Rallies Held Across Chicago Area to Honor Lives Lost to Immigration Agent Shootings
CHICAGO (WLS) — Rallies against immigration agent shootings were held in cities around the country and in the Chicago area on Saturday. The date marked one month since the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is one of several people who have been shot by federal agents.
Communities across the Chicago area came together to honor the lives of those killed during immigration operations. “It just kind of shows what we’re living right now in this moment with ICE, the attacks on our community,” said Cristobal Cavazos, executive director at Casa DuPage Workers Center. “The thuggishness, the violence that we’re seeing.”
Community members and volunteers gathered at Casa DuPage Workers Center in Wheaton where they built and decorated altars for those who have been killed by federal agents as immigration enforcement continues nationwide. “We’re creating some paper flowers, ‘papel picado,’ and doing paintings to not only keep their memories alive, but items that represented them and the fights they were doing before they passed,” explained Casa DuPage Workers Center volunteer Samantha Valdez.
Among those honored were Renee Good and Alex Pretti from Minneapolis, as well as Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, who was killed last September in Franklin Park, Illinois. Villegas-Gonzalez’s partner, Blanca Mora, also attended the event. Speaking through tears in Spanish, she thanked the community for their support while her family mourns.
Meanwhile, the family of Renee Good held their own remembrance in Minnesota. In a heartfelt statement, Becca Good said: “Renee was not the first person killed, and she was not the last. Their families are hurting just like mine, even if they don’t look like mine. They are neighbors, friends, coworkers, classmates. And we must also know their names. Because this shouldn’t happen to anyone.”
In downtown Chicago at Federal Plaza, demonstrators gathered to stand in solidarity with communities impacted by immigration enforcement. Protester Kasia Merlak stated, “ICE is attacking the most vulnerable in our community. If we don’t stand up for them, if we’re not defending our neighbors, then can we even call ourselves good neighbors?”
The altars created at the Casa DuPage Workers Center will be moved to Franklin Park, displayed near the location where Villegas-Gonzalez was killed.
Also on Saturday, strong support was shown for the owners of Garfield Ridge coffee shop, A Cup Of Joe. The Villarreal family, vocal critics of ICE operations in Chicago, have faced harassment and calls for protests outside their business.
Despite this, ABC7 crews observed a long line of supporters at the coffee shop. The Villarreal family released a statement declaring that canceling their business for simply “expressing their right to freedom of speech is un-American.”
Related: Minneapolis live updates: Trump says Good, Pretti killings ‘should not have happened’