Dozens of protesters gathered on Freret Street to protest the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations within the community, the ongoing collaboration between ICE and local police departments, and the fatal shootings of people like Renée Nicole Good in Minnesota by a federal immigration officer.
The protesters marched on Jan. 12 to Loyola University’s Law Campus where they held a candlelight vigil in honor of those fatally shot by federal immigration officers. The protesters asserted that the people they named were murdered by ICE and called for their immediate arrest.
Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, stated on Jan. 11 that Good was a “domestic terrorist,” and the officer was acting in self defense.
The shared call for action was voiced by Freedom Road Socialist Organization member, Olivia Wagoner.
“We’re out here today to demand that ICE gets out of our cities and that Loyola gives their students a sanctuary campus,” Wagoner said.
The protest was largely student-driven with both Loyola and Tulane University students in attendance.
A Tulane law student, Alonso Muniz, was at the protest and spoke about his reason for participating.
“I immigrated in a time where this violence was never really this present or visible, but it’s unfortunately always existed,” Muniz said.
Protesters also voiced their anger over how ICE conducts and carries out its immigration operations.
Loyola hip hop and R&B junior, Austin Troncalli, was at the protest and spoke out against how recent ICE operations have been run.
“ICE is the gestapo. They walk around with masks. They don’t identify themselves. They’ll walk up to you in an unmarked van and snatch you off the street,” Troncalli said.
In an effort to bring attention to ICE and perceived injustices, protesters displayed the names of those killed in the past two years in ICE-involved incidents and held candles.
“It shows our struggles are all connected,” Wagoner said.
