Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Copley Square Tuesday for a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the second Trump administration.

“I think that issues are always going to come up and change, but our analysis is always pretty clear, which is like all of these different attacks,” Boston Democrats Socialists of America co-chair Bonnie Jin told Boston.com. “Whether it is the illegal intervention in Venezuela or the militarism that we have seen in our streets in Minnesota, it’s all connected to this attack on working people.”

Using the bitter cold weather as a motivator, organizers led protesters in a chant of “It’s cold out, but the struggle is hot.” The sub-freezing temperatures later became a tongue-in-cheek segue into chants of “F— ICE.”

Representatives from the Boston branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Boston Democratic Socialists of America, and the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network delivered speeches. Students from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and Somerville High School who participated in the walkouts also spoke out.

“Whether it’s ICE terror in our communities, attacks on healthcare and SNAP, wars abroad, they think that using force and strength and bullying is going to beat us into submission,” Joe Tache, a PSL organizer, said in his speech. “It’s not going to happen because the truth is that is not strength; it’s cowardice masked as strength.”

Organized by the Boston PSL , the rally followed a nationwide series of walkouts earlier in the day. On the steps of the Boston Public Library, speakers condemned Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts, the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent, and the strike on Venezuela and capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro, by the US.

After hearing from the speakers, protesters marched through Boylston Street and around Boston Common while participating in chants that ranged from defiant (“We want justice, you say how? ICE out of Boston now”) to optimistic (“One year longer, one year stronger”).

Reflecting on how the United States has changed since Jan. 20, 2025 gave many protesters a fresh wave of anger and disgust. For protester Stephen Downey Jr., the one-year point of the second Trump administration was as good a time as any to declare that enough is enough.

“I’m tired of this fascist regime,” Downey Jr. told Boston.com. “I’m tired of this rapist and pedophile and 34 [time] convicted felon sitting in office, ruining everyone’s lives, taking everyone’s health care, and everyone just supporting it. It’s time for us to stand up now and make a choice before it’s too late.”

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Mr. Potato Head may soon be peeled off Rhode Island license plates. After Hasbro announced last year that it was shifting its headquarters to Boston, state lawmakers are now pushing a bill to retire the toy-inspired tags, framing the effort as an overdue act of “self-respect.”

As first reported by the Providence Journal, Rhode Island Reps. Brian Newberry and Thomas Noret co-sponsored a bill introduced last Wednesday to remove the specialty plates. 

“Hasbro abandoned the State, causing untold economic harm and loss of tax revenue,” Newberry said in a statement to Boston.com on Friday. “There is no reason we should be advertising their products on our license plates.”

He continued, “It may seem trivial compared to many other things, but it’s a matter of self-respect.”

Neither Noret nor Hasbro returned a request for comment Friday. 

According to the legislation, drivers who already purchased the special plates would be allowed to keep them. However, they wouldn’t be allowed to transfer them to a new car or a family member’s vehicle.

Half of the proceeds from the plates, which say “Help End Hunger” and cost $40, goes to the Division of Motor Vehicles and the other half to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. 

According to the food bank’s website, the state began issuing Mr. Potato Head plates in 2002. Designers made the plates to commemorate the toy’s 50th anniversary. The food bank has raised more than $50,000 from them since. 

The food bank was not pleased to hear that the Legislature may soon scrap the plates, saying in a comment to Boston.com on Friday that the demand for emergency food assistance reached historic highs last year. 

“With additional federal cuts and policy changes on the horizon, the need will be greater than ever moving forward,” Kate MacDonald, a food bank spokesperson, said. “Every source of support for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank — and by extension our network of 137 member agencies — matters.” 

MacDonald said the nonprofit is eager to engage key stakeholders to explore opportunities to maintain this source of income. 

Rep. Newberry said he’d be open to a different license plate design, suggesting “perhaps the Big Blue Bug or Del’s Lemonade or some other RI institution.”

Beth Treffeisen is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on local news, crime, and business in the New England region.

Segun Idowu, a top Wu cabinet official accused of sexual misconduct by a former city employee, is resigning from his post as Boston’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion next month, Mayor Michelle Wu’s office confirmed.

Idowu’s resignation is effective Feb. 27. He is the latest high-ranking official to leave the Wu administration after the mayor’s reelection to a second term.

“Under Chief Idowu’s leadership, Boston’s neighborhoods have become more vibrant, inclusive, and connected,” Wu said Monday in a statement. “Over the last four years, his efforts helped transform systems and make opportunities accessible to all, from filling vacant storefronts through innovative programs to support local businesses, to boosting supplier diversity in city contracting and bolstering wealth building and entrepreneurship throughout Boston’s neighborhoods and downtown.

“His work has helped Boston rebound from the pandemic as a thriving city where companies and their employees want to work and live. I’m thankful for his service to the city of Boston and dedication to our community,” the mayor added.

Idowu’s departure comes after months of scrutiny over his alleged involvement in a City Hall love triangle that left two city employees fired after a domestic dispute last May.

Marwa Khudaynazar, the city’s ex-chief of staff for the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, filed a lawsuit against City Hall last September that claims the city “destroyed” her life by unfairly firing her to protect Idowu, a top Wu administration official she had accused of sexual misconduct, and spare the mayor of a scandal during an election year.

Khudaynazar claims that Idowu, the city’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion and the boss of her then-boyfriend Chulan Huang, propositioned her, which sparked the alleged domestic dispute between her and Huang that led to both of their arrests and dismissals days later by the city.

Idowu has denied any wrongdoing through his attorney Jeffrey Robbins, while pointing to a city-commissioned investigation that found he did not violate any city workforce policies.