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Community members gather outside Cedar Rapids federal courthouse to protest detentions, deportations
Jul. 29, 2025 6:11 pm, Updated: Jul. 30, 2025 3:58 pm
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Chants to “Bring back Pascual,” and “Let Noel go,” rang out through the heat Tuesday afternoon as Eastern Iowa community members marched toward the U.S. District Court building in Cedar Rapids to protest the deportation of West Liberty resident Pascual Pedro earlier this month and the detention of Muscatine resident Noel Lopez.
Pedro was deported earlier this month, while Lopez remains in Muscatine County Jail following an arrest last month in Washington County stemming from a traffic stop a year earlier.
The protesters — including family members of Pascual Pedro and Noel Lopez and clergy and faith leaders from several local congregations — brought cans of food “as a symbolic protest” against cuts to food assistance and Medicaid as well as increases in spending for immigration enforcement that were made as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that passed this month, according to a press release about the protest.
The food was carried up to the federal building by marching protesters, and will be donated to local food pantries, according to organizers with Escucha Mi Voz, an Iowa City nonprofit that organized the protest.
“The government is on a racist campaign to round up immigrants in our country, and they are funding this horror — it is a living hell for folks — they are funding all this by slashing federal food assistance and other parts of the social safety net, thus causing more suffering for the poor and the underprivileged,” Ryan Downing, a pastor at Faith United Church of Christ in Iowa City, said during the rally.
Downing was one of several religious leaders who spoke before, during, and after the march toward the federal courthouse, where protesters were met at the door by security guards and told that only five people could enter the building to speak with staffers in the officers of Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, and Rep. Ashley Hinson, who protesters had asked to meet with.
A few organizers and protesters, including Iowa House Rep. Angel Ramirez, entered the building and asked for the staffers to come outside to speak with protesters, but no one came out of the building. Ramirez said she spoke with a staffer for Grassley and to security in the building and was told that the staff didn’t feel safe to come outside, and only five people could enter the building.
“Although they recognized we were peaceful, they also were painting an image that we were being unsafe, and I would just like to push back against that, because everyone here was peacefully protesting. Everyone here is a constituent of the people in that office,” Ramirez said.
A spokesperson from Hinson’s office told The Gazette her office received an email from Escucha Mi Voz organizers the day before the protest and offered to schedule a meeting with them but did not receive a response.
“Rep. Hinson supports deporting illegal aliens and will continue working with President Donald Trump to close the border,” a spokesperson said in an email to The Gazette.
A spokesperson for Grassley’s office also stated that his staff agreed to meet with family members of Pascual and Noel.
“Senator Grassley’s staff in Cedar Rapids agreed on short notice to meet with Iowans interested in cases involving Pascual Pedro and Noel Lopez Tuesday afternoon,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “After a crowd of hundreds gathered outside the office, Grassley’s staff invited the family members to meet personally with staff inside the office to hear their concerns. Only two advocates came to the office to speak with the Senator’s staff. As always, Grassley welcomes comments and concerns from all Iowans.”
Ernst’s offices did not reply Tuesday to a request for comment about the protest.
Family members of Pascual Pedro and Noel Lopez also spoke before the march about their family members’ experiences with the immigration system.
Pascual was detained at his annual check-in appointment with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Cedar Rapids on July 1, and was deported less than a week later, before his lawyer had a chance to file for a stay of removal. Pascual, 20, has lived in West Liberty since he was 13, and graduated last year from West Liberty High School after he went to the state tournament with the high school’s soccer team.
Pascual’s grandfather, Francisco Pedro, spoke at the protest, expressing his confusion about his grandson’s deportation.
“In the case of Pascual … he hadn’t done anything wrong. He came as a child, studied. Last year he graduated high school in West Liberty. After, he liked working. He liked doing good things,” Francisco Pedro said, in Spanish. “Every year, the law required that he present himself at the immigration office in Cedar Rapids. We were complying … There was no explanation. They detained him. I’ll say again that I don’t understand the reason. What is the motive?”
Noel Lopez’s sister, Leslie Lopez, also spoke, emphasizing how unfair she feels her brother’s detention is.
Noel, 23, was arrested in Washington County last month, on one count of possession of controlled substance — marijuana. The charge stemmed from a traffic stop that happened more than a year before, on June 2, 2024, when police found marijuana in a car that Noel had been a passenger in. The driver of the car, Mason Pounsavan, 26, of Mount Pleasant, was also charged with possession of a controlled substance.
“I think it’s really unfair,” Leslie said, through tears. “Honestly, I think I’m really mad … It’s not right. It wasn’t his fault. No one’s perfect, but I don’t really think anybody deserves to be thrown out of this country over something small like being with the wrong friend at the wrong time.”
Noel’s mother, Marcelus De la Cruz Santos said that she heard from Noel that he may be facing immigration enforcement as a result of the drug charge, but The Gazette was unable to verify whether he has an immigration case pending or what his immigration status is, as the lawyer his family hired was not able to be reached Tuesday.
De la Cruz Santos also said she’s spoken with Pounsavan, who told her he admitted to police that the all of the marijuana found in the vehicle was his, and she doesn’t understand why her son has been charged, or why the charges came so late after the initial traffic stop.
“Everything that was in the car was the property of his friend. He had nothing to do with it,” De la Cruz Santos said, in Spanish. “What we don’t understand is why a year … later they came looking for him. He didn’t get a citation. They didn’t give him a ticket. It seems weird to me, because the police let them go.”
Washington County Attorney Nathan Repp told The Gazette in an email Tuesday that he didn’t know why the charges took so long, but that he would try to find out.
“Our local law enforcement generally waits to file drug charges until testing results are received back from the DCI Lab, but testing does not typically take that long,” Repp said.
Escucha Mi Voz has multiple other actions planned in the coming weeks, including a press conference over Zoom Wednesday in which Pascual Pedro will speak about his own experience, and a planned protective accompaniment to go with several immigrant families to their U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in appointments on Aug. 5.
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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