In downtown Los Angeles on Friday, lots of gathered as a part of a nationwide protest of ongoing immigration raids which have rattled cities and communities throughout the nation.
Labor organizers, clergy leaders and immigrant rights teams gathered at La Placita Olvera to march right down to the federal detention facility the place Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds detainees. They got here collectively lower than a month after a Minneapolis lady, Renee Good, was fatally shot by an ICE agent, and protests have roiled town as raids have continued.
L.A. Metropolis Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez made an look and reiterated the widespread chorus to “abolish ICE.”
“Take a look at all of the individuals round you. That is what’s going to avoid wasting us from authoritarianism,” she stated, addressing the lots of that had gathered in La Placita, a historic web site of Latino organizing. “I’m a council member, however the authorities won’t prevent. It’s the individuals which might be standing arm in arm with you which might be going to avoid wasting our households, maintain our households entire and restore the hurt that the federal authorities is doing.”
A whole bunch of individuals from the better Los Angeles space protest at La Placita Olvera on Friday in Los Angeles in solidarity with the individuals of Minnesota and the household of Renee Nicole Good, who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
The protest was one in all a number of throughout the nation as immigration raids have continued. This time, Service Staff Worldwide Union (SEIU) and CLUE, a clergy group, got here collectively to prepare a march to the detention heart.
Organizers acknowledged the demise of Good, a 37-year-old mom of three who was shot a number of occasions by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. She had dropped off her son at college when she came across ICE brokers throughout a raid.
Federal officers have defended ICE agent Jonathan Ross’ actions as self-defense and have accused Good of weaponizing her car in “an act of home terrorism.”
Native and state officers, citing video proof, have rejected that declare, and calls to rein in ICE have escalated as her demise has resonated throughout the nation.
Among the many audio system was a fast-food employee at McDonald’s, who stated she feared going to work day-after-day final summer time when ICE raids have been intensifying in Los Angeles. One other fast-food employee spoke of organizing in response to the concern, and stated that Minnesota’s combat was additionally L.A’.s combat.
“From the West Coast to the Midwest, we’re united with one voice to say: ICE out,” Julieta Garcia stated to massive cheers.
Cesar Sandoval Cruz, a sophomore at Wilson Excessive Faculty, stated younger individuals at present are “witnessing historical past earlier than our very personal eyes.”
“We’re seeing as our neighbors, households, strangers and on a regular basis hardworking individuals are getting kidnapped off our streets,” he stated. “We’re right here to say that sufficient is sufficient. We’re not going to face by and watch as that is happening in our metropolis.”
State Sen. Sasha Renee Perez, a Democrat who represents Altadena, spoke about her efforts to move laws that may power ICE brokers to be unmasked and determine themselves. The Trump administration is difficult it in court docket.
Passing laws on this second, she stated, was not sufficient.
“We’re going to want each other as we combat this fascist administration,” Perez stated. “Direct motion works. Don’t let anyone let you know in any other case — the individuals of Minnesota are proving it proper now.”
Beata Landes, 23, held an indication she wrote herself: “Hold your fingers off my household.”
“So lots of my family and friends members are undocumented,” she stated, “and the concern is palpable.”
Landes stated she drove from the Westside as a result of it was necessary to share solidarity with these against ICE actions.
“Being round like-minded individuals is hopeful and provoking,” she added.
Regardless of the apparent risks of trailing and recording ICE brokers, residents have continued to indicate up in massive crowds in Minneapolis. Movies on-line present residents blasting whistles as they warn neighbors that ICE brokers are within the space. In Los Angeles, speedy response community teams have additionally continued their efforts to trace brokers’ actions throughout town.
The interactions have at occasions turned violent. On Wednesday, a federal agent shot at a suspect throughout a raid in South L.A. The Division of Homeland Safety stated the agent opened fireplace after the suspect rammed federal legislation enforcement along with his car.
Roughly 200 individuals attend a rally holding indicators protesting the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at La Placita Olvera on Friday in Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Occasions)
Because the air crammed with the scent of incense and music, L.A. resident Leneta Antoine-Wooden held an indication that learn “ICE out of Tovaangar,” a reference to the Indigenous individuals of the Los Angeles Basin. Antoine-Wooden, who is a component Native, stated she felt it was necessary to advocate in opposition to the raids. She stated she is aware of somebody who’s being held within the Adelanto facility exterior of L.A., and circumstances there are worse than a jail.
“Immigrants have extra rights to be right here,” she stated. Her shirt studying “Nobody is unlawful on stolen land” echoed that sentiment.
Antoine-Wooden and her husband, Rob Wooden, have been a part of a number of protests in opposition to ICE and authorities overreach. They participated within the Standing Rock demonstration in opposition to an oil pipeline via tribal land in North Dakota.
Regardless of acknowledging that little might change whereas Trump is in workplace, Wooden stated it was necessary to be on the market to indicate the energy of opposition to the administration’s actions.
“His administration doesn’t observe any of the legal guidelines,” he stated, and Trump himself has “no good curiosity on this nation.”
“All people’s simply gotta ensure that they vote,” he stated. “You gotta protest.”
As the group ready to march Friday to the detention facility a couple of blocks away, they held a second of silence for many who have died or gone lacking whereas in ICE custody. Individuals held photographs of those that have died — together with Johnny Noviello, a 49-year-old Canadian who died in a Miami detention facility, and Brayan Rayo-Garzon, a 27-year-old Colombian who died in Missouri.
The temper lifted as the group started to march south. They referred to as for “ICE out of L.A.” and for a number of moments stopped site visitors as they spilled into the road.
