Presidents' Day protest at ICE office in Indianapolis

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Indianapolis office sits in a block of businesses, near the highway, on the northwest side of Indianapolis.

Caution tape surrounds the building, and agents enter and leave through a gated parking lot. The office handles ICE activity in all but seven counties in the state.

Dozens of people gathered in a parking lot across the street Monday afternoon with signs to oppose President Donald Trump and his administration’s immigration enforcement.

Organizers led chants, a DJ played music and others wrote messages in chalk on the pavement.

Westside Indy Indivisible Resistance Movement leader Amy Guzman helped organize the event. Holding a pair of cardboard circles with eyes on them, she said today’s protest is to send a message that ICE officials can no longer act in anonymity in the city.

“They’re very active here,” Guzman said. “We’ve been around this area. This is where we live, so we want to make sure they know that we're here, and we're watching what they’re doing, how they’re treating people.”

As people set up during the event, some documented six ICE agents with guns on the roof of the office. They said the agents watched for about 20 minutes. During the protest, agents were observed leaving the office.

While Guzman is a citizen, she said as a Latina she was nervous organizing a protest outside this office, noting the large number of cameras around the building.

“But we are carefully trying to strategically be here and keep everybody safe as well, as you know, respecting their property, but holding them to account about how they’re run and the tactics they’re using,” Guzman said.

Also in attendance were legal observers whose jobs were to witness and take notes of activity during the protest. With his notepad in hand, Tom Sherer said it’s important for legal and insurance purposes to have people there not participating but observing.

“I take notes so that if there is either aggressive action from across the street or counter protesters or, you know, some of our own getting too excited about it that we take notes so we can document what happened,” Sherer said.

While immigration enforcement operations have existed in Indianapolis prior to President Donald Trump taking office, the administration's increased detainments across the country.

And news broke last week that ICE is expanding operations in Central Indiana, leasing office space in Carmel.

Neil Lothamer with Westside Indivisible Resistance Movement said, as thousands of ICE agents are expected to be pulled from Minnesota, he worries they could come to Indiana.

“We just wanted to be here to show that, you know, there’s the potential that the ICE activity will increase here in Indianapolis, and we don't stand for that,” Lothamer said.

Guzman said the protest is just one of many approaches taken to push back against ICE and the Trump Administration.

Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org or on Signal at SamHorton.05.