DETROIT (WXYZ) — Tensions over immigration enforcement escalated across Southeast Michigan as hundreds of Plymouth-Canton Community Schools students staged a walkout Tuesday afternoon in protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, while religious leaders from multiple faiths called for defunding the federal agency.
The student demonstration, captured by aerial footage, represents the latest in a series of protests against ICE agents operating in the region. The walkout coincided with the White House's announcement that it would pull back 700 of the 3,000 immigration enforcement officers deployed in Minnesota.
Watch Randy Wimbley's video report below:
At St. Paul's Episcopal Church, roughly 60 Episcopalian priests, Jewish rabbis and Muslim imams gathered to condemn what they described as immoral immigration enforcement tactics. The interfaith coalition called on lawmakers to cut funding to ICE, citing concerns over the agency's methods and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
"This may be beginning with immigrants, but if the administration has its way, it surely won't stop there," Rabbi Nate Degroot, director of the Shalom Center, said.
The religious leaders and Christy McGillivray, executive director of Voters Not Politicians, argued there was no room for compromise on the issue.
"Any deal for reform is delusional. ICE agents have violated nearly 100 court orders from just one single Minneapolis judge in the past few months," McGillivray said.
"To spend our public dollars on the systematic abuse of our communities is morally repugnant," Rev. Jill Zundel, pastor emeritus at Central Methodist Church added.
Web extra: Clergy members in metro Detroit talk about impact of immigration enforcement
The enforcement crackdown has impacted local businesses serving immigrant communities, including Maty's African Cuisine. Owner Amadi Gueye said customer traffic has dropped significantly as fear spreads through the community.
"They don't come here to buy food anymore. Everybody's scared. They stay home," Gueye said.
Gueye said his nephew and brother were detained last week, adding to what he described as widespread arrests in the African community.
"This past three weeks, they've taken over 20 people — 20 African people," he said.
While Gueye said he could support ICE funding if agents focused solely on criminals, he believes the current operations are targeting law-abiding residents.
"ICE in the beginning, they say they're looking for criminals, but now they are catching good people," Gueye said.
Sunny Reddy, co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, defended the enforcement actions.
"I strongly support ICE, what they're doing. They're not targeting an individual; they're targeting the people who violated the law," Reddy said.
The Oakland County Republican Party released a statement criticizing the faith leaders' press conference, calling it "another troubling escalation in the radical left's campaign to delegitimize lawful federal immigration enforcement and undermine respect for the rule of law."
The statement compared the movement to "the failed and destructive 'defund the police' movement of 2020, which prioritized slogans over solutions and left communities less safe as a result."
You can read the full statement below:
The increasingly extreme rhetoric coming out of today’s so-called “ICE Out” Interfaith Press Conference marks another troubling escalation in the radical left’s campaign to delegitimize lawful federal immigration enforcement and undermine respect for the rule of law.
Recent tragedies involving federal immigration officers are undeniable and deeply serious. As Brian Szmytke, Senior Advisor to the Oakland County Republican Party noted, “Any loss of life is tragic, and those incidents deserve to be investigated fully and transparently. But we also have to be honest about what has fueled this moment. These tragedies did not occur in a vacuum. They are the foreseeable result of years of dangerous rhetoric from the far left that portrays law enforcement officers as villains and encourages confrontation instead of compliance.”
Rather than working to lower tensions, organizers of today’s event chose to double down on that rhetoric by branding a federal law-enforcement agency as “lawless” and “out of control.” According to Szmytke, “That kind of language is reckless. When activists and political leaders tell people that law enforcement itself is illegitimate, they create an environment where resistance is celebrated and violence becomes more likely. Words have consequences.”
This approach mirrors the failed and destructive “defund the police” movement of 2020, which prioritized slogans over solutions and left communities less safe as a result. “We have already lived through the real-world consequences of demonizing law enforcement,” Szmytke added. “Now we are watching the same playbook get recycled, this time targeting federal officers who are doing the job Congress assigned them.”
"We are not calling for open borders, we are not calling for the end of law — we are calling for an end to masked militarized immigration enforcement inside our communities," Rev. Josephy Alsay, dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, said.
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