US protests condemn ICE killing of Renee Good and ‘a regime that is willing to kill its own citizens’ | Protest

On a rainy Saturday in Philadelphia, two separate protests, each bringing together a few hundred people, marched from City Hall to the federal detention center. They differed slightly in solutions as well as crowd composition — white older adults dominated the morning march organized by the groups behind the No Kings protests, while a more racially diverse crowd, shrouded in keffiyehs and N95 masks, led the afternoon march, planned by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. However, both groups shared one goal: for ICE to withdraw from American communities and put an end to Donald Trump’s warmongering in Venezuela.

“From Venezuela to Minneapolis, all we see is a regime going out of its way, willing to kill its own citizens, willing to kill foreign citizens, to maintain its power,” said Deborah Rose Hinchey, co-chair of the city’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter.

The protests in Philadelphia were just two of more than a thousand planned this weekend in the wake of three ICE-related shootings, including one fatality, in the week after the Trump administration took power of Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela. Many events, like Saturday morning’s protest in Philadelphia, were planned as part of the ICE Out for Good weekend of action called by national organizations, including Indivisible and the American Civil Liberties Union, in the wake of the ICE killing of Renée Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The Democratic Socialists of America also planned a national day of action to end Trump’s “illegal war” in Venezuela.

“They’re assassinating legal observers. They’re openly saying they’re invading countries for oil. This is not some fringe, radical thing. This is illegal murder and war crimes,” Pennsylvania Rep. Rick Krajewski, who represents parts of West Philadelphia, said after addressing the crowd at the afternoon rally.

With actions planned in all 50 states, events will continue through Sunday. Large crowds marched Saturday in Boston, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. In snowy Minneapolis, crowds gathered by the thousands, chanting: “Fuck ICE, ICE out!” » and the name of Renée Nicole Good. That morning, U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig attempted to enter ICE’s Minneapolis facility, later accusing the agency of illegally denying them entry.

Protests have erupted across the country since Good’s killing, with tensions growing between authorities and protesters. On Thursday evening, vehicles believed to be driven by ICE agents drove toward a crowd of protesters in Hartford, Connecticut, and three protesters were arrested; Hartford police are investigating criminal charges related to the car incident. The same night, six protesters were arrested in Portland, the site of another ICE shooting.

Elected officials in Minnesota, where the demonstrations were particularly heated, announced on Saturday that 30 demonstrators had been arrested for “material damage” during the demonstrations on Friday evening. In the city this morning, an Associated Press photographer observed two ICE agents armed with long guns approach a protester who was following them, telling him it was his “first and last warning” before finally leaving. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz, both Democrats, have expressed support for local law enforcement. But the local police union issued a statement in support of ICE — a far cry from Democrats, including Frey, who told ICE to “fuck off.”

In Philadelphia, police did not stop or appear to make arrests during Saturday’s two marches. Anna, a history teacher carrying a Philadelphia Federation of Teachers flag, came to the morning march after her students brought up Good’s murder in class. (All but three of those who spoke to the Guardian on Saturday requested pseudonyms, speaking about the anxiety plaguing protesters after Good’s killing.)

“Most of my students are black and they have already experienced violence from the system and the police. They see it and realize there’s just another force there,” she said.

An elderly woman named Ellen said she has been protesting ICE in Philadelphia for 15 years, ever since the agency targeted local taxi drivers in a sting operation. “It’s been years and years since they committed outrageous acts against our friends and neighbors,” she said. “Now they are murdering Americans while harassing and arresting innocent immigrants.”

Mary and Cara, two women who came to the morning protest in Philadelphia together, were motivated by their horror at what has happened with ICE since Trump took office last year. “I’m Jewish, I’ve been studying the Holocaust for a long time, and this is how this happens,” Mary said. “The more crap that happens, the more and more desensitized we become. I think it’s very easy to become complacent.”

Several protesters criticized the current state of Americans’ economic situation, particularly how much American money is spent on enforcing immigration rules compared to citizens’ basic needs. “Personally, I think that until all children are fed and sheltered, there will be no reason to invest money in immigration enforcement,” Cara said.

This sentiment was echoed by one of the speakers at the afternoon event, Francesca, a member of the DSA national political committee as well as the Philadelphia DSA. “Things are piling up. Things are piling up. The genocide in Gaza then the aggression against Venezuela, the illegal kidnapping of Maduro,” she said. “And now this violence and, really, the state executions being carried out by ICE — I mean, there’s not a lot of people who can take that.”

They also noted that people are struggling to pay rent, health care and the rising cost of groceries. “They may not make it until the end of the month – but there is always money for the war,” Francesca said.

The organizers believe that this impossible dissonance will continue to push the population to protest. “I think the more the American public sees exactly what this totalitarian dictatorship and regime is doing, the more we will see days like today or yesterday, with thousands and thousands of people in the streets, in the pouring rain,” Hinchey said.