In response to the recent fatal ICE shootings in Texas and Maine and most recently an ICE-related death in Florida, multiple community members from the San Fernando Valley joined a protest at Olvera Street on Tuesday and are planning another demonstration this coming weekend.
Saturday’s protest – being held at the North Hollywood Metro Station at noon – will be part of the National Day of Action, “calling for justice for all of the ICE killings that we’ve seen over the past eight days,” said Paul Ramirez, an organizer and one of the founders of Valley Defensa, an immigrant rights organization “dedicated to ending mass deportations and fighting ICE terror”.
“We joined the ICE Out protest last night [in downtown Los Angeles], and we’re continuing – for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, for Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Maine and for an unidentified man who was struck by a [tractor-trailer] while running from immigration agents in Florida [on Tuesday] morning,” added Ramirez. “We’re going to continue mobilizing; we’re going to continue to demand the arrest of these murderers, to demand an end to this ICE terror.”
On Saturday, there will be protests in cities across the country, including outside LA City Hall and in downtown LA at 1 p.m. Protesters have frequently gathered at Placita Olvera and, last Tuesday, they loudly denounced the recent ICE killings, holding up signs and calling for accountability from federal authorities.
“We know that the majority of people are against these attacks and against the mass deportations, against this terror that we’re seeing,” said Ramirez.
“And already we’re seeing how this administration and the Department of Homeland Security are already taking measures to quell the unrest by calling for a pause on some of the vehicle stops by ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement], but we know that’s not enough; that’s why we have to keep fighting.”