Austin protests against the ICE killing of Renee Nicole Good
Austin, TX – On Friday, January 9, around 150 people rallied in front of the gates of the Texas Capitol building in protest of the killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis two days earlier.
The Austin Immigrant Rights Action Committee and Austin Students for a Democratic Society called the action.
Jesse Valdelamar from the Austin Immigrant Rights Action Committee kicked off the action with a series of chants including, “No cages! No cages! No raids! No raids!”
Valdelamar told the crowd, “Trump doesn’t want us coming together like this. But do you know what would really upset him? If regular working class people, not billionaires, were to come together and create good fighting organizations that don't disappear when the action is over, but persist. Good fighting organizations which resist the terror brought upon us by Trump and his lackeys. Good fighting organizations which advance, rather than retreat. The single most important thing you can do is to join the real movement in the street which is trying to change the current order of things. What the world needs right now are hardworking activists who are compelled to take risks, just like Renee.”
Daniel Ramirez, from the Freedom Road Organization said, “Once we take a look past the U.S.’s lies about immigrants, the truth is laid bare about how our immigration system is built in such a way that there exists a significant divide between the rights of those with citizenship and those without. This is clear. But what this means, and what the capitalists don’t want you to know, is that there exists a substratum of people that are hyper exploited, to raise corporate profits. Undocumented immigrants are, in large part, stuck in the gig economy, completely barred from fighting for better conditions and wages through unions.”
Mia Reballosa, a member of Austin Students for a Democratic Society, ended the rally with a fighting message, stating, “Right now is the time to defend our communities, our friends, our families, and our neighbors. As students and community members, we must come together and continue to demand ICE leave our homes and end this crusade of suffering. More than anything, ICE and their handlers in the White House wish that we would stay silent. What they want is if we stay quiet. If we stayed submissive. If we kept our heads down and stuck to our work or our school. But let me ask you this, when our homes are under attack, when our schools are under attack, when our friends and neighbors are under attack, when our families are under attack, when our livelihood is under attack, what do we do?” The crowd responded with a booming, “Stand up, fight back!”