CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Immigration advocates are once again meeting outside of the Cedar Rapids Department of Homeland Security and ICE office to support immigrant families.
Today’s demonstration is organized by several groups, including the Iowa City Catholic Worker and Escucha Mi Voz Iowa. They plan to accompany several immigrant families during check-ins with ICE. In some cases, these meetings have ended with immigrants being detained.
There have been several of these demonstrations since ICE began cracking down on undocumented immigrants earlier this year. This comes after a pair of high-profile ICE arrests in Iowa last week.
Video has been circulating of Jorge Gonzalez, a Columbian man living in Iowa City, being wrestled to the ground and detained by officers in plainclothes during his shift at the Bread Garden Market in Iowa City.
The Des Moines Public School District’s superintendent, Dr. Ian Roberts, was also detained last week. He’s a Guyana native with an order for removal that was issued last year.
“This is about meeting quotas and just getting whoever they can find, whether that’s in public place of work like in Iowa City or elsewhere,” Reverend Jonathan Heifner with Saint Paul’s United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids, said.
The groups accuse the Department of Homeland Security of violating a Cedar Rapids City ordinance early last month. They say DHS blocked the public right of way outside of the ICE office by roping off the front lawn during a demonstration. The city says the department didn’t get permission to do that ahead of time.
“Will the city affirm our rights and will they show up to make sure that that their codes and our protections are honored?” Heifner said.
DHS maintains it has federal authority to establish barriers around the ICE office, but the City of Cedar Rapids is holding discussions and reviewing those concerns.
The Wednesday morning demonstration will be held at 8:30 a.m.
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