Hundreds crowd Providence City Hall chanting "Melt ICE! Freeze rents!"

"Landlords hoard a basic need, while tenants in this city are being taken advantage of..."

An hour before the Providence City Council convened on Thursday evening to, among other things, introduce a highly anticipated rent stabilization ordinance, hundreds gathered outside in support of the legislation, and in opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terrorizing cities across the nation, including here in Providence. Initially organized by the Providence General Assembly to demand that the city take stronger steps to protect residents from ICE, the protest expanded and deepened after Mayor Brett Smiley signed an Executive Order that effectively satisfied all their demands.

The protest started with a series of speakers before hundreds marched into City Hall with chants such as “Melt ICE! Freeze rents!”

Here’s the video:

Kate, from the Providence General Assembly, began the speeches:

“We are so happy here tonight to continue to push the Mayor and the Providence City Council to keep ICE out of Providence. Some of you might be wondering who sent the demands and who called this rally tonight. I’m here to tell you a little bit about us. I am part of the Providence General Assembly. We are an open, democratic movement space where all anti-fascist and truly progressive forces can coordinate and strategize a way to fight back and build a better world.

“We have semi-autonomous working groups that engage in a variety of organizing projects, as well as groups that manage the facilitation and planning of the meetings we hold twice monthly. We would love to see you all there. Over the past year, the PGA has created or contributed to several projects. Our Unhoused Solidarity Working Group formed an ongoing Cop Watch right here in solidarity with unhoused people being harassed by the Providence Police. Our political education working group posts a discussion series on dual power strategies and anti-repression.

“Our next meeting will be at AS220 on February 12th, and you are all welcome to join us. You’ll hear a little bit more about our Immigrant Solidarity Working Group subgroup, which is part of the Community Defense Working Group, in just a few minutes, because that’s most related to what we’re doing here tonight. The PGA has served as a stable springboard for acts of resistance and a model of radical direct democracy. This collective experience of building horizontal political power has created a cohesive space for action by people who were mostly strangers to each other a short time ago, and now we’re all working here with you.”

Brittany Kubicek, the Rhode Island Democratic Socialists of America:

“The PGA was demanding no ICE on city property, no city collaboration with ICE, and immediate enforcement of these policies, and to get ICE out of our communities. These shouldn’t be controversial. These demands are the bare minimum. The moderate position is to abolish ICE, as has been said many times before. Most people here are older than this agency. This agency was created out of Islamophobic and xenophobic fear in the wake of a national tragedy.

“We have Democrats now, at the national level, talking about how ICE needs better training or should wear body cams. I saw that U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner introduced a bill to limit the use of force.

“What does that even mean? Let’s be real: A trained Nazi is still a Nazi. Jonathan Ross filmed himself executing Renee Good, and nothing happened.

“Now, as many of you are aware, the Mayor just signed an Executive Order banning ICE from city property, but don’t give him too much credit. I mean, this is great. We’ll take these kinds of reforms where we can get them, but it’s not nearly enough. I’m also curious about how he plans to enforce this ordinance. Is he going to have the police protect the citizens from ICE? No.

“Why? This would highlight one of the glaring contradictions of the society we live in. The only thing that the police protect is capital and property. The police are across the street, right now, to prevent us from getting out of hand, while ICE abducts our neighbors from their homes. Do we really think any of these reforms will materially change the reality of the situation?

“Speaking of reform, we have a City Council meeting tonight where they’re introducing rent stabilization, which is an objectively good thing. It took nearly nine years to get to this point. Nine years. By the time this actually passes, it’ll be over 10 years. We have seen our rent skyrocket in this time, and there are massive carve-outs in the bill to keep the landlords happy.

“Forget about the landlords: We need, at a minimum, rent control, and we deserve much more than that. We deserve a rent freeze. We deserve affordable public housing.

“Landlords hoard a basic need, while tenants in this city are being taken advantage of, and homelessness in this state has gone up over 400% since 2020. This continues to show us that reforms are only a band-aid against systemic injustice. Revolution is the only solution. We keep us safe.”

More on the Rent Stabilization ordinance:

Providence has the fastest rent growth in the country, even while the national median rent decreased. The median rent in Providence is 40% higher today than it was in 2020. Rising costs have forced working families out of the city and have directly contributed to rising rates of homelessness. Since March 2020, Providencehas experienced more than 24,000 evictions. Between 2023 and 2024, Rhode Island experienced a 35% rise in homelessness, the second-highest increase in the country.

See also: Providence City Council introduces rent stabilization ordinance.

Sponsoring councilors developed the ordinance to create stability and predictability for Providence renters while supporting a healthy housing market. It allows owners of covered properties to raise rents up to 4% annually, includes exceptions for major tax increases and substantial capital improvements, provides for exemptions for a variety of properties, including new construction and small owner-occupied buildings, and establishes a Rent Board to enforce tenant protections, grant exemptions to property owners, and resolve disputes. The ordinance is a balanced, Providence-specific approach—one that stabilizes housing for Providence families while ensuring property owners achieve a fair rate of return.

“Providence renters are cost-burdened—we are the least affordable city for renters in the country. We have to act now to create some stability for Providence families,” said Council President Rachel Miller. “This ordinance takes immediate action to give residents the breathing room they need. It stabilizes costs, slows a runaway rent pricing problem that will not regulate itself, and prevents our residents from being forced out of our city, all without slowing growth.”

Notable features of the Providence Rent Stabilization Ordinance include:

• Caps annual rent increases at 4%. A landlord cannot raise the rent by more than 4% in any 12-month period, absent a special circumstance.

• Sets the base rent to the rent charged 180 days before the ordinance takes effect, preventing last-minute price spikes.

• Establishes a Rent Board to administer and enforce the rules. This five-member board and its staff will review landlord petitions for larger increases, hear tenant complaints, and ensure the ordinance is followed fairly.

• Tenants can report suspected violations and are protected from any landlord retaliation for exercising their rights. The Rent Board can roll back unlawful rent hikes, order landlords to refund overcharged rent, and the City can levy fines for serious violations.

• Exemptions for small, owner-occupied buildings with one to three units, such as duplexes and triple-deckers, where the owner lives on-site. A narrow exemption for one additional small property owned by the same individual (not a corporation).

• A 15-year exemption for new construction, including currently existing buildings, to ensure that rent stabilization does not interfere with housing production or financing.

• Built-in flexibility for landlords to address major expenses. Owners can seek approval for a higher rent increase if they make significant capital improvements or have other special circumstances that require a larger increase to ensure they can earn a fair return.

• Automatic flexibility for large property tax increases, allowing landlords to pass on a fair portion of unusually high tax hikes above a 5% threshold using a clear formula.

• Rent can be increased by 4% only once when a tenant moves out and a new tenant moves in, maintaining stability through vacancies.

• Complaint-based enforcement, allowing tenants to report violations without creating a large new bureaucracy or annual reporting burden on property owners.

• Utility charges must reflect actual costs, ensuring landlords can only pass through the real cost of utilities and not mark them up.

• Properties must be up to code to qualify for annual rent increases, meaning landlords must maintain safe, habitable buildings to apply the standard 4% increase.

Last year, the Council’s Housing Crisis Task Force concluded a two-year investigation into the issues residents—including those at risk of homelessness—face in finding and keeping stable housing with the release of an extensive report, which included rent stabilization among its recommendations.

To address commonly asked questions, the councilors sponsoring the ordinance have compiled an FAQ that will be updated on the City Council’s website.

Jeff, Operation About Face:

“I’m from Boston. I came down because a comrade of mine with About Face invited me. If you haven’t heard of About Face, it is a post-9/11 veteran organization. We are anti-imperial, anti-colonial, and we’re trying to build a movement against fascism.

“A little bit about me: I’m a Marine Corps vet. I served in Iraq. The reason I served? I’m a third-generation vet. I found out recently that my grandfather on my dad’s side, and both of my grandparents on my mom’s side, were in the military fighting the fucking Nazis in World War II, so what’s been happening this past year, not to sugarcoat it, triggered me. I don’t want to see these fucking Nazis in our streets.

“There’s no room for Nazis in a country that helped defeat them 80 years ago. This last year has been hell, but let’s be honest, this is just a massive acceleration of what has been coming for at least 20 years - probably my whole life. For my whole life, I’ve heard anti-immigrant propaganda about them stealing jobs. They have been priming us for this moment my entire life, so I’m glad to see so many people out here willing to push back against it.

“Everybody’s seen what’s been going on in Minnesota. Minneapolis is making the headlines, but it’s all over Minnesota. One of our comrades was assaulted last week by these ICE fascist goons. We know that ICE is getting Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and Oath Keepers to join ICE, and that these guys do not care about committing acts of violence, so when you go out doing ICE Watch, don’t go out by yourself. It’s standard practice: Be safe. Be in a group.

“We’ve gotten a lot of news about ICE just today. They’re cutting off medical treatment for detainees. We know they’ve been beating them. They strangled a man in detention in Texas. A memo just leaked, saying they don’t need warrants to break into your houses.

“It’s real, but it shouldn’t be real, right?

“It’s not over. When Trump is gone, this is going to be a long, hard struggle. First, we need to get these fascists out of office. Then we need to ensure they face consequences for their actions. Some of the worst mistakes ever made in recent history were not holding George Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and all those war criminals accountable for Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re not going to let it happen again.

“We didn’t get here because the system has failed us. We need to keep up the pressure and vote out the Democrats who are supporting ICE. Last year, they voted to thank ICE. Vote out the Democrats who gave ICE more funding than most of the militaries around the world. You are here because you want rent stabilization. Rent freezes. Think of what could be done with the money they are giving to ICE, the money Trump wants to give to the military.

“If you haven’t heard, last year’s military budget was $1 trillion. Trump wants to increase it by 50%. I heard a Canadian politician talk about universal basic income. We could have that if we didn’t increase the military budget by half a trillion dollars. Anyway, I got the signal. I’m rambling. Thank you all for coming out.”

©2026 San Shoppell

San Shoppell, the Providence General Assembly:

“We, the people of Rhode Island, people like me and you, the Providence General Assembly, and multiple community organizations, have been actively protecting our community members against ICE activities since the early days of 2025. That’s you, me, and community members.

“On January 8th, the Providence General Assembly held an emergency rally right here and presented concrete demands to the City of Providence: No ICE on city property; prohibit ICE from using city property as staging areas, processing locations, operational bases, or for immigrant enforcement—no city collaboration withICE. Reinforce the agreement that our Providence Police Department is not collaborating with ICE - not on the streets, not in the public schools, not in the libraries. We wanted action now. We couldn’t wait any longer. It needed to be done. We wanted ICE out of our communities, and we wanted our communities to be safe.

“But it doesn’t stop at city property. It’s the whole city. We circulated detailed versions of this demand throughout the city for the last two weeks at protests and on telephone polls, handing them out to our neighbors and friends, and on January 20th, Mayor Smiley signed Executive Order 2026-1, which met our demands almost word for word.

“We, the people of Providence and the greater Rhode Island community, deserve elected officials who listen and take action. Yes, this was a win. Yes, he signed an EO. Yes, ICE out of Providence, out of our schools, parks, and vacant lots. No Providence Police Department collaboration with ICE. None.

“We acknowledge this is a win, but why did it take so long? This happened because people like you and me demanded it, with the threat of direct action if our demands were not met. The signing of the EO is a small step in the right direction, but we know that this EO alone will not keep everyone safe. We need to go door to door to make sure every space in our city has one of those signs. One of the signs that we demanded in our proclamation was that the Mayor produce. We need to help our neighbors in Pawtucket, Central Falls, and everywhere else to demand ICE out of our cities and states.

“We need to do some grassroots organizing in our schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, and places of worship. We need to build resistance to ICE terror, truly. For the past year, we at the Immigrant Solidarity Subgroup of the Providence General Assembly have been working to do exactly that. We have worked alongside pastors in several Latino churches, including Pastor Santiago’s Church, who you’ll hear from tonight, to accompany immigrants and provide protection for churches during services under threats of attack from ICE. We have distributed English- and Spanish-language family-prepared zines with resources for those at risk of detention in Rhode Island. We have worked in collaboration with the Rhode Island Deportation Defense Network, volunteering as operators, responding as verifiers to ICE sightings, and creating community outreach groups, helping to keep our community members safe.

“We know more organizing is needed, and we welcome you all to join us at the Providence General Assembly. Join our immigrant solidarity working group to decide collectively and democratically how we fight back against ICE. We stand in solidarity with communities across our nation fighting and being impacted by ICE. L.A., Chicago, Detroit, Salem, North Carolina, Portland, Maine, Minneapolis, and here in Rhode Island.

“We repeat the demand that has been made long before this current administration to shut down the Wyatt. In case you don’t know, the Wyatt is an ICE detention center right here in Central Falls. ICE is not welcome. Fascism advances through the cycle of violence and intimidation. ICE is pairing intimidation and violence in the hopes of creating a populace that cowers and is immobilized by fear. But we are here tonight, standing in solidarity with our community to push back against the injustice of armed goons and thugs roaming our streets.

“Are we going to let these ICE agents terrorize us and commit crimes against our community members?

“No.

“As we stand together, we will beat back these horrors, and we’ll create the type of world we need and deserve. Don’t give up. We have power. We made demands. Demands were met. Let’s make more demands. There is so much work to do. We will welcome anybody who wants to help with this work.”

©2026 San Shoppell

Pastor Santiago Rodriguez Vima Rodriguez from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church:

“I want to thank the General Providence General Assembly for their solidarity and for the work they’re doing to stand with us against ICE. During the holidays, November through December, we were receiving threats that ICE was going to enter churches, and the Providence General Assembly sent their armies to protect all of our community. Let’s give a round of applause to this organization.

“There were many crises. A family was rescued after being evicted from their home because they couldn’t afford the rent. And quickly, this organization raised the funds needed to keep this family afloat during this crisis.

“We want to congratulate this organization for the great work that they’re doing. This organization is a mix of great people. I will come with them wherever they need me to. I am here because I am part of this army that is gathering to fight against ICE and tell ICE to get out of Providence.

“This is a city of hospitality. It is a city rich in diversity, and immigrants have been a great blessing to it. This city has been characterized by its welcoming attitude toward everyone. So let’s continue standing. Let’s continue fighting because, in the end, we will have victory, and we will all enjoy it together. Let’s repeat together: We are not afraid. We are not afraid. We will continue to fight together. We are not afraid.”

Revolutionary Student Union:

“Thank you to the father for speaking. Those were wise words. We are an army. We are an army of the people, and our enemies are the white fascists in the White House, the white fascist in City Hall, and the white fascists on Capitol Hill.

“We live in a dying empire. This country started with slavery and the genocide of the indigenous peoples, and it ends with the separation of families and the funneling of immigrants into death camps. Let us be honest for just one second. We are watching a modern-day Holocaust unfold. And it’s not just the one in Palestine, it’s happening right here in this country.

“We don’t see it on our phones, but the American Auschwitz is there, locked behind closed doors in the deepest and darkest corners of this society. It’s disgusting. When men declare who should or should not inhabit the earth, then it is the right of the people to say we do not wish to share the earth with them. It is always darkest before the dawn. And if you watch the news and see what’s happening in our society, we are at the dawn of our revolution. We are in the dawn of a new political age in America.

“The day will come when no mother will fear their child’s abduction by ICE and when no father will be sent to prison camps and foreign countries. This all starts today. It starts with a united people fighting lockstep. There is no room for opportunists in this revolution.

“Here’s the thing: I know who my enemy is. I know who my enemies are, and it’s not the men who travel, life and limb, in pursuit of a better life for their families. Good men, like my papa, who came to this country after the Nazi occupation of Greece, who dared to dream of a better life.

“This weekend, PDC and RSU took down a banner put up by the fascist group. Patriot Front. That banner referred to the immigrant as the invader. But it is clear to me that the only invaders in this country are the men in masks who separate families and unconstitutionally put people in jail. Judas had the decency to kill himself. But you have these ice agents running around collecting their $50,000 pieces of silver, and it’s disgusting.

“We must make it so that they must walk the earth in shame for the crimes that they’ve committed. Just as the Nazis walked in shame for the crimes they committed against the Slavs, Jews, and the Roma, ICE must be shamed for generations. Our revolution is waiting in the wings, and the day is going to come for you to take a stand for what is right and just. You’ve just got to look at Minneapolis. People are calling for a general strike. It might not be tomorrow, it might be next week, but that day is coming, and when that day comes, you must answer the call.

“Show me what you’re fighting for! Revolution! People’s war! Revolution! People’s war! Show me what you’re fighting for!”

Charlie, Providence Organization of Workers and Renters (POWR):

“The Providence Organization of Workers and Renters (POWR) is an organization of tenants and workers building power to take control of our neighborhoods, workplaces, and community institutions through democratic organizing and direct action. Some of the things that POWR has done over the last three years: we’ve supported our members through struggles against slumlords, we’ve been a source of community knowledge and political education for hundreds of workers and tenants, and we’ve shaped the landscape of tenant organizing in Providence by putting out concrete demands for a rent freeze and for housing justice.

“We are here today in solidarity with the PGA and everyone everywhere fighting to protect their neighborhoods and communities from ICE. We know that it’s always right to stand up when communities are under attack and that all of our struggles are connected. We also know how closely linked tenant worker organizing and immigrant solidarity are and need to be in the face of fascism. In cities like Chicago, Minneapolis, and L.A., people are using neighborhood-level community defense in the form of rapid-response and mutual-aid networks to protect their neighbors from police, ICE, landlords, and other threats.

“Organizers in those cities and others are also calling for citywide eviction moratoriums to protect people who are feeling the economic and psychological impact of ICE terror. Whether that means a family member of theirs has already been detained or deported, or they’re afraid that going to work means they’ll get swept up in an ICE raid and not come home, we need these things as tenants.

“Just this morning, as our comrade mentioned earlier, the news reported on an internal memo that says ICE agents have the power to forcibly enter our homes without a judicial warrant. So, while Providence may not yet be facing the level of ICE activity that many of these larger cities are, ICE has been here since long before this administration, intimidating our community members and tearing families apart.

“We need to shut down the Wyatt. And we know that strengthening our relationships with our neighbors is the best way to prepare for when things get even worse. Even if you’re not ready to form a tenant union on your block or in your building (which POWR would be happy to help you do), you can always start by getting to know your neighbors better. Maybe you know your neighbors. You could consider scheduling a meeting to discuss how you would protect each other from ICE. Or if that’s not as much of a concern for you, then maybe it’s how you organize concrete solidarity efforts to protect people in your community who are going to be more materially impacted.

“We are also here tonight because in a few moments, legislation for rent stabilization will be introduced in the Providence City Council. POWR supports all efforts to curb the outrageous rents in this city. We are strongly in favor of rent controls, although we do condemn the carve-outs made to this legislation in anticipation of opposition by the landlord lobby and Mayor Smiley. We think we need much more. We can’t stop here. Rents have gone up at least 40% since 2020. We need to freeze rents for at least several years, and actually lower them before any more of our neighbors are displaced from Providence or to the streets.

“As the cost of living here continues to climb, and crisis after crisis builds on each other, many of us are already living where the rent is too high, where our paint is full of lead, our ceilings are leaking, and our heat doesn’t work. So we reiterate POWR’s demands for housing justice: freeze the rent, no more evictions, no rent for slumlords, justice for the unhoused, and permanently affordable housing.

“We are going to march into City Hall to make our demands heard. And after we’re done, we want to come back outside and have a community speak out to hear what all of you have to say about how we abolish ICE and build tenant and worker power to defend each other from fascism.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have jail support available. We’ll be passing out cards. It is fully all right to be inside, but if anyone is messing with you, we have observers from the National Lawyers Guild here, and we want everyone to keep each other safe. So with that, let’s melt ICE and freeze rents.”

Michael Araujo, Providence Workers’ Defense:

“We have the intention right here. There are enough people that we know that with one more step, we have it all, right? One stamp of our foot. Go ahead, try it. One more stamp of that foot. Make it louder, louder, louder! That’s the sound of the heartbeat of a revolution. Every single step you take moves us that much closer to our own liberation. I work with Providence Workers’ Defense.

“Organizers in those cities and others are also calling for citywide eviction moratoriums to protect people who are feeling the economic and psychological impact of ICE terror. Whether that means a family member of theirs has already been detained or deported, or they’re afraid that going to work means they’ll get swept up in an ICE raid and not come home, we need these things as tenants.

“How do we hold a Mayor accountable?

“I heard ‘guillotine.’ That’s the right answer. It’s only through our actions that we hold a person like that accountable until we eliminate them. And yeah, I know that sounds like a threat. When we have the intention, we start to move. But here in this room, we now have the capacity. Intention plus capacity equals liberation.

“Every day, if you talk to one more person and say, ‘Come to this meeting. Come to this rally. Come talk about this. Come act.’ You are moving us that much closer to liberating Providence for every working-class person who lives here. We do these acts not just for ourselves, even though it’s ourselves who need deliberation, but for tomorrow.

“Landlords don’t care about tomorrow. They have an inverted sense of their importance. Landlords like to pretend that they provide housing, yet if we don’t pay rent, they have no house. It’s the workers of Providence who provide housing to those parasites.

“That brings me back to one more thing: Every aspect of everything that we fight for returns to the land. This land was taken unjustly through genocide, trickery, and slaughter. We know the story even though our teachers tell us lies about it. They murdered, they diseased, they poisoned, and then they got rewarded and celebrated for that theft. That’s what the landlord does—ethnic cleansing, which is what happened here to the Narragansetts, Nipmuck, and Pokanokets. People like the Wampanoag, who were forcibly expelled by settlers like Roger Williams (even though they pretend he was good), are celebrated.

“The link between eviction, ICE, and landlords is that it’s all part of the same system. It destabilizes working-class people, keeps us pitted against each other, and scrambling for those few dollars to keep the wolves from our door. We could say no more to that, but you have to choose to want it.

“If we’re going to fight fascism - and the landlords and ICE are a version of fascism - we have to commit to the fight. We don’t have time for half measures, and we don’t have time for chants of “Shame!” when we know those motherfuckers don’t feel shame. In Providence, where the eviction and unhoused rate has gone up 40%- let me rephrase that: How many people here are renters? [More than half the hands are raised.] Do you own land?

“So you’re landless. What about the unhoused? Do they have land? What about our elders who are scrambling to keep up with the property taxes this administration keeps raising year after year, until they have to leave their homes that took generations to build? Are they now landless?

“This is not just a working-class movement; this is a landless movement. This is a movement that has something in common from Pawtucket to Palestine, from Caracas to Cranston. And we know that when we stomp our feet and feel the anger, it’s our hearts telling us we deserve more. We’re not just fighting for our selfish needs today, but for our children and all their tomorrows, 7, 14, 21 generations on.

“We can do better. Until the monster of capitalism and the greed of the landlords with their armed enforcers and their ICE agents that cause terror are brought to bear and made accountable by the working class people of Providence, nothing will change.

“We need to declare ourselves committed to revolutionary action. To step forward. That means we have no more time for symbolic gestures like Brett Smiley has offered. The landlords are graced by our generosity, by giving them the chance to have an ordinance, because the alternative is that we take what belongs to us.

“The demands of working people, the demands of the landless, are humble. We demand land, we demand peace, and we demand bread. And unless we get those things when we ask, we have to be prepared to take those things when we need them.

“About 60 years ago, a comrade had our people chant. I am a revolutionary. I’m a communist. I make no bones about it. The way an artist wants to fill the world with art, and a violinist with music, a communist wants to fill the world with a committed community of revolutionary joy. Declare yourself a revolutionary right here, right now, without fear, because I am...?”

Crowd: A revolutionary!