Jacksonville takes streets to protest ICE presence
Jacksonville, FL – On January 24, the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance (JIRA) organized over 250 protesters in front of their county courthouse. The action marks the one-year anniversary of both Trump's second term, and the founding of the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance in the wake of Trump's aggressive attack on immigrants.
Nearly a dozen local organizations and chapters of larger activist organizations sponsored the event, speaking in solidarity with JIRA and their demands. Among them include Freedom Road Socialist Organization, National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, DSA, 50501 NEFL and 50501 Veterans, JCAC, JPSN, SDS, and Black Voters Matter.
JIRA and other speakers honored many who have become victims of political repression, such as Ya'akub Ira Vijandre, Mahmoud Khalil, Leqaa Kordia, and Jeanette Vizguerra; or have been murdered by ICE like Keith Porter Jr, Renee Nicole Good, Silveria Villegas Gonzalez, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, and Alex Pretti who was killed that very morning.
In the wake of so many harmed by ICE, whose agents have been sighted in greater frequency in Jacksonville during recent weeks, JIRA punctuated the rally by marching throughout the streets of Jacksonville's city, with chants such as “Whose streets? Our streets!” and “ICE out of Jacksonville now!”
When speaking on the importance of the action, a member of JIRA said, “Countless people for their skin color, their accent, their language, their heritage, their culture, are living in fear; scapegoated by this administration for the crime of who they are.”