1,000 demonstrators march in downtown Salt Lake City for anti-ICE protest
Jun 12, 2025, 9:10 PM | Updated: Jun 13, 2025, 5:01 pm
Protesters march in downtown Salt Lake City as part of an anti-ICE protest on July 12, 2025. (Andy Cupp, KSL NewsRadio)
(Andy Cupp, KSL NewsRadio)
SALT LAKE CITY — An estimated 1,000 people attended a protest in downtown Salt Lake City Thursday evening, and police said in the aftermath it was “mostly peaceful” with only one arrest made.
The Salt Lake City Police Department initially said about 600 people were demonstrating, but updated that number on Friday morning to an estimated 1,000 people at maximum.
Police Chief Brian Redd said his department was “thankful that tonight’s demonstration remained mostly peaceful.”
“We also want to thank those organizers and participants who made a genuine effort to keep things lawful and respectful — that is our expectation and doing so respects the values of our community,” he said. “As there are future demonstrations, we expect everyone to follow the law and to avoid confrontations that could turn violent.”
Organizers said the protest was “from LA to SLC,” in response to recent protests that took place in Los Angeles, garnering the attention of majority of the country and prompting President Donald Trump to deploy roughly 4,000 National Guard members to the area. A federal judge later ruled the move was “illegal” on Trump’s part, and an appeals judge issued a stay on the matter hours later.
The protests, including Thursday in SLC, have been a response to recent immigration enforcement actions taken by the Trump administration and members of the U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement Agency.
“It kind of reached a boiling point for me where it’s like … OK, now I have to go out and like do something about it,” said protester Georgia Metcalf, during Thursday’s protest. “I think it’s super important that we practice our civil liberties and our right to free speech.”
“We hurt everywhere,” said Anna Ramirez on Thursday. “Regardless of whether it’s in California or here.”
KSL’s Chopper 5 captures an aerial view of demonstrators marching in downtown Salt Lake City on June 12, 2025. (Jack Grimm, KSL TV)
Small tensions in SLC
Hundreds gathered at Washington Square Park around 5:30 p.m. Thursday and began marching around the surrounding streets for hours. Around 8 p.m., the group began to disperse.
A brief squabble broke out early in the evening after a small pro-Trump group arrived. As one protestor addressed the crowd speaking Spanish, an individual from the group was heard on footage yelling out: “can you speak in English please?”
The crowd responded to the comment, and a small portion of it became physical for a moment before quickly dwindling.
A small squabble broke out at a downtown Salt Lake Protest after a group of Trump supporters arrived and called for a woman speaking Spanish to the crowd to speak English. (Avi Robledo, KSL TV)
One arrest
Police said it wasn’t until after the crowd had mostly departed, at approximately 9 p.m., that a fight broke out near 400 South and State Street, prompting the only arrest of the evening.
According to court documents, the person arrested was identified as Gomez Lander, 22, after he was caught on SLCPD drone footage and recorded by a witness ripping an American flag out of another person’s hands and stomping on it, while a group with Lander assaulted the victim. Lander was then seen punching another person in the face.
Although court documents said a group of people were assaulting the two victims together, Lander was the only one arrested. He was booked on charges of second-degree felony robbery, riot, two counts of assault and criminal mischief — all class B misdemeanors.
In addition to the arrest, police said a parked Tesla was found on 300 East between 100 and 200 South that had been damaged. SLCPD said it was investigating.
Other than those two incidents, police said officers helped a few people with medical emergencies on Thursday.
Demonstrators display signs in the streets of downtown Salt Lake City, during a protest in response to recent immigration enforcement in the country. (Avi Robledo, KSL TV)
More to come
Salt Lake police have been preparing for even more protests, with a particularly large amount of them scheduled on Saturday, which is being called nationally the “day of defiance” against authoritarianism. Several agencies assisted Thursday, police said, including the Department of Public Safety, but the National Guard in Salt Lake did not.
“I also appreciate the hard work of our Salt Lake City police officers and those from allied agencies for their professionalism and coordination,” Redd said. “Our top priority is public safety, which includes doing everything we can to keep safe while protecting our community.”
Contributing: Andrew Adams and Garna Mejia, KSL TV
