Hundreds of people gathered in Milwaukee on a frigid Wednesday evening to protest the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minnesota.
Pretti, an ICU nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital who grew up in Green Bay, was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. He had been acting as an observer in the recent federal immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities.
Protesters in Milwaukee met outside the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office Wednesday afternoon despite sub-zero windchills before marching throughout downtown Milwaukee Wednesday night. Some carried signs that said “Abolish ICE” and “ICE Out Now,” while people chanted, “Say it loud, say it clear: immigrants are welcome here.”
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Milwaukee resident Joseph Snyder, who is from Nicaragua but is now a U.S. citizen, said Wednesday’s protest was the first rally he’s attended.
“For some of us, it’s a little harder, myself being Latino, you know, coming out here with all the things you see going on in Minnesota,” Snyder said.
Synder said it was “risky” for him to march throughout the streets, but he said it was encouraging to see how many people showed up to call out recent actions by federal immigration agents.
Federal agents also shot and killed Renee Macklin Good earlier in the month, sparking several protests and demonstrations across Wisconsin.
Fletcher, who didn’t share his last name for this story, called the video of Pretti’s shooting death by federal agents “terrifying.”
“We just saw two people die,” Fletcher said.
“If we don’t stand up now and show support and show that we’re not afraid, these things are just going to get worse and worse and worse,” he added.
Milwaukee resident Colleen Cooper said her reaction to Pretti’s fatal shooting was: “Just tears, you know, and then anger.”
Calls for U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign have increased in the wake of the shootings. Tuesday, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said Noem “needs to be fired or resign.”
Meanwhile, Gregory Bovino, the “commander at large” of the U.S. Border Patrol, was relieved of his duties in Minnesota this week, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
“The little changes that have been made in the leadership — the nominal changes — are ridiculous, because people are still suffering and the tactics haven’t changed, they’ve just changed a name,” Cooper said.
The protest comes as some are worried about the possibility of an increase in immigration enforcement agents in Wisconsin. During a recent interview on PBS Wisconsin’s “Here & Now,” Darryl Morin, president of Forward Latino, said there has been a “growing consensus” in Wisconsin that there could soon be a “large-scale enforcement action” in the state.
False rumors spread fear
Morin said Forward Latino has experienced a recent uptick in people contacting the organization to report possible ICE activity in Wisconsin. However, he said, “a large number of the reports we get are false or incorrect.”
A social media post from the immigrant rights group Comité sin Fronteras, which is an arm of Voces De La Frontera, also said the group has been seeing a lot of rumors related to possible sightings of ICE officers in Milwaukee over the past few days and weeks.
“Many of these rumors have already been debunked,” the post said.
The post said “spreading unverified rumors only causes unnecessary anxiety for our community, especially for undocumented immigrants.” False rumors can make people afraid to attend appointments and can “lead to more fear and confusion,” according to the post.
Even with the recent rumors, Morin said it’s still important that people reach out to the organization with reports so they can verify them.
“We don’t want people to be afraid that they’re going to be reporting something that may … turn out to be false,” Morin said.
“If you do see something that’s suspicious, that you think is immigration related, please report it,” he added.
Morin said Forward Latino has also been overwhelmed with requests for the organization to do Know Your Rights presentations. He said now is the time for “thoughtful preparation, not for panic.”
“We all know the threat of a large-scale immigration enforcement action here in Wisconsin is very real,” Morin said during an interfaith vigil at Milwaukee City Hall on Monday night. “We’ve seen how it can tear up our communities, but we’ve also seen how communities can come together to defend and love one another.”
Around 30 volunteers with the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression handed out Know Your Rights flyers at a popular grocery store on the city’s south side Monday night. Julie Velazquez, the outreach chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said that was in response to what’s happening in Minneapolis-St. Paul now.
“I think we’ve seen what’s been going on in our directly neighboring states, and there’s been a lot of rumors going around about ICE activity in Wisconsin or in Milwaukee in particular,” Velazquez said. “And although we’re still like, it’d be better that they don’t come here at all — but if they do come here, we want our neighbors to be educated.”
Velazquez said the more educated residents of Milwaukee are, “the harder it is for them (federal agents) to kind of run rampant in our city.”
On Wednesday, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said he hasn’t heard any confirmation a large scale immigration action will be taking place in the city soon. Even so, he’s still having conversations with local leaders and groups about the possibility.
“While it’s important to organize and important to prepare, none of us want to prepare for something that we would rather not happen,” Johnson said.
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