Cedar Rapids students join national walkout to protest ICE

CEDAR RAPIDS — Washington High School junior Harumi Alfaro protested immigration enforcement “angry” alongside close to 200 of her peers outside the school Friday.

Alfaro is a first-generation American whose parents immigrated here from Mexico. Although they are now U.S. citizens, Alfaro said she feels like her “family is being threatened” by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The student body walked out of school at noon as part of a nationwide protest calling for “no work, no school, no shopping” to oppose federal immigration enforcement.

A little more than two miles away from Washington High, about 100 more people protested near Coe College. They included students from Coe, Kirkwood Community College, Cornell College and community members.

Protesters marched from the Stewart Memorial Library on Coe’s campus to the intersection of First Avenue and Eighth Street, where they stood on all four corners of the intersection waving signs and chanting in protest of immigration enforcement. They also heard speeches from community leaders who are Coe College alumni, including Iowa state Rep. Angel Ramirez and Mimi Daoud, who ran last year for the Cedar Rapids school board.

  Buy Photo

The students protested in temperatures a wind chill that hovered around zero degrees.

Charlie Acosta, a Coe student from St. Paul, Minnesota, organized the protest outside Coe. Acosta was born in Mexico City and has dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico. He said he’s been afraid for himself and his community as unrest has grown between federal immigration enforcement officers and Minnesota residents over the last few weeks.

“It’s honestly terrifying, really. I have that slight security of having citizenship, but I have friends who have been detained from high school,” Acosta said. “Yes, there is security in having citizenship, but it’s really very minimal. It really is terrifying.”

  Buy Photo

The demonstrations are taking place amid widespread outrage over the killing of Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse who was shot multiple times by federal agents last Saturday in Minneapolis. Pretti’s death increased scrutiny of the administration’s tactics after the Jan. 7 death of Renee Good, who was fatally shot behind the wheel of her vehicle by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

“People have died, and it’s devastating. Now, we know them for standing up for what they believe in, and I want to be one of those people. If I die, I want to die for something I believe in,” Alfaro said.

“You get angry … I want to speak out, but there’s always this fear you will be hurt by this. It’s OK to be scared, as long as you stand up for yourself and what you believe in,” Alfaro said.

  Buy Photo

Acosta, who was in Minnesota with his family when Renee Good was shot, said he was afraid to leave his home while he was there.

“It was really scary. I wasn’t actually at any of the protests personally, because of safety problems. For the last week before I came back to school, I actually didn’t leave the house unless I needed to,” Acosta said. “My mother, however … she’s white, she’s American, so she was at protests. She was marshaling. She was a big part of a lot of these protests. I wasn’t able to join any of that, which is part of the reason that I wanted to have this.”

  Buy Photo

Jaydann Keller, 15, a sophomore at Washington High, said ICE “causes more harm than good.”

“Not only can adults in the community see it, but kids and teens can too,” Keller said. “We are tired of seeing people in our community live in terror because of the thought that they could be kidnapped, thrown in vans, and tossed in dehumanizing detention centers — and we want to be a part of the fight against fascism.”

“Unfortunately, while we protested today we had an abundance of people who passed us by with messaging countering our views, and I feel like that’s caused by simply misinformation. People aren’t getting all of the news of what ICE is truly doing to people, and it’s sad. I believe that those people need to do more research on who and what they’re supporting, rather than simply protesting it,” Keller said.

  Buy Photo

Tia Hojka, 15, a sophomore at Washington High, said what ICE is doing is “absolutely horrible.” She said she believes in the “power of protest” and that protesting has made a difference throughout history.

“A lot of my closest friends are immigrants or their parents are immigrants, and they are full of fear that they or their parents could be detained even though they’re here legally,” Hojka said.

“I will miss all the class I need to if it ensures ICE gets out of our city and is abolished. I’m sure my teachers will understand if I miss class to protest ICE,” Hojka said.

Violet Meyer-Boothby, 16, a sophomore at Washington High, said she is protesting against what she called “state-sanctioned murder.”

“We are a land of immigrants. We don’t have the right to tell people they can’t be here,” Meyer-Boothby said. “Even if you are undocumented, you have the right to due process.”

  Buy Photo

Yoko Namio, a student leader in multiple Coe College clubs who helped organize the Coe event, said she felt the protest was an important way to stand up against injustice.

“We saw the videos and pictures online of how these ICE agents were attacking these communities and murdering people without facing any consequences, or being held accountable,” Namio said.

The college students were joined by some Coe faculty and staff members, and other community members who wanted to join in support. Kelli Boylen, of Allamakee County, came with her daughter and son-in-law who she was in town visiting. She also attended protests in Minneapolis last week, and called ICE’s actions in the city a “slippery slope that could seriously damage democracy as a whole.”

“I think it’s important that this message is everywhere,” Boylen said.

  Buy Photo

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com