Evelyn, a mother of three, began her remarks before a crowd of thousands by sharing that her husband, Francisco, was taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in December while on his way to work. She said he called her from a gas station while he was filling up to head to work when police approached him.
“He called to tell me he wouldn’t be home late that day, when suddenly he said, ‘Wait for me, a police officer is here,'” she said, speaking at an anti-ICE rally in East Austin on Saturday alongside notable Texas Democrats. “They made up that his car light was out. They stopped him and he hung up.”
She hasn’t heard from him since.
Through help from the Mexican Consulate, she learned they took Francisco to a detention center in South Texas. But she couldn’t find out much about him, and he remains detained.
The 5,000 people listening to Evelyn's story crowded into Pan American Neighborhood Park, spilling into the parking garage across the street. People held anti-ICE signs that said “Abolish ICE” and “Make America free again.”
As someone affected by recent ICE operations, she demanded freedom for her husband and others who have been impacted.
“ICE destroyed my family,” she said. “All my husband was doing that day was getting gas to go to work. My husband is not a criminal. He is a hard-working man, a father and a husband.”
Lawmakers led the crowd in a number of chants as they spread the message of community and turning out to vote.
“There is no easy way out of this, folks,” San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro said. “We are going to have to vote our way out of this in November.” Texans will head to the polls this year to vote for governor, lieutenant governor and other local and state offices.
The rally offered several opportunities for people to register to vote.
Jennifer Dawson, who recently moved to Austin from Kansas, registered to vote after the rally. She said this was her way of making her voice heard. “I’ve never been an activist in anything,” Dawson said. "I've always been a wallflower and it's just impossible to deny what’s happening right now. And, if I'm going to be part of anything in history, this is what did it.”
Austin State Rep. James Talarico closed out the rally by saying that now is the time to come together and speak out.
“America needs patriots now more than ever,” he said. “She needs people who believe in America and she needs people like you who are willing to fight for her.”
Saturday’s rally comes after a wave of vigils, walkouts and protests across the country following the killing of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by U.S. immigration officers in Minnesota.
This week, Austin nurses held a vigil in honor of Pretti, an ICU nurse. Hundreds of students at several local schools staged walkouts and local businesses shuttered in protest of ICE activity.
"We are here to demand in one voice an end to Donald Trump's mass deportation machine," Austin Congressman Greg Casar said at the rally. "No more ICE terrorizing Minneapolis. No more ICE terrorizing Austin. No more killings like Renee Good or Alex Pretti. No more arresting our veterans and our families and folks going to work. ... No more."
But Democrats are not the only ones calling for a closer look into what happened in Minneapolis. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, an Austin Republican, was among the first in the Texas GOP to call for an investigation into ICE activity.
McCaul was not available for an interview before the rally, but said on X this week that “I believe a thorough investigation is necessary — both to get to the bottom of these incidents and to maintain Americans’ confidence in our justice system.”
He said that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle “have a responsibility to turn down the temperature right now.”
On a podcast earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz agreed “there needs to be an investigation,” adding that this is standard practice anytime there is a shooting involving an officer.
“What exactly transpired?” Cruz said. “I’m going to wait for the investigation to figure that out.”
