck ICE”.
The speakers, who were predominantly American students, emphasized pride in being American and explained “It is up to the people who are here, people who have a voice, to speak up about this”. They denounced aggression against immigrants, saying “being undocumented in the United States is not a felony… It’s a misdemeanour” and noted that many ICE victims are children. One speaker argued that “violence is their mission”.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was created when President George W. Bush formed the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks. At the beginning of his first term in office, Donald Trump enacted an executive order that increased ICE staff by ten-thousand employees. Since being inaugurated for his second term, Trump has significantly increased the department’s budget. ICE arrests have doubled, and detention centre populations have significantly increased, despite a sharp drop in illegal border crossings. A very small percentage of those targeted by ICE are convicted violent criminals.
During the summer of 2025, clashes with ICE agents sparked significant protests and backlash in Los Angeles. Since then, Trump has continued to deploy federal agents to cities throughout the US, most recently to Minneapolis. On 7 January, clashes in Minneapolis hit a fever-pitch when an ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good while she sat in her car. The viral video, which was heavily scrutinized and manipulated by the Trump administration, resulted in mass protests across the United States. A little over two weeks later, on 24 January, another video capturing the murder of ICU nurse Alex Pretti went viral.
These cases garnered international attention, but they only represent a small portion of violence, with 32 deaths in ICE custody in 2025 and 8 more in the first month of 2026. Six men have died in ICE custody since the start of the year. Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, Parady La, and Luis Beltrán Yáñez-Cruz all died due to medical emergencies whilst in ICE custody. Herber Sanchez Dominguez, Victor Manual Diaz, and Geraldo Lunas Campos all committed suicide, according to ICE official statements, though witness and family statements and autopsy reports contradict this.
The protests in Glasgow join a larger UK pushback against ICE in London, Bristol, and Edinburgh. Some 700 people gathered in London on Monday, 26 January, many holding signs that showed their solidarity with Minneapolis and outrage with similar anti-immigrant sentiment in the United Kingdom. In the days and weeks following the killings of Good and Pretti, The National noted that Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour cabinet have been silent on the violence in the United States.
Calls to stand up against Trump and ICE have come from protestors and politicians alike, with Green MSP Maggie Chapman saying: “There is a responsibility on all democratic leaders and governments to stand unequivocally against the politics of hate, fear, corruption and destruction at home and abroad. And that means taking a stand against ICE.”
Image credits: Lauren McDougall, The Glasgow Guardian
