A Chicago pop-up peace choir is being ridiculed online for performing outside the Broadview Processing Center in Illinois. The members were filmed singing a song calling for freedom for those being held inside the ICE detention facility. Critics reacting to the video accused the group of being out of touch and dismissed the performance as a misguided protest against immigration enforcement.
In the Illinois clip, several members of the choir stood outside the facility wearing loose white choir-style robes while singing in unison. Some held lyric sheets or clipboards, while one member appeared to accompany the choir’s singing with a frame drum.
They sang, “I’ll sing from here and you sing from there. Together we’ll sing down the walls everywhere. With love in our hearts rising up like the sea. Together we’ll sing until everyone’s free.”
While it is not clear whether the lyric “we’ll sing down the walls” was meant literally, many critics on X ran with it.
One commenter referenced the Biblical story of the walls of Jericho, writing, “Tell em to start to marching circles around the building and I’ll bring the goats horn.” Another made a similar comparison, saying, “Doesn’t work without the ram’s horns and walking around the facility seven times.”
Even South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace appeared to poke fun at the lyric, chiming in with, “Surely this will work.”
Others were far more critical of the choir’s demonstration. “Are we really like that? Mental illness is everywhere in the US,” one critic said. Someone else commented, “Please put a stop to this nonsense. These people are deranged.” A third remarked, “All juvenile performative antics…these people need to grow up and join the adults.” A fourth suggested, “Throw them in there with them.”
A few commenters, however, took a different view. “At least they’re being peaceful, although misguided,” one comment read. Another added, “Peaceful protest though! Better then what has been going on!”
Someone even defended the group’s right to demonstrate, writing, “Disagreeing with a protest is one thing, but calling people mentally ill for having different political convictions lowers the bar for everyone. We can debate immigration policy without attacking the humanity of people on the other side.”
The organizer of the Illinois pop-up peace choir, @adriennegailmusic, shared in an Instagram post that she started the group because growing up around immigrant families in the Chicago area gave her an appreciation for different cultures. She said she believes immigrants deserve compassion and due process and expressed hope that Americans would choose empathy and work toward what she described as a more compassionate future.
