ICE protests planned for KC and nationwide
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"ICE Out For Good" vigils and protest events were quickly planned nationwide for Jan. 10 and 11 in response to a fatal shooting by immigration officers in Minneapolis, organizers told Axios on Friday.
Why it matters: The killing and a subsequent Border Patrol shooting in Portland have sparked outrage and anger at the Trump administration, which has defended its agents.
Zoom in: Kansas City's "ICE Out For Good" vigil and demonstration is set to take place Saturday at Mill Creek Park on the Plaza from 3:30-5pm.
- A "rescue democracy" event will happen at the same place from 12-2pm.
- The event pages call for a "commitment to nonviolent action" and ask participants to act lawfully and de-escalate potential conflicts.
Catch up quick: On Wednesday, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis as she drove past immigration agents. The Trump administration claimed the shooting was an act of self-defense as Good drove away, but Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has rejected that claim.
- On Thursday, two people were shot by Border Patrol agents in Portland during what officials said was "a targeted vehicle stop." Both were hospitalized.
Driving the news: Two days of protests in Minneapolis following Good's shooting ended in law enforcement using flash bangs and a chemical irritant.
- Mayor Frey responded to Wednesday's shooting emphatically, telling ICE to "get the f---" out of his city. In a Thursday New York Times op-ed, he said the killing was "sadly predictable" because of the Trump administration's harsh immigration actions.
State of play: Protests, vigils and other "ICE Out For Good" events are being held by groups including Indivisible, 50501, the Disappeared in America Campaign, Voto Latino and the American Civil Liberties Union. The mobilization is meant to humanize ICE victims and demand accountability.
- "Good and the Portland victims are part of a broader and deeply alarming pattern of unchecked violence and abuse by federal immigration enforcement agencies," organizers said in a statement.
- The White House did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
By the numbers: 500 events were scheduled across the country as of Friday afternoon.
- More than 1,000 are ultimately anticipated, organizers said.
Behind the scenes: The weekend's mobilization came together in less than 24 hours, said Sarah Parker, Voices of Florida executive director and 50501 national partner.
- Organizing vigils, specifically, helps "create space for a community to come together in a very particular kind of way," Tamika Middleton, the Women's March chief political and strategy officer, told Axios.
- "They center the person that we lost and the community as opposed to the perpetrators and the purveyors of violence."
Context: In recent polling, more U.S. adults indicated that they support anti-ICE protests than ICE itself.
- Some congressional Democrats threatened another government shutdown to force substantive ICE changes, while Republicans have defended the agency.
Go deeper: These are the DHS officer-involved shootings in Trump's second term