State and city lawmakers joined demonstrators in Foley Square Friday, expressing outrage at the recent detention and deportations of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which they believe are politically motivated.

“This isn’t about the legal immigration process,” State Sen. Julie Salazar said, “It is about ICE decimating our first amendment rights.”

“Our neighbors are being disappeared to foreign concentration camps in the middle of the night with no due process whatsoever,” Assemblymember Clair Valdez said.

Instances include the ICE arrests of current and former Columbia University students active in pro-Palestinian protests, as well as Kilmer Armando Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration and imprisoned in El Salvador.

“The response from the Democratic Party at the federal level has been pathetically weak and ineffective,” Zachary Hendrickson, with the NYC Democratic Socialists of America, said. “That’s why New York State must lead the way.”

Advocates are calling for legislative action on bills they believe would protect New Yorkers from ICE — specifically the New York for All Act, which aims to limit collaboration between state and local law enforcement and immigration authorities.

There are also demands for state legislators to pass the New York Dignity Not Detention Act, which would prohibit anyone or entity in the state from:

• Owning or operating immigration detention facilities
• Entering into new immigrant detention contracts and receiving payments related to immigration detention
• Renewing existing immigration detention contracts

The act would also require state government entities currently in immigration detention contracts to exercise a termination provision.

“In my community there is fear,” Jenny, with Make the Road NY and who did not want to provide a last name, said. “People are scared.”

Even some U.S. citizens are afraid, including Sonia Nedrano, a native of the Dominican Republic.

“I stay in my home. I don’t go to work because everybody is scared about the situation,” she said.

New Yorkers attending a separate rally in Foley Square Friday wondered if ICE can detain immigrants who are in the U.S. legally, asking what protections do U.S. citizens have against the same treatment?

“It could be any of us this administration decides it doesn’t like,” Hayley Gorenberg said.

“Disappearing American citizens without due process and putting them in El Salvador where they can’t come back means they’re above the laws,” George Sands said.

Demonstrators are also calling the return of Merwil Gutierrez, a Venezuelan teenager who, reportedly, was also mistakenly deported by the Trump administration.

It’s unclear whether the state Senate or Assembly plan to take up either bills this legislative session.