Anti-ICE protesters have gathered in Lower Manhattan a day after the deadly Minneapolis shooting to protest ICE’s actions when an agent shot and killed a woman.
While the large crowd originally gathered in Foley Square, they marched to confront U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem after learning she is scheduled to talk at 1 World Trade Center Thursday morning.
Protesters — some chanting “ICE. Gestapo. Get of New York now” — were seen carrying signs, including a banner that read “ICE out of NYC,” as they made their way through the streets of Lower Manhattan.
This takes place on the same day another pre-planned rally was scheduled in support for legal aids for immigrants.
“We have seen the courts time and time again. Tell them, ‘No, you cannot send your own army into a state to kidnap communities. No, you cannot end programs like asylum without due process,’ and so we need attorneys,” Democratic New York Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz said.
Several politicians and local organizations came together with the goal to protect immigrant families, vowing to go to Albany to secure the $175 million they said is needed to give legal support to the city’s immigrants.
Local lawmakers with the support of several organizations and nonprofits came together to announce their efforts to secure funding to help immigrant New Yorkers, acknowledging that many immigrants face language barriers, financial hurdles, and are unfamiliar with their rights.
Several speakers reiterated the point that they believe the system is stacked against immigrant New Yorkers and that it’s crucial to fight against the system while elected officials work to change it from the inside.
With the ‘Access to Representation Act’ it would give the financial support needed to fund a massive legal team to ensure every immigrant new yorker has experienced legal aid representation.
Speakers say it’s imperative to fund immigration legal services as soon as possible because the federal government its becoming more aggressive.
“We need to protect our fellow New Yorkers using the law. It’s demonstrated that somebody that has legal representation has more than 10 times more likelihood to have a positive or acceptable result or at least to have less damaging results,” Sen. John Liu said.
There is expected to be another larger rally Thursday afternoon in Foley Square over the ICE shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good in Minnesota as demonstrators continue their fight for the removal of ICE operations in cities across the country.
Minneapolis on edge after fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Macklin Good by ICE officer
Macklin Good was shot in the head Wednesday prompting louder calls for ICE to leave the midwestern state. But Noem said agents are not going anywhere.
The Department of Homeland Security has deployed more than 2,000 officers to the area in what it says is its largest immigration enforcement operation ever. Noem said more than 1,500 people have been arrested.
Macklin Good’s killing in a residential neighborhood south of Minneapolis’ downtown was recorded on video by witnesses, and by the evening hundreds of people came out for a vigil to mourn her and urge the public to resist immigration enforcement. Some then chanted as they marched through the city, but there was no violence.
The videos of the shooting show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.
It is not clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with ICE agents earlier. After the shooting the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.
In another recording made afterward, a woman who identifies Macklin Good as her spouse is seen crying near the vehicle. The woman, who is not identified, says the couple recently arrived in Minnesota and they had a child.
Noem called the incident an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE officers, saying the driver “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him.”
President Donald Trump made similar accusations on social media and defended ICE’s work.
Cell phone video captured the moments leading up to and after an ICE agent fatally shot a driver in Minneapolis.
Noem alleged that the woman was part of a “mob of agitators” and said the officer followed his training. She said the FBI would investigate.
But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Noem’s version of events “garbage.”
“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense,” Frey said. “Having seen the video myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit.”
He also criticized the federal deployment and said the agents should leave.
The shooting marked a dramatic escalation of the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations in major cities under the Trump administration. Wednesday’s is at least the fifth death linked to the crackdowns.
The Twin Cities have been on edge since DHS announced the operation’s launch Tuesday, at least partly tied to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
A crowd of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting to vent their anger at local and federal officers.
In a scene that hearkened back to crackdowns in Los Angeles and Chicago, people chanted “ICE out of Minnesota” and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.
Gov. Tim Walz said he was prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He expressed outrage over the shooting but called on people to keep protests peaceful.
“They want a show,” Walz said. “We can’t give it to them.”
There were calls on social media to prosecute the officer who shot Macklin Good.
Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said state authorities would investigate the shooting with federal authorities.