Dozens of protesters crowded in front of the “Spirit of Detroit” statue outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Jan. 13, then packed the City Council session inside, urging officials to keep U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents out of the city and to prevent any cooperation between the federal agency and the Detroit Police Department.
State, city and religious leaders, along with activists and residents stood outside for nearly 45 minutes before the council session, holding signs calling on the city’s legislative body and Mayor Mary Sheffield to “Make Detroit ICE-free” — among other anti-ICE sentiments — in the wake of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Motor City on Tuesday, and following an ICE agent’s fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis mother, last week in Minneapolis.
Nancy Parker, executive director of the Detroit Justice Center, asked those who had gathered outside in the cold morning air: “When will it be enough?” She added, that she does not want “empty platitudes” or thoughts and prayers from elected officials.
“I am tired. Why do we keep having to come out here and plead the humanity of human beings,” Parker said to the agreeing crowd. “This country resorts to violence upon violence, upon violence … and has the audacity to look at people like us, who are tired, and say we are the ones rioting in the streets when they’re dropping bombs and executing human beings?
“We all have eyes … we want ICE out. It is under no misgivings that they’re keeping anyone safe. We are literally operating under fascist control and we are being told ‘stand down.’ There is no more law of the land.”
Parker was one of about a half-dozen speakers that included city and state elected officials, as well as community advocates.
The Rev. Paul Perez, pastor of Central United Methodist Church, said he has come across several residents who stopped attending church out of fear that they will be targeted.
“No one should be afraid to go to their church, or their temple, or their mosque,” Perez said to the crowds outside. “We have comforted people who are afraid and people who are grieving the loss of family members and loved ones who have been detained and deported. Enough is enough. Sometimes, laws need to change. Our immigration system is broken.”
Outside the MotorCity Casino Hotel, where Trump was scheduled to speak to the Detroit Economic Club, Detroit police arrested at least two protesters during a demonstration organized by BAMN. The group appeared to be roughly 200 strong. The first arrest was made just before 1 p.m. on Jan. 13 at the intersection of Temple Street, the John C. Lodge Service Drive and Grand River Avenue, as police blocked access around the casino. A short time later, police arrested at least one additional person outside the venue, Free Press reporters witnessed.
Ann Smith, a 52-year-old Ypsilanti resident who was at the protest outside the casino, said the level of police interaction and the arrest of at least two protesters was frightening and unlike anything she had experienced at a demonstration before.
“It’s not the America that I know,” she said through tears. “We’re living in a fascist state right now,”
At Trumbull and Temple streets, more than 100 protesters gathered for an emergency rally organized by the Drop Trump Coalition. Police blocked nearby streets and set up barricades as demonstrators opposed Trump’s visit and criticized increased immigration enforcement.
“Anti-Trump brings everyone out,” said organizer Michael Muczynski, 29. Protesters cited fear over ICE activity and the recent killing of Good as motivation for demonstrating.
TJ Rogers, communications manager for Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero, said outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, before the council meeting, that since Trump was elected, their office has received “countless calls and emails” from residents who are worried.
“Neighbors are worried about each other’s safety. Teachers are worried about their students. Residents are fearful to go to work, afraid to go to the grocery store; or to go worship, visit the doctor. Children are terrified to go to school, uncertain when they come home, if their parents are still going to be there,” Rogers said.
He added that fear “spread like a tidal wave” across the city following the “brutal murder of Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis” last week by an ICE agent.
“Everyone, citizen and immigrant, documented and not, is afraid,” Rogers said.
State Sens. Mary Cavanagh, D-Redford Township, and Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, told the crowd gathered outside that they have partnered on legislation with state Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, establishing more humane immigration enforcement policies.
“I’m pissed that we even have to be here,” said Cavanagh, a first-generation Mexican American. “What we are seeing in our country is not public safety, it’s fear … this administration’s immigration enforcement tactics are creating panic, not protection,” pointing out places that “should never be associated with fear” such as hospitals, schools and grocery stores.
She added that the legislation would: prevent law enforcement from handing over identifying information for the purposes of immigration enforcement without a warrant; prevent law enforcement officers from wearing masks to conceal their identity while exercising authority, and designate places of worship, hospitals and courthouses, as well as organizations providing services to pregnant women, victims of crime, or individuals with disabilities, as protected spaces from ICE unless it’s in the case of exigent circumstances.
“We see detained people being moved from facility to facility, across state lines, making it impossible for their loved ones to locate them or for attorneys to provide legal services,” Chang tearfully said. “We see due process violation after due process violation, and we hear deportees shackled for more than 40 hours on flights to countries sometimes they’ve never even lived in.”
Advocates then poured into the City Council meeting to support Councilmember Santiago-Romero’s memo, sent last week to Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison seeking further information on the department’s cooperation with ICE, and to firmly urge other officials to make Detroit a sanctuary city and protect its residents.
Detroit police previously told the Free Press that in sanctuary cities, local police refuse to cooperate with federal agencies in enforcing federal immigration law, and saying that Detroit is not a sanctuary city. However, DPD added, the department does not enforce federal or immigration laws.
After more than two hours of public comment during the council session, Santiago-Romero asked residents to take photos and videos if they see DPD supporting federal agents and to send it to their councilmembers.
“We know deportations are happening in District 6, in District 7, in District 4, in District 1, and we have immigrants here from all over the world who need protection,” Santiago-Romero said at the council meeting.
Outside, Victoria Camille, District 7 Board of Police commissioner, had thanked Santiago-Romero for advancing the memo to Chief Bettison, indicating that as long as “our neighbors are not safe and free, then we are not safe and free,” adding that it is a collective fight.
“While DPD is not perfect, and there is work to be done locally, at least we have our charter-mandated civilian oversight of DPD and processes for residents to air their grievances. We have no such grievance process for ICE. ICE agents should not be running around Detroit with no accountability measures, jumping out of cars with guns and masks, and terrorizing our communities with no impunity,” Camille said.
She then joined the dozens of others who had packed the council meeting or called in to urge officials to protect its citizens from ICE activity in Detroit’s neighborhoods — calling for Detroit to be a sanctuary city — and to prevent any cooperation with DPD.
Omar Santana, who was met with grand applause from attendees inside the council chambers auditorium on the 13th floor of the municipal center, said he has had to personally move families in the city to “safe homes” out of fear their homes were being watched by agents who were dressed like law enforcement without badges or other identifiers on them.
“This is real life. It might not be your reality, but it’s the reality of many Detroit residents. A lot of these people don’t have anybody to go to. These people are newcomers … they don’t understand our laws or rules or regulations,” Santana said. “The system is corrupted. It has been corrupted for decades or centuries against Black and Brown people, and now they’re weaponizing it against all of us.”
Kassandra Rodriguez, an organizer with Detroit Community Action Committee, reiterated to council members during the session that Detroiters “do not want ICE” in the city.
“We want them to go. And I think we should be doing everything we can to kick them out,” Rodriguez said, adding that she hopes the nine-member body would relay everyone’s sentiments to Mayor Sheffield. “I would just want to let her know that she has an opportunity to set a precedent for the type of mayor she wants to be.”
A message was left for Sheffield, seeking her reaction to the demonstration and the public comments. Former Mayor Mike Duggan had previously emphasized that Detroit is a “welcoming city” for immigrants, but is not a sanctuary city.
Several others who spoke in the council chambers shared Rodriguez’s sentiments, telling city officials to “grow a spine and become a sanctuary city” and asking council members for a commitment that DPD will not perform the duties of ICE agents and that residents are not asked for their immigration status unless required by law.
In response, City Council President James Tate said the body still is at the point of fact-finding and identifying future strategies.
“We are listening, we are learning, but we are also strategizing,” Tate said. “You have to do it in a way that makes sure that those who you are trying to address in the most positive way are shielded from the negative effects of what could happen.”
Dana Afana is the Detroit City Hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
Free Press reporters Darcie Moran and Rebeca San Martin contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Protesters brave cold, call on Council to end ICE activity in Detroit
Reporting by Dana Afana, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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