When agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) finish a long day of raids and arrests in a new city, they usually retreat to a midscale hotel to rest, recuperate, and prepare to do it all again.
But across the country, activists hoping to disrupt the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown are stepping in to ensure that those agents do not sleep. These noisy protests outside hotels where agents are staying have become a key tactic of anti-ICE activists.
“Immigrant families aren’t sleeping well right now either,” Megan Newcomb, a 33-year-old Minneapolis resident and one of the organizers of a hotel demonstration in her home city last week, tells TIME. “If people staying at these hotels experience the anger and frustration of our community, maybe they can empathize and support impacted communities.”
Read more: New Yorkers Are Thwarting ICE Raids, Highlighting Challenges for Trump’s Crackdown in Nation’s Immigrant Capital
The ‘No Sleep for Ice’ protests, as organizers have dubbed them, began in Los Angeles during the summer and have since spread nationwide. The protests hit the news again last week, following a nighttime protest in Edina, Minnesota.
At 7 p.m. on Dec 11, about 150 people gathered outside the Homewood Suites by Hilton in the town to protest the hotel for reportedly hosting ICE agents. The protesters chanted, marched in circles around the hotel, and made sustained noise meant to deny ICE agents the ability to rest comfortably, Newcomb says. A smaller number gathered the next evening for a second night.
“The energy was incredible,” Newcomb says. “At times it felt like a dance party.”
The goal of the protests, Newcomb explains, is twofold: to pressure hotels to stop housing ICE agents and disrupt agents’ ability to operate efficiently. She adds that organizers verify through several sources before targeting a hotel where ICE agents are staying.
“Without sharing our methods, I want to be clear that we make…
