On a Saturday afternoon in freezing temperatures, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor residents braved the cold to stand up to Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in Washtenaw County and beyond.
On Jan. 31, 2026, about 70 community members flanked the corners of the busy Huron Parkway and Washtenaw Avenue intersection. Amid 17-degree temperatures, protesters waved signs and elicited honks of support from drivers passing by.
“I’ve been fighting these things my whole life,” said Cheryl Brooks, an Ypsilanti resident and Eastern Michigan University alumna. She said she marched in the Civil Rights Movement during the Martin Luther King Jr. era. She said it is absurd that she is still fighting for the same issues today that she did back then.
After President Donald Trump was re-elected, Brooks considered moving out of the country but decided not to.
Ypsilanti resident Cheryl Brooks waves a sign at a Jan. 31, 2026, rally against Immigration and Customs Enforcement action at the corner of Huron Parkway and Washtenaw Avenue.
“I had to stay here and fight," Brooks said. "I couldn’t just disappear.”
Protesters at the rally mentioned the recent killings of ICU nurse Alex Pretti and mother Renée Good in Minneapolis as reasons to show out in the cold on Saturday. Pretti and Good were killed by ICE agents earlier this month, prompting outcry from Minneapolis residents and nationwide protests. Other protesters mentioned ICE presence in Washtenaw County as a concern that brought them to the streets.
“People are being murdered and kidnapped,” said Ypsilanti resident Savanah Cobleigh.
Ann Arbor resident Elizabeth Baker said she took a Constitution review class last year, and she said she feels called to action by executive violations of the First Amendment, attacks on journalists, and the overreach of ICE.
“It is necessary for all of us to come together and make our voices heard,” Baker said.
America was not founded on a common heritage, Baker said, but rather the common values expressed in the Constitution.
“In America, we believe in the idea that every human has an inherent value,” Baker said. “That’s what makes America great.”
Tattoo artist and Ann Arbor resident Hannah Blackburn, holding a sign that said, “No one is illegal on stolen land,” said that most people have more in common than they realize.
Tattoo artist Hannah Blackburn raises a sign in support during a Jan. 31, 2026, rally against Immigration and Customs Enforcement action at the corner of Huron Parkway and Washtenaw Avenue.
“I want humans to remember that we’re all on the same team,” Blackburn said. “I think it’s important to speak up against people who actively cause harm.”
“When you see your fellow people getting hurt, you gotta stand up against that,” Blackburn added.
