Members of several New Orleans activist groups held a demonstration at Lafayette Square Wednesday evening (January 7) to protest the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier in the day.
Over 50 protesters from local groups, including the New Orleans Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (NOAARPR), Students for a Democratic Society, Indivisible New Orleans and No Troops in New Orleans Coalition, gathered around the statue of Henry Clay around 6 p.m. About 10 people in neon safety jackets flanked the perimeter, providing security for the protest.
After 30 minutes of speeches and chants — including for Renee Nicole Good, the woman shot by federal officials — organizers called for volunteers to hold three banners: “STOP POLICE CRIMES,” “ICE/BORDER PATROL OUT OF NOLA!” and “NO TROOPS! NO TRUMP!”
The other protestors lined up behind the banners and marched for roughly two miles, holding signs and chanting. They were accompanied by New Orleans Police officers the whole way. During the march, protesters made a stop on Canal Street, where they stood in front of the hotel where federal immigration agents were staying.
Though the protest was spurred by Good’s death, protestors also called for federal immigration agents and National Guard members to leave New Orleans.
ICE agents have been in New Orleans since December, conducting a sweep the government dubbed “Catahoula Crunch.” The operation’s stated goal is to arrest 5,000 people, although the ethics of that claim remain under question by local officials, as reported by the Louisiana Illuminator. The federal government also deployed approximately 350 Louisiana National Guard members to New Orleans last month to provide extra security for major events like New Year's and Mardi Gras.
Vonne Crandall, with NOAARPR, said they were protesting on behalf of immigrants targeted in recent federal immigration raids.
“ We're saying, no, we don't want ICE here,” he said. “These are our neighbors, our community members. And one slight against our neighbors is a slight against us.”
The protestors ended the demonstration back at Lafayette Square, where they disbanded without incident.
Civil rights attorney Nick Place, who marched in the protest, said he believes what’s happening during federal immigration deployment in Minneapolis should resonate with people in southeastern Louisiana.
“ What is happening in Minneapolis, what happened in Chicago before that, what happened in Los Angeles before that, and then the raids here in New Orleans that started in December, all of these things are linked together,” he said. “What happens to any of us is also happening to all of us. Renee Good could have been a New Orleanian.”
