Anti-ICE protests continue at Arizona Capitol after numerous walkouts at Valley schools

PHOENIX — Following a federal immigration crackdown, which has included two fatal shootings of citizens in Minneapolis and reached Zipps Sports Grills in Arizona this month, about 1,000 Valley protesters gathered at the state Capitol to express their displeasure with the agency’s actions.

The Phoenix branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation helped orchestrate the Valley gathering, which coincided with a nationwide general strike on Friday protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Protestors gathered at the Arizona Capitol on Friday as part of nationwide anti‑ICE demonstrations sparked by the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and other recent deaths involving federal agents.@heidi_hommel is on the scene. pic.twitter.com/cY1fWzUo7E

— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) January 30, 2026

“Now is the decisive moment,” PSL Phoenix said in a social media post. “The Minnesota General Strike has given us a historic opening. If we all take a stand now, we can stop the killings and the kidnappings and end Trump’s war on our most basic rights.”

The gathering at the capitol building came after students from dozens of schools walked out during their schooldays as a protest earlier in the day.

Cynthia Sandoval from Chandler was one of the many Valley people out at the gathering, saying she did so to honor her family as the daughter of a single mother of two who came from southern Mexico.

“I’m fighting here for all of them,” Sandoval told KTAR News. “If it wasn’t for my mom’s sacrifice to provide her kids a better life, then I wouldn’t be here. And I am contributing to the science community (studying cancer out of the University of Arizona).”

"We don't see it as the news. It's not this objective thing … I look at that and that's my sister, that's my mom. It can be any of us."

Cynthia from Chandler told @heidi_hommel she sees ICE's crackdown as a very personal and "inhumane" issue. pic.twitter.com/XqRdFeaQ6z

— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) January 31, 2026

Sandoval said she personally knows people who have been impacted by the crackdown, and she’s working to ensure it doesn’t happen to others she knows.

Brandon from Scottsdale said he’s seen standards not line up from the Republican party in how it views the Second Amendment when comparing situations of Republicans bringing assault weapons to protests to when Pretti was shot in part for having a gun, despite being licensed to carry.

KTAR News’ Heidi Hommel contributed to this story.

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