DELAND − As Minnesota-like weather swept into East Central Florida Saturday morning, Jan. 31, some 100 people gathered at a busy intersection to protest ICE.
The people there waved signs and spoke out against President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in Minneapolis, where two citizens were killed by federal agents in January and a 5-year-old boy was taken into custody, all part of a nationwide hunt for people in the country illegally and a mass deportation effort.
The protest followed Friday’s National Shutdown Day, in which numerous Florida organizations, businesses and schools participated, including some students at Atlantic High School in Port Orange. Protests were scheduled nationwide Saturday.
“ICE is not only attacking American citizens, but also attacking immigrants, most of which have no criminal records, and the current administration is spreading lies about our neighbors,” said Bethany Dzekunskas, a DeLand resident. “And it deserves to be made known, and we need to stand up for each other.”
Trump’s mass deportations weren’t the only concerns on protesters’ minds.
“I’m just sick of the corruption, the lawlessness,” said Ivan Clements of DeLand. “All the pardons for access to the president. His pardoning of the J-6 rioters, just everything, it’s just … Trump is not in it for the people. He’s in it for himself. He doesn’t care about me or you and I’m just sick of it.”
He was holding a sign reading: “Justice for RENEE GOOD, murdered by ICE. ALEX PRETTI, murdered by ICE. LIAM RAMOS, kidnapped by ICE.”
He compared the last month in Minnesota to the National Guard’s killing of four student protesters at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970.
“That’s what I see here,” Clements said. “You saw in fascist Italy during World War II, where they went after the lawyers. They went after the press. And then they went after the immigrants, and that was just the start of the fascism. I don’t know if it’s going to go that far here, but I think our democracy is being tested.”
Volusia residents protest for multiple reasons
Kristi Brucker of Deltona wore a “Portland Frog” costume, saying it symbolizes anti-fascism and references an incident in Oregon, where a person wearing an inflatable frog costume was assaulted by a federal agent who deployed pepper spray into the suit last October.
She referenced her two daughters as part of her motivation for attending the protest.
“I’m fighting for them to have a future that I had, that I thought I had, and for democracy,” Brucker said. “If it takes a costume to get people’s attention, and them looking and talking, I’ll absolutely do it.”
Alicyn Dickey of Daytona Beach called the Trump presidency “an abomination,” and cited concerns including health care, defunding education, breaking alliances with NATO and other friendly countries, in addition to the ICE actions.
“It’s like the Gestapo,” Dickey said. “They’re pulling people out of their houses. Arresting peaceful protesters. It’s Nazi Germany. It really is.”
‘Enraged’ protester ensures her voice is heard every Saturday morning
Judy Hanel of Eustis said she’s been “appalled” enough to join protests every Saturday morning in DeLand and elsewhere.
“So many people being abducted by men in masks and the government sanctioning it. I’m just sick of it. I’m just out here very, very enraged,” she said.
Hanel held a sign reading: “PRETTI and GOOD were HEROS. How many more?”
While the vast majority of people at the corner were in the anti-Trump category, there were a few indications that Volusia County has been reliably red for the Republicans. A few motorists yelled at the protesters.
Also, a bearded counter-protester across the street wearing a red “MAKE ORWELL GREAT AGAIN” cap waved a sign reading: “Lenin’s Useful Idiots aka Hussies for Hamas.” He called himself “Ashley Biden,” and declared himself: “The voice of reason.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Around 100 gather in DeLand to protest ICE killings
Reporting by Mark Harper, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
