Downtown traffic came to a standstill Tuesday evening when about 1,000 Jewish activists and other protesters marched to take a stand against the detention of immigrants across the country.

The crowd, which mobilized in connection to a protest outside a New Jersey detention center on Sunday, carried signs and chanted as it moved from the New England Holocaust Memorial on Congress Street, onto Tremont Street, and into Chinatown on its way to the Suffolk County House of Correction in the South End, The Boston Globe reports.

Eighteen demonstrators were arrested outside the facility, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains immigrants, according to the newspaper.


The protest was organized by a group of Jewish activists and Cosecha, a national immigrant-rights group, the Globe reports. Many pointed to Jewish suffering throughout history while urging the Trump administration to close the detention facilities.

“I think it’s particularly important for Jews, who face anti-Semitism, and have an ancestral history of trauma, to speak out on behalf of other people,” Rabbi Becky Silverstein told the Globe.

LilyFish Gomberg, left, and her sister, Maya Gomberg, listen to a speaker during the protest. —Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

Li Adorno and Emet Ezell lead the crowd down Tremont Street. —Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

A protester is arrested outside of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department in Boston. —Nic Antaya for The Boston Globe

Rick Irving listens and prays during the protest. —Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

Becca Gutman, right, comforts her son Nuriel, 11, as the crowd blocks traffic on Congress Street. —Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

Protesters are arrested outside of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department in Boston. —Nic Antaya for The Boston Globe

Emet Ezell, of Boston, chants during the march and rally. —Nic Antaya for The Boston Globe

Protesters walk through the New England Holocaust Memorial during the march. —Nic Antaya for The Boston Globe