One resident shared an account of a neighbor detained at school. Another argued that current enforcement tactics have abandoned constitutional due process.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — A different kind of noise took over the intersection of Military Trail and PGA Boulevard on Jan. 31.
Nearly 300 protesters lined the sidewalks, their chants of “Show me what democracy looks like” met by the honking of passing cars and trucks, and, occasionally, the aggressive roar of engines.
The “ICE Out of Everywhere” day of action, organized by Palm Beach Indivisibles, filled the corners with hand-painted signs reading “Immigration is America” and “United Against ICE” as they joined in a national day of protest against the tactics of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents against people in the U.S. without documentation.
For those in the crowd, the reality was the loss of their own neighbors.
“We know people who are afraid to send their kids to school,” said Lauren Furst, a Palm Beach Gardens resident who described a climate of pervasive anxiety. “We have a friend who was picked up while dropping his kids off at school.”
Furst spoke of a local business owner and father of three who was detained roughly two months ago and deported to Guatemala. His absence has left behind a family and a brother with a spinal cord injury who relied on him for support.
“I feel like it’s important that we use our white privilege to help those who can’t speak up the way we can right now,” Furst added. “This is not going to necessarily have an impact personally, but people are out here for the greater good because of the values of this country.”
While there were no counterdemonstrations supporting the policies of President Donald Trump, who upon taking office a year ago promised the largest mass deportation in U.S. history, the protest highlighted a sharp legal and moral divide.
While Tom Byrne, 70, watched a family in a passing car yell and gesture obscenities at the group — an act he called “teaching hate” — others in the crowd focused on the constitutional breakdown they believe federal immigration agents represent.
Christine Carsman, a retired investment management lawyer from Jupiter, held a sign reading “ICE Out, Due Process is for Everyone.” Having moved to Florida from Massachusetts, she spoke with the precision of her former profession about the erosion of legal norms.
“I’m heartbroken, frankly, over what’s happening in our country,” Carsman said. “The lack of due process being afforded immigrants, people standing up to voice their opinion being called terrorists — that’s not our country. That’s not America.”
Trump administration officials have argued that policies are intended to target criminals and that anyone in the U.S. without documentation has broken the law. To Carsman, however, the current execution of immigration enforcement has become untethered from those same laws.
“We’ve always had immigration enforcement in our country, but it has always acted in a way that respected the constitutional rights of the people,” she said. “Now, due process has just disappeared along with the people. People are being picked up without any opportunity to demonstrate why they’re here or what they’re doing.
“And that’s just wrong. It’s wrong and it’s illegal.”
For Carsman, the local immigration raids were part of a larger, more violent pattern across the country. She spoke specifically of her outrage over the news coming out of the Midwest.
“I don’t know how anybody can be seeing the news and seeing what’s happening in our neighborhoods in Minneapolis without being upset and wanting to speak out,” she said.
Carsman connected the lack of due process for immigrants to the recent deaths of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti in shootings involving ICE agents.
“The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti as protesters, people exercising their First Amendment right, is just the latest horrific action of, really, a series of horrific actions that have resulted in people being harmed all year long,” she said. “It’s got to stop.”
Behind the signs and the shouting was a layer of personal anxiety.
Amanda, a Palm Beach Gardens resident since 2003 who declined to give her last name, admitted that she had been afraid to even show up to the protest.
“I actually was afraid to come,” Amanda said, noting she was there by herself. “Because there’s so much hate.”
She held a sign that read “United Against ICE” on one side, motivated by what she described as a “rapidly creeping” fascism and the disappearance of innocent people.
“There are too many people that have been rallied up and disappear,” she said. “Nobody knows where they are.”
Although the day was one of the coldest of the year, with near-record cold forecast to follow it, Amanda expressed disappointment that the crowd wasn’t larger, recalling previous “No Kings” marches that drew thousands to the area.
“I don’t feel like people are upset enough,” Carsman said of the general public. “They’re too complacent in their own lives to worry about what’s happening to the next person.
“Our country stands for some beautiful things,” Carsman said. “And, wow, it’s just being trampled.”
Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on X at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today.
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