NEW YORK (RNS) — Hundreds of protesters gathered at Union Square in Manhattan on Monday afternoon (April 6) for a Passover Seder to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policies and corporations working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The demonstration, organized by Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, ended in front of the nearby headquarters of the technological giant Palantir. An ICE contractor since 2011, Palantir has a $30 million contract with the agency for ImmigrationOS, a platform tracking self-deportations and visa overstays.
As hundreds of protesters chanted “Shut down Palantir” and “Let my people go” outside of the building, a dozen held a sit-in in the lobby. The group, all wearing T-shirts reading “Abolish ICE,” gathered around a black banner that read “ICE kidnaps, Palantir profits. Let my people go.”
Shortly after the protesters arrived in front of the headquarters, the New York Police Department entered the building and arrested about 15 protesters, according to JFREJ. Rabbi Abby Stein, formerly part-time rabbi of Brooklyn’s progressive Kolot Chayeinu congregation, was among the protesters who held the sit-in.
“As Jews and as New Yorkers, we know all too well that when one group of people is surveilled, we are all in danger,” Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg, founder of the progressive Queens congregation Malkhut, told the crowd parked in front of the company’s headquarters.
Monday’s demonstration was part of JFREJ’s Seder in the Streets, one of the group’s long-standing Passover traditions. In 2024, JFREJ held one to denounce the Bid …
