A protest is set to take place Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Humboldt County Courthouse as part of a nationwide strike to remonstrate against ICE and the heavy-handed tactics of the Trump administration’s enforcements actions, including the recent deaths of protestors at the hands of federal agents.
According to local 50501 organizers, the gathering is “for all who wish to attend” and will be followed by an ICE-Out protest on Saturday at the courthouse from noon to 2 p.m.
The call for a day of “no school, no work and no shopping” comes on the heels of a massive walkout and economic shutdown in Minnesota on Jan. 23 that saw tens of thousands take to the streets in Minneapolis despite bracing weather to send the message they wanted Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of the state.
In the last few weeks, two 37 year olds — intensive care unit nurse Alex Pretti, who worked at a Veterans Affairs hospital, and mother of three Renee Good — were killed in the city by ICE and Border Patrol agents participating in the immigration enforcement surge there.
“While Trump and other right wing politicians are slandering them as ‘terrorists,’ the video evidence makes it clear beyond all doubt: They were gunned down in broad daylight simply for exercising their First Amendment right to protest mass deportation,” a post on the National Shutdown website states. “Every day, ICE, Border Patrol and other enforcers of Trump’s racist agenda are going into our communities to kidnap our neighbors and sow fear. It is time for us to all stand up together in a nationwide shutdown and say enough is enough!”
During a local student-led walkout protest in solidarity with the Free America walkouts across the country on Jan. 23, more than 100 people joined a march in Arcata from the David Josiah Lawson mural at the D Street Community Center to the plaza.
One of the speakers at the march, Brenda Perez, executive director of Centro del Pueblo, warned that it’s “when, and not if, ICE comes to Humboldt County.”
She led a chanting of the nonprofit’s hotline number — (707) 200-8091 — to use in case of an ICE sighting and urged anyone who sees a potential presence to call first to prevent spreading rumors and panic by posting on social media without confirmations through the contact and the Humboldt Rapid Response Network.