Large group lines Division Street to protest ICE, Trump amid Minneapolis shooting

Spurred by the deadly shooting of a mother of three in Minneapolis, several hundred people braved the chilly weather and lined Division Street along B.A. Clark Park holding signs that called for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and condemned President Donald Trump’s policies.

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown was one of the attendees. She said she wanted to stand in solidarity with the protesters.

“So many people in Spokane are upset by what happened with Renee Good in Minneapolis, but it’s playing out in a lot of cities,” Brown said. “This lack of checks and balances that I think we have depended on in our system appear to be breaking down, and so this is the way that we can express our views about that.”

Good, 37, dropped off her 6-year-old son at school before her confrontation with ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired his gun as Good drove off. Videos of the incident have stirred debate whether Ross was justified in his actions.

The shooting added to the already intense controversy surrounding the Trump administration’s immigration tactics.

Ramona Wise called the Minneapolis shooting “the cherry on top.”

“We have to do something to stop ICE from murdering more people,” said Wise, who held a sign Saturday that read, “Abolish ICE, no human’s illegal.”

She said she felt “disgusted” and “devastated” for Good’s family after watching the videos of the shooting that have circulated online and in media reports.

“She’s utilizing her First Amendment right to protest and she was murdered doing it,” Wise said of Good.

“Abolish ICE” was perhaps the most popular sign protesters held Saturday. An array of other signs played on the ICE name, like, “De-ICE Spokane now” and “De-ICE our streets.”

Some protesters held American flags. One man dressed in a black -and-white striped jail costume and wore a Trump mask. The man held a sign that said, “Lock him up.”

Protesters stretched the length of the North Hill Neighborhood park from Garland Avenue to about Lacrosse Avenue, near Casa de Oro Mexican restaurant. The honking of passing drivers was nearly constant during the two-hour protest. A few drivers showed or voiced their disagreement with the protesters.

Spokane police officers lingered in the park ensuring the demonstration remained peaceful.

Brown took issue with several recent actions, domestically and internationally, of the Trump administration and Congress. The military operation in Venezuela was one of them.

“We have a lot of immigrants in our community,” she said. “We have Venezuelans, people from many countries, and even when I first moved to Spokane in the 1980s, we were a place where people could come fleeing violence from countries like El Salvador and other countries in Central America. And now we have this very rigid, ‘Send people home, don’t let them come’ policy that I think is not true to our values.”

One of the flyers distributed to protesters asked them to mobilize Monday night at City Hall before the Spokane City Council meeting. The flyer, which had the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Spokane emblem on it, called on the council to adopt a resolution opposing Trump’s “illegal war” on Venezuela.

On Tuesday, Spokane Students for Human Decency, led by two Lewis and Clark High School seniors, will organize a student walkout at Lewis and Clark High School to protest ICE. The protest is in solidarity with Good’s family and the families and detainees affected by ICE detention, according to a news release sent to news organizations by LC senior Ava Swigart, one of the walkout organizers.

“The walkout is a response to growing frustration over the deterioration of democracy and immigration systems,” the release said. “Enough is enough. This event will serve as a walkout, protest, and vigil, providing space to honor affected families while standing against systemic abuses. Spokane is not immune to the impacts of ICE policies, and we stand with local immigrant families affected by these injustices.”

Meanwhile, Ben Wise, Ramona Wise’s husband, said ICE is acting with “impunity.”

“ICE should not be acting with impunity as basically a private military for the president,” he said.

He said he’s been protesting ICE, but the Minneapolis shooting video “re-energized me in a lot of ways” as he criticized the officer’s actions during and after the shooting.

“You don’t murder somebody for trying to drive away,” said Ben Wise, whose sign said, “ICE murdered Good!!! ‘Nuff said!”

He said he’s encouraged to see the large turnout Saturday and hopes more do in the future “because I feel like if you wait too much longer, you’re not gonna have the right to do that.”

He said one of his reasons for protesting is he doesn’t want to look back decades from now and tell his grandchildren he wasn’t there to raise his voice.

“The more visible protests there are, the more we move the needle,” Ben Wise said.

He said if enough people protest, they can’t be silenced.

“I’m hoping what happened in Minneapolis was a wake-up call, and I’m terrified that it’s going to get worse for a while as they try to contain this and try to contain other protests,” he said. “I’m hoping that the more visible this is, the less people are gonna be able to ignore it and the more motivated they’re gonna be to get out and affect change.”