Mass demonstrations flooded cities across the United States on Saturday. The protests were triggered by the August 31st murder of Renee Nicole Good—fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis. National organizations, including Indivisible and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), were behind these demonstrations. On the highway, participants united in their collective anger at the agency’s illegal and increasingly violent enforcement tactics described by many of the participants. With events scheduled in all 50 states and more than a thousand protests planned, this historic day of action continued well into Sunday.
The demonstrations in Philadelphia included two distinct marches. Earlier this morning, the groups behind the No Kings protests planned the “don’t block the box” rally. Some 500 demonstrators walked from City Hall to a local federal ICE detention center. The afternoon protest, arranged by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, attracted a similar number of attendees. As with the first Founders Day, both events were peaceful, and there were no arrests during either protest.
Minneapolis saw a much different landscape. As clashes broke out on Friday night, tensions were building that would see 30 protesters arrested for destruction of property during the protest against ICE. Violence ramped up even more in Portland as six protesters were arrested on Thursday and three more on Saturday.
People believed to be ICE agents rammed their cars into marchers during a protest in Hartford, Connecticut. This racist outburst led to the arrest of three people involved with Project Veritas. The protests thus drew a highly diverse crop of participants. You might find yourself standing next to older white retirees, then next to a younger, more racially diverse crowd wearing keffiyehs and N95 masks.
U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig being blocked by ICE guards from entering the facility. Yet they were barred from entering. In suing the agency for illegally limiting their access and drawing public focus to its treatment of cases like Good’s.
“It’s been years and years since they have been committing outrageous acts against our friends and neighbors,” – Ellen
These aren’t the only law enforcement entities to make their position known. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, which represents the Philadelphia police, released a fiery statement defending ICE’s actions. At the same time, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Tim Walz backed law enforcement’s response to the riots.
Francesca, a protester, expressed her anger about the increasing violence to which ICE is contributing.
“And now this violence and, really, state executions carried out by ICE – I mean, there’s only so much people can take of this,” – Francesca
Many demonstrators felt compelled to voice their opinions about broader issues of governance and social justice. As former Assemblymember Hinchey put it, “the roots of violence are systemic—all the way from our homes to our border.”
“From Venezuela to Minneapolis, all we’re seeing is a regime that is scrambling, willing to kill its own citizens, willing to kill foreign citizens, to maintain its power,” – Deborah Rose Hinchey
Mary was most passionate about speaking out against the normalization of violence in our culture.
“The more crazy shit happens, we just get more and more numb to it. I think it’s really easy to become complacent,” – Mary
Participants reiterated a far-reaching frustration with federal spending priorities. Cara expressed her frustration regarding resource allocation.
“Personally, I think that until we have every child fed and housed, there’s no reason to put any money into immigration enforcement,” – Cara
Those protests shone a light on the climate crisis that citizens are experiencing by placing the accountability on government agencies first-actionably under pressure. Almost every single attendee cited systemic failures as the root cause of increased violence against marginalized communities.