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As ’emergency’ rally planned in Boston, local leaders respond to Trump’s actions in LA
Demonstrators will gather Monday in Boston's City Hall Plaza to protest ICE activities after a weekend of tumult on the West Coast.
After a weekend of clashes between anti-ICE protesters and authorities in Los Angeles, residents in Massachusetts are preparing to take to the streets themselves. Meanwhile, local leaders are denouncing the Trump administration’s decision to call in National Guard troops to California as an authoritarian move.
As workplace raids triggered a series of demonstrations in California, David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union of California, was detained by federal authorities. Video of the incident, which occurred while Huerta protested on Friday, shows the labor leader being knocked down and handcuffed as his head leans against a concrete curb. He was briefly hospitalized.
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Now, labor unions are planning a series of “emergency rallies” across the country to protest Huerta’s arrest and the ongoing ICE operations. Activists plan to gather Monday afternoon in City Hall Plaza to make their demands known. Planning of the rally involved the help of some of the protest leaders that organized a massive anti-Trump demonstration in April in Boston.
“The right to freedom of speech and due process of the law must be protected above all else, and the response by the Trump administration is tantamount to a declaration of war against the American people. Make no mistake—we will be peaceful, but we will not be quiet,” said Kyle Bemis, an organizer with the 50501 protest movement, in a statement.
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Huerta’s arrest comes as the federal government increasingly targets workplaces with high numbers of migrant workers in large blue cities, reportedly to meet deportation quotas set by the White House.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that the state would sue the federal government over Trump’s move to bring in National Guard troops, despite the objections of local leaders.
Leaders in other predominantly Democratic states are looking to California and raising the alarm.
Trump is using moves “straight out of the authoritarian playbook” to “escalate tensions,” said Sen. Ed Markey in a video posted online.
Sending the National Guard into California is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. pic.twitter.com/a4pNPfIK0X
— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) June 8, 2025
Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the decision to call in the National Guard an “abuse of power.”
Donald Trump’s deployment of the military in Los Angeles over the objection of California leaders is an abuse of power and a dangerous escalation.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 8, 2025
It’s what you would see in authoritarian states and it must stop.
Americans have the right to speak out and peacefully protest.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley echoed the two senators, writing online that Trump is “weaponizing” the federal government to “terrorize” communities.
Before the protests erupted in Los Angeles, tensions were steadily building last week in Boston between Mayor Michelle Wu and ICE officials.
Wu said ICE agents were acting like masked “secret police” in and around Boston, prompting harsh words from the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. The head of ICE himself demanded Wu keep quiet on the issue.
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Wu responded, using social media to again decry ICE’s “outrageous tactics.”
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