PHOTOS: Hundreds attend anti-ICE protest in downtown Orlando

Protesters chant in downtown Orlando on Jan. 11 during anti ICE protest. (Photo by Bellanee Plaza)

ORLANDO | Hundreds gathered on the street corners of City Hall in downtown Orlando Jan. 11 as part of the “Keep ICE Out of Orlando for Good” protest.

Across the nation, people took to the streets to protest the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics following the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis, a 37-year-old woman who was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jan. 7.

Good described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom” via social media with an Instagram bio that displayed a Pride flag emoji, multiple outlets have reported.

She was shot in a residential neighborhood near Minneapolis in what the Trump administration claims was “an act of self-defense.”

At least 1,000 events across the U.S. were planned for Saturday and Sunday, according to Indivisible, a progressive grassroots coalition of activists helping coordinate the movement, called “ICE Out For Good Weekend of Action.”

At the peaceful protest in Orlando, people chanted and waved signs while speakers from Orlando 50501 talked to the crowd at the stairs at City Hall to voice their anger against the Trump administration. Cars could be heard honking throughout the protest.

The Orlando Police Department was present with non-lethal guns and tear gas canisters. The officers watched from across the street and the emergency response team was also present.

Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, executive director of Hope CommUnity Center, shared his anger and frustration in his speech to the crowd. He said Florida has the second highest number of deportations in the country.

“We are here because state violence keeps escalating and because silence will make us complicit, we refuse to be silent, that’s why we are here,” Sousa-Lazaballet said. “…When families live in fear, freedom erodes, when state violence goes unchecked, no one is truly safe. Renee Nicole Good should have never been killed. Those injured in Portland should have never been shot.”

A Border Patrol agent shot two people in Portland, Oregon, during a traffic stop after authorities said they were associated with a Venezuelan gang. The man and woman are in stable condition.

One of the final speakers was Ericka Gomez-Tejeda from the Immigrants are Welcome Coalition. She asked the crowd to vote on policies including ending police participation with ICE and to unmask and identify ICE agents. She asked those present to call local officials, specifically naming Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.

“Orange County is one of the few counties where elected officials can control what happens at the jail,” Gomez-Tejeda said. “It has been reported that out of the 20,000 people, human beings, immigrants, who have been detained in the jails, 6,000 of them came through us. Shame on Orange County.”

Watermark Out News attended the protest and you can view our photos below.

Photos by Bellanee Plaza.