Children Are Clashing in Anti-ICE Protests and Raids in ‘Roblox’

Amid an aggressive escalation of immigration enforcement and country-wide raids that have resulted in mass protests, police brutality, and arrests, young players of one of the most popular video games in the world have taken to the virtual streets to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). What first began as some Roblox players roleplaying as ICE agents has turned into a series of organized protests in the virtual world, filled with Mexican flags, anti-Trump signs, and, often, gunfire. 

Roblox is an online game platform and creation tool that allows players to create their own “experiences” or “games” on public or personal servers, and disseminate those games to other players. It boasts over 85 million daily active users across the globe, with more than 35 percent of players based in the Asia-Pacific region, 20 percent in Europe, and 19 percent in the United States, according to Takeaway Reality. 

Most, if not all, of the recent anti-ICE protests have taken place in Brookhaven, a role-playing server set in an idyllic suburb where players can become cops, nail technicians, firefighters, and more, that usually has around 600,00 concurrent players. As first reported by Taylor Lorenz at User Mag, the protests came in response to some players pretending to be ICE agents and harassing others in-game.

Not long after she published her story, she received a text message from one of the kids she interviewed that read, “Hello, I was in a Roblox ICE protest but then we all got shot by the police” with a crying emoji. 

Anti-ICE protests in Roblox

Over the past few days, several videos shared on TikTok show clashes between Roblox players role-playing as protestors holding Mexican flags or anti-ICE signs, and those role-playing as ICE agents. It appears that the protests kicked off, at least in part, because Roblox players pretending to be ICE agents started going into players’ in-game homes.

A TikTok account called Brookhaven.NewsOffical, which roleplays as an actual in-game news organization, posted a video of Roblox gameplay on June 8. The video shows two cars with “border patrol” written on them (one appears to be a militarized police truck), and reads “ICE border patrol in Dogwood neighborhood in Brookhaven during protest against ICE.” (The developer of Brookhaven did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment. Roblox PR said the company “can’t support a comment request at this time.”)

One video, posted on June 13, shows what appears to be a high-speed chase: white trucks with “U.S. Customs & Border Protection” written on the side of them (one truck read “U.S. Costume,” which may offer some context clues as to the age of the person who made it) chase a pick-up truck with “VIVA MEXICO” emblazoned on it and players hanging out of the bed of the truck holding Mexican flags. Sirens blare as the chase unfolds. “Even ICE is on Roblox,” the caption reads with a crying emoji.

A bizarre clip shows a cutesy white cat walking through Brookhaven streets while a Steve Aoki remix of “Get Ready” plays. The cat walks to a protest that gradually grows bigger, with players saying “no one shall be separate” and waving signs that read “no one is illegal on stolen land.” As fires break out around them, the cat walks up to a food cart and asks, “May I get a elote with Tajin, please.”  

Another video, posted by a Puerto Rican woman named Nediahn Santos, features an in-game protest with players holding signs that read “Keep Families Together” and “Stop ICE” while the Black Eyed Peas’ “Where Is The Love” plays.

“I made a Roblox because my son wanted to protest,” the caption reads. 

Rolling Stone spoke to Santos about the video and her Roblox experience. She says he “had been seeing videos about the protests and came to [her], asking how he could be a part of it.”

She made an account to protest alongside him and recorded it. “As a parent, I believe it’s important to be honest and open about what’s happening in our country because these issues affect not just us, but our friends, our neighbors, and our entire community,” she says. Santos says she “met him where he was” by joining Roblox herself. “If that’s where he felt empowered to speak out, then that’s where I would show up, too,” she said. “That moment wasn’t just about a game, it was about teaching him that his voice matters, even at eight years old.”

Protesting in Roblox

On June 18, I joined a random Brookhaven server to see what I could find. Quickly, I saw a small anti-ICE protest start to build organically. A half dozen players wearing Mexican flags on their backs and green, white, and red outfits stood near a barricade and held signs that read “STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES,” “My dad works harder than the president,” and “F ICE” (there are strict vulgarity filters in Roblox). I asked in the text chat how to get a sign, and someone immediately handed me a blank one. I typed “F ICE” and held it over my avatar’s head. 

A player typed in the chat “come up to the club,” referencing a nightclub in the center of town with a large balcony. Up there, he had set up signs that read “F ICEE” and “PROUD TO BE MEXICAN,” flanked by green and red spotlights pointed towards the virtual sky.

Soon, the server grew from about six players to closer to two dozen, with trucks flying in and out of the main road into which player spawn, many of them emblazoned with pro-immigrant, anti-ICE slogans. Then gunshots rang out, and I realized that several of the protestors held firearms, as did the cops, and everyone was firing at random. You can’t kill or even injure other players in this server, but the gunfire continued, interrupting the random snippets of music echoing out of cars as they drove past.

A few Roblox players roleplaying as cops and ICE agents tried to push back against the growing crowd (one of whom was driving a car that read “Boarder Patrol”), but it was fruitless — an armored SWAT driven into the center of the protest was swiftly engulfed in flames. Shortly after, the Brookhaven police station was on fire, too. 

Sirens blared, the fires raged on, cars flew in and out of the center of town, pro-immigrant protestors fired guns and set off fireworks, and a large group clad in red, white, and green jumped up and down in front of the explosions. “GROUP PIC,” said one player. 

It seemed that the protest was a bizarre mix of players who genuinely wanted to speak out against ICE and random kids who were just joining for fun. One kept asking to play hide and seek in the text chat, while two appeared to be friends, referring to each other by name and seeking each other out. 

The chat was relatively quiet about the protest, and no one responded to my questions about why they were there. But the signs held aloft kept changing sayings, and the crowd was almost entirely clad in Mexican-themed attire. They were all also clearly screwing around, driving over each other (which just puts the player inside the vehicle), spawning cop cars just to set them on fire, and piling random objects in the middle of the street.

Roblox has long been the site of political activism, with players who were confined to their homes during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests virtually exercising their right to assemble. In 2023, Malaysian Roblox players organized a pro-Palestinian protest in the midst of escalating violence in the Middle East. One march featured hundreds of players waving Palestinian flags as they walked down a road lined with even more Palestinian supporters before coming to a large open square decorated with a ribbon that read “Solidarity Untukmu” (Malay for “Solidarity for you).” One of those pro-Palestinian protests was reportedly visited more than 275,000 times. 

Who is organizing these Roblox protests?

Roblox is aging up — more users are now over the age of 13 rather than under, compared to just a few years ago. The maturation of its player base naturally creates a demand for more mature experiences, hence why Brookhaven and its role-playing capabilities are so popular. 

Naturally, part of the gameplay experience becomes about processing real-world events like these anti-ICE protests.

Santos says her son’s request to join a Roblox protest wasn’t just about “curiosity, but compassion, [it was his] way of trying to make sense of injustice and wanting to stand up for what’s right.” 

Several TikTok creators shared their Roblox usernames in their videos to encourage people to join their upcoming protests; many of them appeared to be young. None of them responded to a request to join their servers. 

Though online reactionaries have suggested that they’re being set up by adults trying to push left-wing ideologies in children’s games, Lorenz insists that it’s children organizing these protests. “These kids were LARPing as ICE agents before this happened,” Lorenz tells Rolling Stone. “They are trying to process the world around them. Children are being seized out of elementary schools. Schools are going on lockdown because of ICE, kids are being kept inside during recess because of ICE raids. They’re deporting children. ICE is something that affects all ages. This is something that affects caregivers of all sorts, whether it’s parents, nannies, or school teachers. It’s gonna impact these kids’ lives.”

For Santos, attending the online protest with her child was part of her duty as a parent. “We have the chance to raise children who understand empathy and the power of their voice, and these kids are already showing that,” she says.