An anti-ICE protest mobilized in front of Aguacates in the Elmwood Village on Nov. 13 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in response to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) taking four workers away from the restaurant earlier that morning.

The action was a community-led effort with frustration and distaste at ICE’s presence and activity within Elmwood and Buffalo in general. Signs and chants were in solidarity with the four workers, as well as demanding ICE to leave the city.

“I think people were fired up and upset about members of their community being kidnapped,” Worker’s World Party organizer said. “Even though it was cold and pretty last-minute notice, a lot of people showed, and people who were passing by on the street were joining up with us to chant and shout.”

The sentiment was in line with what the folks who had observed the ICE incident at Elmwood that morning. It is currently unknown if the ICE Agents had the warrants to make these arrests.

“There were multiple eyewitnesses,” a Justice for Migrant Families volunteer said. “Some were able to capture pictures and videos, but I cannot say that intervention was able to take place in a timely manner.”

“After the arrest, the agents stayed on Elmwood until neighbors chased them away,” a local organizer said. “They threatened to arrest people observing them on the street, but they did not.”

There is some local speculation that the vehicles the agents were in are three Ford SUVs. Two of the cars were silver and one was black.

With the largest group of arrests by ICE having no criminal record, the protest at Aguacates is a continuing microcosm of the backlash and disapproval of ICE held by the majority of people in the United States.