SAN JOSE, Calif. — Around 100 community members rallied in downtown Monday to protest the possibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents coming to the Bay Area during this weekend’s Super Bowl.

The protesters lead chants of “ICE out of the Bay, ICE out of San Jose” as music played in the background, with attendees waving flags and holding signs reading, “We stand with our immigrant neighbors” and “Abolish ICE.”

Hosted by a coalition of nonprofit organizations, the gathering began at the Quetzalcoatl sculptor in Cesar Chavez Park, then moved half a block down to the streets outside the San Jose Convention Center, where the Super Bowl Opening Ceremony was slated to be held later Monday.

Later, the protesters resumed their chants as they marched in front of the convention center as a line of football enthusiasts in their jerseys looked on from where they were already beginning to line up for festivities.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it would be providing security for the Super Bowl, which it does regularly for large sporting events, but details were not clear as to whether that would include immigration enforcement. At a press conference Thursday, Santa Clara County Sheriff Bob Jonsen said there has not been communication from federal agencies with local law enforcement regarding the concern that they may conduct immigration sweeps during the big game.

The protest follows several similar actions protesting ICE in recent weeks. Thousands of Bay Area students, from middle school to college aged, walked out of classes Friday to protest ICE’s “terror campaign” and push for an end to funding for the organization. Days earlier, students from high schools in San Jose and San Leandro walked out in protest of the federal agency.

San Jose City Councilmember Peter Ortiz kicked off the speeches on Monday by discussing the importance of immigrants to San Jose, outlining the precautions the city had put into place in case of ICE enforcement and giving “a big middle finger to the federal administration,” he said.

“Immigrants have built this city, everything from the buildings around us to the great wealth that the tech industries have been able to generate here in this valley, all of it is built off the backs of our immigrant community,” Ortiz said. “Our immigrant community is valued here in the city of San Jose. They make our city run, and it’s time that we hold our elected officials accountable for standing up to them.”

Ortiz added that San Jose has recently implemented six policies aimed at limiting ICE enforcement in the city, including creating ICE free zones on city-owned property and regulations prohibiting law enforcement officers from wearing masks. San Jose has also developed a five-point plan with responses to potential ICE enforcement, with the scenarios they have planned for ranging from ICE showing up in the Bay Area to ICE conducting “indiscriminate” enforcement. They have also created an emergency operations center that can be activated if agents arrive here.

Ortiz added that surrounding cities, including Santa Clara where Levi’s Stadium is located, also need to “do their part.”

“We need to hold them accountable,” Ortiz said. “We need to say, ‘Which side are you on? The people or the federal administration?'”

Sean Allen, president of the San Jose and Silicon Valley NAACP, decried federal agents for acting “as judge, jury and executioner” in recent weeks.

“The world will watch the Super Bowl,” Allen said. “The wealth in this city will be built on the bodies of Black and Brown people during that time period, like every period. You say to Santa Clara, you cannot profit from our culture on Sunday and be complicit while we are hunted like animals.”

San Jose City Councilmember Pamela Campos spoke about the story of Liam Ramos, a five-year-old boy who made headlines after being sent from Minnesota to a Texas detention center with his father, and called to abolish ICE.

“ICE has no place in our communities,” Campos said. “ICE is not an institution that protects the safety of our neighbors. ICE destroys families. ICE creates trauma.”

The protestors also read a statement provided by former NFL football players Malcolm Jenkins and Anquan Boldin on behalf of the Players Coalition, an organization that works with athletes, owners and coaches to build racial equity and social justice. The statement expressed concern that the Super Bowl — normally a “celebration of hard work, dedication, and extraordinary ability” — will be overshadowed by “not just by what is in the news, but by what this Administration is promising to bring to the Super Bowl’s door."

“We hope they will reconsider. As former NFL players and Super Bowl champions, we cannot be quiet as the federal administration uses the pinnacle of our craft to be a trojan horse for ICE to run rampant in the Bay Area,” the players said. “We don’t need ICE at the Super Bowl. The Bay Area is a safe and proud community that is stronger because of all of their valued immigrant residents. Bringing in ICE will simply make people afraid– and for good reason.”

Rebeca Armendariz of the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network, affirmed that the network is ready in case of an ICE operation in the county. Last weekend, the organization trained hundreds of new community volunteers to contribute to its work.

The organization — which can be reached 24-hours per day and seven days a week at 408-290-1144 — offers legal defense, observation of ICE operations and accompaniment to ICE appointments.

“Our community is ready. Every day, we have dozens of new allies and community members signing up to speak up, to bear witness and to protect their community from attacks, from ICE, from every color of those uniforms, from DHS,” she said. “We’re ready, and we’re out there.”

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