Community organizers across the United States are coordinating more than a thousand protests this weekend following deadly clashes between federal immigration agents and civilians in Minneapolis and Portland.
The nationwide mobilization came after ICE agents shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday in what authorities said was an immigration enforcement operation.
Goode, a thirty-seven-year-old mother of three and published poet, was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in her car near her home in Minneapolis.
The next day, in Portland, Oregon, federal agents shot and killed two Venezuelan nationals, Yolenis Bezabes Zambrano-Contreras and Luis David Nico Moncada, outside a local hospital during what officials said was a traffic stop.
Indivisible, the group behind last year’s “No King” protest movement, has been tracking demonstration locations through an online platform that shows planned events in every state from Hawaii to Maine.
Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible, said the community came together not only to mourn the lives lost but also to confront what she said is a pattern of harm that scares the community.
Protesters gathered outside the office of Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani in Tucson, Arizona, while a crowd of about 200 people also gathered at the office of Rep. Brian Mast in Stuart, Florida.
Mast, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has publicly defended the actions of the ICE agent who killed Goode, saying the officer’s actions were reasonable under the circumstances.
In Manhattan, large crowds marched through rainy winter streets, holding umbrellas and signs demanding accountability from federal immigration enforcement agencies operating in their communities.
Demonstrators in Philadelphia began their march at City Hall and then headed to the federal detention center, with participants chanting “ICE must go” and “No fascism in America.”
Amy Aponte, an organizer with the North Carolina Party for Socialism and Liberation, told local media that justice means completely removing ICE from community streets. Aponte said Goode’s death as a white woman showed that federal agents can kill anyone without justification, leaving no community member truly safe from violence.
The coordinated response is one of the largest grassroots mobilizations against immigration enforcement in recent years, ranging from major metropolitan areas to small rural towns.
Durham resident Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to attend Saturday’s protest after the shocking killing of Goode in Minneapolis.
Protesters in North Carolina cities, including Durham and Raleigh, carried upside-down American flags and signs that read “Stop looking around” and “America is cold.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Day Labor Organizing Network and the 50501 Movement have joined Indivisible in coordinating weekend demonstrations in multiple states.
Video of Goode’s shooting was captured on video by community members trying to disrupt ICE operations, and it quickly spread across social media platforms within hours of the incident.
As of Wednesday evening, thousands of people had gathered at the scene of the Minneapolis shooting, while Democratic officials threatened to withhold funding from the Department of Homeland Security.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey publicly told ICE agents to “get these bastards out” of his city after Goode was shot and killed during a federal law enforcement sweep.
More than two thousand federal agents were recently deployed to the Twin Cities area as part of an expanded immigration crackdown targeting undocumented residents.
Portland police arrested six protesters Friday during a demonstration outside an immigration facility as tensions escalate between community members and federal law enforcement agencies.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has identified the Portland shooting victim as having ties to the Venezuelan gang Teron de Aragua, but community advocates dispute the characterization.
Greenberg said the weekend’s demonstrations demanded justice, the removal of ICE from communities and immediate action from elected leaders at all levels of government.
Protests are expected to continue into Sunday night, with organizers updating their online trackers as new events are added in other cities across the country.
