More than 60 Aroostook County residents turned out in Presque Isle Saturday for a rally to protest recent actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, particularly the fatal shooting of a Minnesota woman earlier this week.
Spearheaded by Aroostook Organizers for Change, a local grassroots group, the rally started forming before noon outside the office of U.S. Sen. Angus King.
“We’re protesting the way ICE is treating our citizens and our brothers and sisters in this nation. Obviously, some murders took place last week, and some shootings,” group member Andrew Levesque of Caribou said. “We’re here to say ‘enough.’ We’re here to say ‘stop.’”
Renee Nicole Good, 37 and a mother of three, was shot in Minneapolis Wednesday by ICE officer Jonathan Ross.
Rallies are happening across the country over the weekend. More than 100 people gathered in Bangor Saturday
Aroostook Organizers for Change also wants to call attention to Trump administration policies they feel promote a culture of despair, and encourage people to gather together to find strength and build hope, Levesque said.
People gathered along both sides of Academy Street carrying signs, an American flag and a large flag that said “Human.” Some passing drivers honked their horns and waved.
The signs bore such sentiments as “ICE is Gestapo,” “Honduras president pardoned, Venezuela president military force,” “ICE out of Maine” and “Greed, hate and fear cannot win,” along with other more colorful messages directed toward the federal government.
Saturday’s rally aimed to bring attention both to the bombing of Venezuela, as well as what many see as ICE brutality, said Aroostook Organizers for Change cofounder Mickaela Henninger of Presque Isle.
“I think a lot of people are waking up to the fact that ICE is not what it used to be,” Henninger said. “It’s not just a branch of the government that’s helping with immigration. They’re brutal, and they’re using brute force against American citizens and shooting them.”
Henninger described the group as a progressive movement whose members form gatherings to call attention to national events and how they affect Aroostook people.
Also attending was Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap, a Democratic candidate for outgoing U.S. Rep. Jared Golden’s seat.
“On top of what’s happened in Venezuela, I think people are very, very frustrated with what’s happening in this country,” Dunlap said. “As far as Immigration and Customs Enforcement is concerned, they should be accountable as a law enforcement agency, and I don’t think they’re being held to account by Congress, by the administration or by their superiors.”
Dunlap said he’d heard about the rally and was asked if he’d like to attend.
“I thought, you know, there’s no bad reason to come to The County,” he said.