False claims and food drive fail sour effect of immigration advocates’ protest

If their true motivations were to organize troops of angry demonstrators to wave signs, shout chants and sing songs, two advocacy organizations hit the nail on the head with their protest Tuesday outside the federal building in Cedar Rapids.

If it was to gather donations of items that could aid people in need, the results were mixed at best.

But if their intent was truly to secure the release of one young man potentially awaiting deportation and the return of another already deported, their effort was likely a failure.

Protesters supporting Pascual Pedro and Noel Lopez gathered Tuesday in front of the federal courthouse where district offices for Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and Congresswoman Ashley Hinson are located. (Notably, Hinson’s district does not include Muscatine County, where both Pedro and Lopez resided.)

The event was organized by Escucha Mi Voz (Spanish for “hear my voice”), an organization that organizes immigrants and refugees for social action; and Iowa City Catholic Worker, which provides charitable services to immigrants and their families. Attendees of the protest were given the option to RSVP using EveryAction, a progressive left-aligned fundraising and data collection platform that received over $6 million in payments from the Democratic National Committee in 2024.

‘Food Drive Action to Bring Pascual Back and Free Noel’

Interestingly, the event was billed as a food drive. In addition to signs, demonstrators were asked to bring non-perishable food donations and join organizers in an action to “deliver canned food to our members of Congress and speak-out to protest their cuts to food assistance to fund $200 billion for mass deportations.”

The delivery part of the plan raised the eyebrows of your friendly neighborhood opinion columnist. Federal courthouses have strict security protocols that include searching all bags, having each visitor present a federal or state-issued ID and having them pass through a metal detector. Cellphones and other electronic devices are not allowed in the whole building. Most importantly given protest organizers’ plans: outside food and drink are strictly prohibited.

But let’s face it: Aside from all that, to dump dozens or hundreds of pounds of food off on congressional staff members and essentially say, “Here, do something with this” seems pretty crude.

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The donated food — enough to fill dozens of mostly reusable grocery bags and several boxes — never made it into the federal building. No one seemed to know what to do with it. Alejandra Escobar, Communications Director for Escucha Mi Voz, told me that the congressional staff was “supposed to come get it and hopefully they’ll take it to a food bank.”

Escobar said she was not sure whether the congressional staff had agreed to that arrangement ahead of time.

“If you guys don’t have a plan, I can take care of it,” another organizer named Evan Burger said to Escobar. Burger, who said he was with the Fighting Oligarchy Project, told me that he could transport the food and that it would “probably end up at the Des Moines food bank.”

Dubious claim of ‘scheduled appointments’

Unsurprisingly given the security protocol, the group of over 200 demonstrators who collectively tried to enter the building — supposedly to deliver the donated food items — were stopped outside the entrance by U.S. Marshals, seemingly to protesters and the organizations’ great dismay. After the event, Escucha Mi Voz sent out a press release claiming that their organizers and activists were “blocked by U.S. Federal Marshals and Cedar Rapids Police from entering the building today to attend scheduled appointments with congressional staff for Senators Grassley and Ernst.”

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Escucha Mi Voz’s claim of “scheduled appointments” was surprising. If advocates and/or family members of Pedro and Lopez had confirmed appointments with congressional staff prior to Tuesday’s demonstration, they would have been made aware of the security requirements by which they would have to abide. Surely they would have known not to bring a truckload of food and 200 of their closest friends along.

I was not able to confirm with organizers whether meetings were scheduled. Calls to Father Guillermo Trevino, board president of Escucha Mi Voz and David Goodner, co-director of Escucha Mi Voz and cofounder of the Iowa City Catholic Worker House, were not returned.

A spokesperson for Sen. Grassley’s office said, “Sen. 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. 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.”

Who are Pascual Pedro and Noel Lopez?

As covered extensively in The Gazette, Pascual Pedro had been given an order for expedited removal in 2018, shortly after arriving in the U.S. with his father. Both had entered the country without legal authorization. Though his father was immediately deported, then-13-year-old Pedro was sent to live with his grandparents in West Liberty, with whom he was permitted to reside on supervised release until whenever his removal was to be effectuated. After seven years in Iowa, Pedro, now 20, was detained in early July amid a push for immigration enforcement by the new administration of President Donald Trump. He was quickly deported to his home country of Guatemala, where he is currently living with his mother.

Lopez is currently being held in the Washington County Jail awaiting arraignment on charges stemming from a June 2024 traffic stop during which he had been a passenger in a vehicle in which marijuana was found. Lopez’s family says driver of vehicle claimed ownership of the marijuana, but court documents show that review of the police report determined there was probable cause to charge both the driver and Lopez.

Through a jail employee, Washington County Jail Administrator Gina Greiner confirmed Friday that an ICE detainer has been issued for Lopez.

Situation misstated by advocate

As I wrote last month, Pedro’s situation is incredibly sad.

Notably, though, I have yet to meet a person who objects to Pedro’s deportation who can articulate the actual process under which it was carried out. That’s expected — most Americans rarely have occasion to learn details of immigration law.

Those who are professionally engaged in advocating on Pedro’s behalf, however, should have at least a baseline knowledge of the immigration process so they can accurately explain difficult situations to others.

In an on-camera interview Tuesday, Father Trevino claimed — inaccurately — that Pedro’s deportation was not done legally.

“Everyone has a right to a fair trial,” Trevino told KCRG-TV9. “And unfortunately, Pascual was denied that right.”

That is not true. As I also wrote last month, Pedro’s expedited removal order was issued under a decades-old statutory process that allows for immigration agents to remove an illegally present noncitizen without a hearing. The right to a “fair trial” under the U.S. Constitution refers to criminal offenses, whereas immigration violations, including those that qualify for expedited removal such as Pedro’s, are usually adjudicated as civil offenses outside the judicial branch.

It is not known whether Father Trevino misstated the facts of Pedro’s situation inadvertently. It is, however, quite troubling that the board president of an immigrant and refugee-centered organization — a religious leader in two communities with large immigrant populations who is arguably the loudest voice in the movement to “Bring Pascual Back” — is publicly characterizing the situation in a manner that is objectively false.

I can’t speak to Trevino and Escucha Mi Voz’s motives. Their tactics are another story. Whether or not Tuesday’s protest actions are actually helping Pedro and Lopez — or if they are making things worse — is something many should consider.

To their credit, Trevino and some of the Tuesday protest organizers at least have a relationship with the young men and their families. Most of the demonstrators, a group largely comprised of retired baby boomers and teachers and students on summer break, never knew their names before they could write them on a sign.

I, too, don’t know either young man. But I am close with someone whose immigration status is in a precarious state — someone for whom I am praying that a legal pathway can be found that allows him to stay in the country.

I checked in with my friend on Tuesday, the same day I witnessed a failed food drive, a protest powered by indignation that was seemingly cultivated and a respected community leader arguably spread misinformation in the media on which he doesn’t appear to have been challenged.

If that is what someone facing immigration problems can expect from Escucha Mi Voz, Iowa City Catholic Worker and its sister organizations, I would tell people like my friend to stay far away from them.

Comments: 319-398-8266; althea.cole@thegazette.com