A large crowd of Newton residents gathered on the Newton Centre Green on Saturday, January 10, to protest recent actions by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including a fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
The victim, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was shot and killed by an ICE agent on January 7 in Minneapolis. Video footage on social media shows Good’s vehicle moving as agents attempted to detain her, and an officer firing three shots. Federal authorities have not released a full investigation.
At the Newton Centre Green
Wendy Haskell attended the demonstration Saturday and said she was impressed by the size of the crowd. Haskell, who has participated in similar ICE-related protests in recent weeks, said turnout for this event was noticeably larger than before.
She described the crowd as largely older and said many younger drivers smiled or waved in support as they passed.
Haskell said she is deeply concerned that many people continue with daily routines without paying attention to what she sees as a growing crisis.
Haskell is part of Newton Indivisible, which organizes the Saturday protests on Newton Centre Green. She is a member of the group’s storytelling action team, which works to share and amplify the concerns raised by demonstrators. She said that the team began by interviewing participants at events about how the Trump administration’s actions were affecting them, producing short videos based on those conversations.
Haskell said she is deeply concerned that many people continue with their daily routines without paying close attention to what she sees as a growing crisis.
“Things go on, and I’m glad,” she said. “But in a way, it’s a level of indifference. A lot of people don’t really get it. This is really, really serious that we are already in a fascist-promoting regime.”
Several drivers, including truck drivers, honked in support of the protesters as they passed.
Haskell said the protest was mostly met with supportive reactions, though she described one exchange with a driver who referenced deportations under the Obama administration. She said she chose not to engage but wished she had responded differently.
Reactions to the Minneapolis shooting
Haskell said the killing resonated with some people because the woman did not fit the profile many associate with immigration enforcement. For some, she said, the shooting of a white woman made the issue harder to dismiss as something that only affects others.
“I just wept,” she said. “It was more sadness than anger, although anger is definitely there. It drives me, but I feel so morally assaulted.”
Bob Persons and Jeannie Chaisson attended the protest and said they did so as part of their ongoing involvement in collective action against the Trump administration.
“This was a special one in response to the murder,” Chaisson said.
Chaisson said she and her husband, members of the baby boomer generation, are familiar with protests, citing their experiences such as demonstrations against the Vietnam War.
“Protesting is not a new thing for us, and it’s also people who have lived through a time where human rights were advanced tremendously,” she said.
The current political moment, she said, represents a reversal of gains made in earlier decades.
“Now what we’re seeing is a wholesale attack on every one of those rights. We’re trying to get back to the fantasy of a sitcom family life in the 1950s, which never was, and it’s disgraceful,” she said. “It’s inhumane.”
Chaisson described ICE’s actions as “horrific” and said she believes immigration enforcement often lacks oversight. She added that some people who join ICE seem to be motivated by the belief that immigration is harming the country.
“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion,” she said. “Tell me whose family wasn’t an immigrant.”
No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the shooting. Federal authorities say the FBI is leading the investigation, while Minnesota officials have expressed frustration that state investigators have been completely excluded.
Referring to ICE officers, Chaisson said, “The terrorists are the people who are assaulting people, who are killing people, who are holding people in absolute, horrible conditions illegally.”
Chaisson said she believes the consequences of immigration enforcement policies extend beyond immigrant communities.
Persons feels that more people have to step out if there is going to be change.
“You need to think about what kind of country you want your children to grow up in,” Chaisson said.
Mayor Laredo speaks to crowd
Mayor Marc Laredo gave a rousing speech at the demonstration and talked about both of his parents escaping fascist regimes during World War II.
Martina Jackson, an organizer with Newton Indivisible (and a reporter for Fig City News), said, “I knew [Mayor Laredo’s] parents very well, and his father came from a family of Holocaust survivors from Germany, and his mother spent her early childhood in a concentration camp, so he spoke about that and the concept of welcoming immigrants and protecting people.”
Jackson said she was appalled by the shooting and by what she sees as increasingly aggressive enforcement actions.
Movement
Gordon Moriarty, who also attended Saturday’s protest, said he had not been a regular participant in earlier demonstrations but felt compelled to attend this time. He has attended a handful of past protests, including the “No Kings” demonstrations in downtown Boston, and described Saturday’s gathering in Newton Centre as important and upbeat.
Moriarty said he sees protests like Saturday’s as a way to signal public concern to federal officials.
“What we want is for the Administration to understand that average people are paying attention,” he said. “We are not going to respond with violence, but we are not going to just sit by and allow illegal activity to be carried out in the name of the United States.”
He also pointed to another moment from the protest that stood out to him: A tractor-trailer passing through Newton Centre twice during the rally, with more people on it each time showing their support.
Moriarty said that based on what he has seen in media coverage, he is troubled by how the shooting unfolded.
“[The victim] was trying to drive away, and it appears that this officer shot her even though he was not being directly threatened,” he said. “I think a lot of folks are very concerned about these officials taking extraordinary measures, even though they’re not being threatened.”
Haskell said she has been looking for other ways to push for change beyond attending protests. She said she has begun bringing Indivisible signs expressing support for immigrants to local businesses and asking store owners if they would be willing to display them.
According to Haskell, some managers have agreed, while others have declined or expressed discomfort with the idea. She said she has also encouraged employees at franchise businesses to share community concerns with corporate leadership.
Haskell said she believes Newton could be more active when it comes to collective protest efforts, and she pointed to nearby Waltham as an example of a community that has drawn larger turnouts.
Haskell added that while Newton’s protests have been consistent, Saturday’s turnout was a strong sign of increasing activism.
“Newton is moving,” she said.
