Austinites demonstrated for the third day Saturday to protest the killing of a Minnesota woman by federal immigration authorities this week and to call on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stop operations in Austin.
ICE officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday as she drove away after a confrontation with officers. The Trump administration has said Good presented a threat to agents, but protesters across the country have rallied to dispute that narrative.
In a statement Monday, APD said police arrested four demonstrators outside the J.J. Pickle federal building and that officers deployed pepper balls to disperse the crowd blocking Eighth Street.
"The actions of the protesters escalated throughout the evening as they obstructed the roadways and placed drivers and bystanders in dangerous positions," the statement said. "Prior to making any arrests, officers gave numerous dispersal orders and other opportunities for those in attendance to be in compliance."
DPS told KUT it also shot pepper balls at demonstrators Saturday night.
The Travis County Sheriff's Office said Monday that five people in total were arrested and booked in the Travis County jail Saturday, four for blocking a roadway and one for interfering with public duties. They were all released Sunday, the office said.
Video from CBS Austin showed protesters clashing with state and local police outside the federal building before marching down to Congress Avenue.
On Saturday morning, roughly 400 demonstrators filled Austin City Hall's front plaza, chanting "No peace! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!" alongside a roaring brass band.
Teacher Joanna Ford said she's been struggling to have conversations with her eighth-graders about the events in recent weeks, specifically Good's death and the U.S. deposition of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Her students, two of whom recently fled Venezuela, are looking to her for answers that, she said, she doesn't necessarily have.
"What are we doing, you know? It's just really disheartening," she said. "I feel like Ms. Good['s] death is now going to be a catalyst, and if nothing changes after this, then I'm sorry. I feel like we're doomed to become a fascist state."
Elizabeth Gray, a longtime city employee who's now retired, said the killing of Good was "entirely avoidable." She said ICE's unwanted presence in cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., represents a breakdown in how local and federal government should function.
"I think it symbolized a complete separation of government, what government is supposed to do and what government is doing," she said. "And I think that this murder symbolized the complete failure of our government to do — to be of, by and for the people."
Austin-area Congressman Greg Casar joined the City Hall rally Saturday, urging Austinites to keep protesting as he read a note from Good's wife that emphasized "there is good in this world" and that people should choose "courage and kindness."
"There has to be a world where things get better," Casar said to close out the rally.
Outside the Capitol the night before, Renee Fuentes and her friend Monica Castillo waved Mexican flags along 11th Street as drivers whizzing by blared their horns in support.
Fuentes said what happened to Good is scary. She said when she was growing up during the Reagan administration immigrants were welcomed by the federal government. To Fuentes, Good's shooting shows that federal immigration authorities are targeting citizens and noncitizens alike.
"That could have been me, it could have been her, it could have been any of us that are here right now," she said. "You can't even be American with ICE anymore. Everybody should be afraid of ICE right now, not just immigrants, but us, as well."
Fuentes was one of dozens of demonstrators who gathered Friday outside the Capitol gates. The peaceful demonstration lasted roughly an hour, with a handful of Department of Public Safety troopers watching from the Capitol lawn. Troopers did arrest one unidentified man Friday for criminal trespassing, but he was not attending the demonstration.
