Hundreds joined the digital town hall hosted by Feminist Generation, Free Speech For People, and Women’s March, featuring Rep. Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 27, 2026) Feminist Generation, Free Speech For People, and Women’s March hosted a national International Women’s Day Digital Town Hall last night titled “Abolish ICE and Justice for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence,” bringing together hundreds of advocates, organizers, and community members from across the country to confront the harms of immigration enforcement and demand real accountability and safety for survivors.

The event featured Rep. Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), who discussed the urgent need to end abuses within the Department of Homeland Security and highlighted the Melt ICE Act, legislation she introduced to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and move the country toward dismantling DHS.

“After handing more than $150B to DHS immigration enforcement, there are those in Congress who would further expand DHS’s budget and ICE’s capacity to enact Trump’s mass deportation agenda. But we have seen what DHS can do with its unlimited resources and unchecked power. And we are saying ‘enough,’” said Congresswoman Ramirez. “Our tax dollars must not be used to terrorize our communities and violate our rights. The Melt ICE Act is a line in the sand and a declaration that we will not fuel human suffering. My bill ends immigration detention and monitoring, disrupts DHS’s immigration enforcement, and returns taxpayers’ money to our communities. I am proud to join advocates to send a message that we do not consent, nor will we enable DHS and ICE’s lawlessness.”

Speakers emphasized that survivors of gender-based violence, including immigrants, asylum seekers, and detained women, face compounding dangers when the government prioritizes detention, deportation, and intimidation over protection, due process, and trauma-informed care. Panelists also warned that ICE’s tactics and coordination with local law enforcement can suppress reporting, separate families, and push survivors further into isolation.

“This International Women’s Day, women and girls across the country are outraged by the systematic misogyny deployed by this administration, particularly in its mishandling of justice for survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. Survivors deserve justice and those who are affiliated with Epstein must step down from their positions of power and make repair to the survivors through material reinvestments in sexual violence prevention. We as feminists refuse to let his cover-up and injustice continue. We stand with the survivors and we rise up as the feminists of America to say we have had enough.” said Rosie Couture, Co-Director, Feminist Generation. 

“ICE operates today as a secret police force for Donald Trump, terrorizing our communities across the country,” says John Bonifaz, President of Free Speech For People. “We fully support Rep. Ramirez’s Melt ICE Act, and we are proud to partner with Feminist Generation and Women’s March in demanding the abolition of ICE and justice for survivors of gender-based violence.”

“There is no gender justice without immigrant justice,” said Tamika Middleton, Managing Director of Women’s March. “ICE’s detention and deportation machine is terrorizing communities, tearing families apart, and placing women, caregivers, and children directly in harm’s way. And at a time when this administration has so clearly failed to deliver accountability for those connected to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuses, we refuse to accept a system that protects predators while punishing survivors. Women’s March stands with advocates and lawmakers across the country demanding an end to this administration’s unchecked power and calling for real investments in survivor justice, community care, and dignity and freedom for every woman and family.”

The town hall took place ahead of International Women’s Day and the Brave Women Weekend of Action, as the organizations called on the public to take immediate action to defend constitutional rights, support survivors, and demand elected officials end policies that fuel fear, racism, and violence.

Participants were urged to:

• Support the Melt ICE Act and demand members of Congress back legislation to abolish ICE;
• Oppose policies that criminalize survivors and deter reporting of violence;
• Join the Brave Women Weekend of Action and local organizing efforts nationwide; and
• Sign up to stay involved and receive action alerts: https://act.womensmarch.com/signup/iwd_townhall/

 

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Feminist Generation is a membership-based organization uniting young people across the country to build intersectional gender justice. Our organization builds power and shifts culture, material conditions, and public policy through base-building, direct action, political education, training programs, artivism, and mutual aid. Feminist Generation organizes from the ground up at the local, state, and national levels, disrupting oppressive systems and demanding a world where gender justice isn’t just promised, but practiced. 

Free Speech For People, founded in 2010, is a national non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to defending our democracy and our Constitution. Through our cutting-edge legal advocacy, public education, and organizing work, we are a catalyzing leader in the country challenging big money in politics, confronting corruption and abuse of power at the highest levels of our government, fighting to protect our right to vote and our elections, and advancing a new jurisprudence grounded in the promises of political equality and democratic self-government.

Women’s March harnesses the political power of diverse women and their communities to create transformative social change.