WEST MICHIGAN — People in two West Michigan neighborhoods rallied Thursday evening in response to Wednesday's deadly shooting of a woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
Roughly 100 to 150 people attended the rally at Calder Plaza in Grand Rapids, while dozens more gathered near the Justice Center in Kalamazoo. Both groups expressed opposition to ICE and condemned the the Minneapolis incident.
"I think people really feel a need for some sort of answer of how we move forward from here. People are looking for direction, and I think that the answer to that is we have to organize, and we have to have solidarity, and we need to get ICE out of our communities," Julian Cortez said.
Cortez helped organize the Grand Rapids event.
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Nita Lowe attended the Kalamazoo event and said the differing narratives of the Minneapolis shooting motivated her to show up.
"To me, everybody belongs. There's nobody that should be treated badly. Nobody should be killed. The lying, the lying about it. That's what makes most people nauseated about it. We saw everything with our own eyes," Lowe said.
"I see what's going on in this country, and this isn't what I want to leave for our children," Lowe added.
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