Americans Take To The Streets To Condemn ICE Violence, Demand Accountability: ‘I’m Standing Up For My Neighbors’

“Instead of shrinking in fear right now, in order to stop this violence, we have to come together with one voice as a community and say, ‘no more,’” said one rally attendee.

Photo by Ruth Delgado

Outraged Americans took to the streets over the weekend as part of the “ICE Out For Good Weekend of Action” to decry the brutal killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent. In Minneapolis – the site of Good’s tragic death and one of more than 1,000 cities that held anti-ICE actions over the weekend – local law enforcement officials estimated that tens of thousands of Americans marched through the streets to mourn, demand justice for her death, and condemn the larger pattern of violence at the hands of masked and unaccountable federal agents nationwide.

“I’m insanely angry, completely heartbroken and devastated, and then just like longing and hoping that things get better,” community member Ellison Montgomery told Reuters. “We’re all living in fear right now,” said Meghan Moore, a mother of two from Minneapolis who joined the protest Saturday,” PBS News reported. “ICE is creating an environment where nobody feels safe and that’s unacceptable,” she continued.

While demonstrators marched in righteous anger, there was also a strong sense of community among neighbors refusing to turn against each other.

“Large crowds of demonstrators were seen in major cities such as Philadelphia, New York, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles,” CNN reported. “Smaller protests took place in Portland, Oregon; Sacramento, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; Durham, North Carolina; and Tempe, Arizona, where protesters lined a bridge overlooking a highway.”

“I’m standing up for my neighbors. I am not happy with what happened in Minneapolis,” Tempe resident Laurie Green told ABC15 Arizona. “In downtown Phoenix, a smaller group of protesters gathered outside ICE offices Saturday morning, voicing similar concerns and calling for more public involvement. ‘It’s heartening,’ said Kelly Carmody, one of the protesters. ‘I hope many others show up and share what they think should be done.’”

In Florida, 97-year-old Milton Clark addressed attendees outside the Everglades detention camp, which has faced serious allegations of brutal violations against detained immigrants. “Liberty is fragile; you must be vigilant,” he said.

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“Sister Suzie Armbruster, I.H.M., Scranton, recited a prayer during Sunday’s event,” The Times-Tribune reported.

“We do not need to accept what is happening in our country and in our own community,” said Sister Armbruster. “We stand strong and believe that good people overtake evil. We hold everything in our hearts. We hold all of our brothers and sisters, no matter where they’re from. We hold all of them … those that are living right here in our own community. We remember Renee Good. We remember all those that have been victims of violence, and we know that we can join our hearts and voices in a peaceful way.”

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“In Roanoke, the protest wasn’t just about national headlines,” reported WDBJ7. “For Amanda Vongphakdy, it was personal. Her father, who has lived in Roanoke for most of his life, was taken into ICE custody.” Vongphakdy said that she initially thought her dad was joking when he called her to say that ICE had swept him up. Her dad is a Laotian refugee who has called the U.S. his home since he was just 14.

“I wake up every day asking myself if this is real,” said Vongphakdy, who felt it was important to take her two children to the protest. “My family and I are grieving a loved one who is alive but not able to be touched.”

“Instead of shrinking in fear right now, in order to stop this violence, we have to come together with one voice as a community and say, no more,” Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition’s Danny Clawson told WDBJ7.

Since Good’s shooting, 160 members of Congress have issued a letter demanding that the administration “immediately suspend the current surge of federal officers and agents to Minneapolis” and that officials “work with an independent agency to ensure transparency and accountability throughout the course of the investigation into this reprehensible event.” Earlier in the month, 30 U.S. senators issued a letter that condemned the administration for endangering communities by pulling law enforcement resources from actual public safety threats – such as child exploitation, human trafficking, and fentanyl smuggling – in order to “indiscriminately deport noncitizens without criminal records.”

“Redirecting these investigators to pad deportation statistics is not simply irresponsible — it is a dereliction of duty with life-or-death consequences that puts the safety of our children in jeopardy,” senators wrote. “No modern administration has ever attempted a reallocation of this scale or recklessness.”

In New Jersey, state legislators advanced a package of bills “targeting local cooperation with federal immigration agents and expanding protections for immigrants,” the New Jersey Monitor reported.

“The package of bills includes legislation to codify the Immigrant Trust Directive, an attorney general order that limits cooperation between federal immigration authorities and New Jersey law enforcement,” the report said. “The bill would bar police officers from engaging in ‘racially influenced policing,’ like stopping someone based on their suspected citizenship status; require agencies to develop procedures for certain visa requests; and mandate that prosecutors inform criminal defendants of immigration consequences of some charges and convictions.”

In another sign of how ICE’s abuses against U.S. citizens and immigrant neighbors alike have become one of the most pressing issues facing our nation today, the topic also took center stage during Sunday night’s Golden Globe Awards, where presenter Wanda Sykes and attendees wore pins “to honor Renee Macklin Good and Keith Porter while also reminding us what it means to be good to one another in the face of such horror – to be a good citizen, neighbor, friend, ally and human,” the “Be Good” campaign said.

“Of course this is for the mother who was murdered by an ICE agent, and it’s really sad,” Sykes said. “I know people are out marching and all today, and we need to speak up.”

“From the hundreds of protests and rallies across the nation to the array of state and federal bills and legislative accountability being introduced and discussed, it’s clear that the outrage in response to Ms. Good’s killing and the abuse and violence it embodies is widespread and growing,” said America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas. “Americans from all walks of life are recognizing the mass deportation agenda has gone way too far and this administration is engaged in an unchecked pattern of abuse, violence and impunity. Yet, beyond ICE reform and accountability, we must also work to define, and enact a broader alternative vision of our immigration system that upholds instead of subverts American values.”