Mass anger over the killing of Minneapolis mother and wife Renee Nicole Good by immigration agent and Iraq war veteran Jonathan Ross erupted across the United States over the weekend. More than 1,000 protests were held nationwide to demand justice for Good and the abolition of the immigration Gestapo.
In response to nationwide outrage over Good’s murder, the Trump administration has promised to surge more unaccountable federal agents under the command of the aspiring dictator into the city. Rejecting the lies of Trump administration officials who have uniformly supported Ross’s actions and threatened further bloodshed, workers, retirees and youth peacefully marched this weekend in remembrance, but also with purpose.
In Philadelphia on Saturday night, thousands of people marched and sang songs outside City Hall. “Hey-oh,” the crowd sang in unison, “we won’t be silent while our friends are gunned down.”
Defying the ongoing federal occupation of Minneapolis, tens of thousands of people have continued to gather and march around the site of Good’s killing and throughout the city.
In Portland, Oregon, where two people were shot by a Customs and Border Protection agent the day after Good was killed, protests have been held every night, bringing in hundreds to thousands of people.
Demonstrations drawing thousands were also held over the weekend in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, DC; Asheville, North Carolina; Burlington, Vermont; Dallas, Texas; Knoxville, Tennessee; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Tucson, Arizona; Detroit, Michigan; Columbus, Ohio; Boston, Massachusetts; and Los Angeles, California. Hundreds of others, numbering from the dozens to the thousands, were held in smaller cities and rural towns.
In Livingston, Montana, roughly 200 people gathered to remember Good and oppose fascism. Dozens carried a banner that read, “An unarmed US citizen should not be shot dead blocks from her own home by masked, unidentified men employed by the US federal government in American streets.” Protesters also carried signs that read, “Ever wonder what you would have done in 1930s Germany? You’re doing it now,” and “Expand Medicare, Abolish ICE.”
In Essex Junction, Vermont, home to fewer than 11,000 people, all five corners of a major intersection were filled with demonstrators on Sunday.
While the protests were nominally organized by the Democratic Party-aligned 50501 movement, they were not promoted by the party or by the mainstream capitalist press. The front page of the Washington Post on Sunday evening referred only to a protest of “hundreds” against ICE in the city. As of Sunday evening, the only reference to “protests” on the front page of the New York Times referred to Iran. This omission is even more glaring given that one of the largest protests over the weekend was held in New York City.
While protests have been ongoing in the city, tens of thousands marched in the January cold on Sunday to demand an end to federal immigration kidnapping and killing operations. One New York protester interviewed by a World Socialist Web Site reporter about whether a dictatorship is being established in the United States replied, “100 percent.”
She said, “They already laid the groundwork for it during the first administration,” adding that in the last week, “real, real fascism is happening.
“We’ve literally just got American citizens being shot dead for trying to oppose, peacefully oppose and peacefully legally observe an ICE protest. You have the vice president going on. She wasn’t even declared dead at the hospital before she was declared a domestic terrorist.”
Members of the Socialist Equality Party intervened at protests across the country where they advanced demands that include:
• The immediate arrest and prosecution of all those responsible for the murder of Renee Nicole Good
• The withdrawal of all ICE, CBP and DHS forces from Minneapolis and every other city
• The abolition of these Gestapo agencies that terrorize immigrant communities
• The immediate release of all detainees held in ICE custody and an end to all raids, renditions and deportations
• Full legal rights and protections for all immigrant workers and their families
These demands cannot be met through the current political setup. Democratic leadership, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Chuck Schumer, have already indicated they would not support using an upcoming government funding vote to block funding for ICE. Migrant Insider reported last week that Senate negotiators are “actively pursuing a plan to increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by around 10 percent.”
In opposition to the Democrats’ complicity, the Socialist Equality Party is calling for the systematic development of working class rank-and-file defense committees in every neighborhood, workplace and school. These organizations will fight to unite the working class across artificial boundaries and professions in a common struggle against the immigration Gestapo and the capitalist system they defend.