Protesters gather across the streets from Gainbridge Fieldhouse for the From LA to Indy: Ice Out! protest June 11, 2025, in Indianapolis. (Credit: Claire Nguyen/Mirror Indy)
Jacob Moore was downtown searching for a last minute Pacers ticket. Then, he joined the protest.
His yellow jersey stood out in a growing crowd across the street from Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where Game 3 of the NBA Finals would soon be underway. As fans filed in, others gathered to protest the Trump administration’s immigration raids across the country.
There was Maria, a 20-year-old from the far east side. She carried her heritage with a Mexican flag. But she wouldn’t share her family name, afraid it would draw attention to loved ones living in Indianapolis without legal permission.
“I’m fighting for those who can’t,” she said. “For those who live in fear.”
Junior, a 24-year-old from the west side, felt the same way. He is a first-born American citizen.
“My parents risked everything to give me this life,” he told Mirror Indy. “I actually have a chance.”
Moore, 35, isn’t directly affected in the same way. But he said what’s happening to neighbors brought him out — including rumored Immigration Customs and Enforcement raids around the city on June 11.
“It really put a damper on today’s festivities,” Moore said. “There’s no better way to show our rights as a free country than protesting.”
He and the two others, all strangers to each other, melted into a crowd that appeared to surpass at least 800 people marching through downtown — chanting, dancing and even spraying silly string. Organizers from the Indianapolis chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation said at one point, the crowd swelled to 1,000 people.
Some held signs that said, “I stand with Siakam, not ICE abductions.”
A star forward for the Indiana Pacers, Pascal Siakam is from Cameroon. He has spoken publicly about visa troubles, including when he made the gut-wrenching decision to skip his father’s funeral out of fear he wouldn’t be able to re-enter the U.S.
“The same people kidnapping Hoosiers will be cheering on a Pacers team made up of immigrants,” Moore said.
Pacers fans greeted the demonstrators , some with heckles, others with cheers. Drivers honked in support. People carried upside down American flags.
Police, already on the scene for the first NBA championship game hosted in Indianapolis in the last 25 years, followed the protesters on their route. Some officers carried pepper ball launchers for crowd control.
Everyone had Los Angeles on their minds.
There, ICE raids in the city’s garment district sparked mass protests. President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard and hundreds of Marines — a move condemned by California leaders for escalating tensions.
Things have remained calm in Indianapolis, one of nearly two dozen cities where sister protests popped up. Protesters here said what’s happening in LA inspired their dissent.
“If we don’t stand up now, things will only get worse,” said Cecilia Gomez, a PSL member who led the protest. “Militarized police might not be in our downtown, but the harm is already here.”
The 28-year-old, who lives downtown, pointed to what’s happening in the Marion County Jail.
More than 400 people have been detained by ICE in the jail at some point this year, records show. Some are facing local criminal charges, Mirror Indy found, but many appear to be solely detained because of immigration status.
Local attorneys say the jail was never used this way before the second Trump administration, and they worry about their clients having due process.
One of the protesters knew first-hand what it was like to fight a case from behind bars.
Jaime Pasillas, an 18-year-old who recently graduated from Arsenal Tech High School, spent about three weeks in immigration custody, including his senior prom night. In April, he was arrested for shoplifting $48.81 in merchandise from Walmart. He has no prior criminal record.
Now, he is facing a deportation order to Mexico — a country his family left when he was 6.
His aunt, Sabrina Disney, brought him to the protest. She called him “baby face,” then pointed at his ankle monitor.
“It’s not right,” she said. “He’s a good kid. He’s been here his entire life.”
At one point, the family peeled off from the protest to wait in line at a taco truck. Pasillas could find out if he’s going to be deported at a hearing on June 27.
They want to stay in the fight, but also spend time together.
This article first appeared on Mirror Indy and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
