At least 200 people took to Atlanta’s streets Friday night to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s continued presence in Minnesota after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good.
Dubbed the National Day of Truth and Freedom, protesters crowded sidewalks on both sides of Ted Turner Drive outside the ICE field office downtown.
Above the din of drums and whistles, they held signs aloft and roared “Abolish ICE” as passersby honked their car horns in support.
Friday’s rally coincided with a call in Minnesota for an economic boycott, with businesses and schools encouraged to shutter for the day and people urged to stop shopping and working. During the boycott, thousands took to the streets in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN/AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN/AJC
In Atlanta, Mathewos Samson, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America in the city, said he believes an ICE crackdown could happen here.
“It’s Minneapolis who is suffering the most at the moment,” Samson said. “Chicago has been terrorized by ICE. L.A. has been terrorized by ICE. They’re all over the place.
“It’s not that I’m afraid of it happening; it’s that I’m prepared.”
Chris Daniel, a labor organizer, said he was at the rally to show support for the immigrant workers who are under threat because of the Trump administration’s crackdown.
“No immigrant worker ever has had a negative impact on my life. I work alongside good union family immigrant workers who just work hard and want to take care of family,” Daniel said.
“I think we’re a lot more alike than we are different, and we can accomplish a lot together if we organize.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Devin Barrington-Ward, a civil rights attorney with the National Police Accountability Project, castigated the Trump administration for failing to address the high cost of living.
“Focus on the issues that people actually care about, which is how they’re going to survive every day under this economy,” he said.
National Day of Truth and Freedom rallies were planned Friday in other cities across the U.S., including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington and Austin, following weeks of protest and unrest, mostly in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Residents and officials in Minneapolis have said that federal immigration enforcement agents are sowing chaos in the city, increasing tensions and endangering people.
Good, 37, was killed Jan. 7 after an ICE agent, identified as Jonathan Ross, shot her three times, including once in the head.
A New York Times analysis of cellphone footage shot from separate angles appears to show that Good was turning right and away from the agent as he fired and that he did not appear to be in the path of her SUV. The administration has continued to claim Good was shot in self-defense and has said that she was a “domestic terrorist.”
The U.S. Justice Department has so far refused to start a criminal investigation into the shooting. But federal officials have targeted Good’s spouse, Becca Good, and Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who heavily criticized ICE’s conduct.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN/AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN/AJC
Organizers of Friday’s events were demanding that ICE agents withdraw from Minnesota and that Ross face criminal charges. They are also asking lawmakers to investigate ICE and pull federal funding for the agency from the next congressional budget.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
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