Protesters call upon lawmakers to dissolve ICE during rally at Juneau’s courthouse
- Mark Sabbatini
- Jan 29
- 3 min read
Pleas to congressional delegation come hours before deal extending Homeland Security’s funding for two weeks is announced in D.C.
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Beth Rivest says she has a niece in Minneapolis involved in protests against federal agents whose immigration-related enforcement actions have resulted in eight deaths this month. But her niece, as a U.S. Forest Service employee, is also experiencing what it’s like to be perceived as one of those agents.
“She goes into schools in uniform with a green vehicle and parents freak out thinking that she's ICE,” Rivest said, using the common acronym for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “She's been stopped and harassed.”
Rivest was among more than 150 people participating in a midday protest Thursday in the outdoor plaza of the Dimond Courthouse, across the street from the Alaska State Capitol. Many responded to an organizer’s call to bring salt, and there were chants of “melt ICE” amongst the speeches by several participants.
“I want to be very clear about what we're asking for today — not vague statements, not calls to lower the temperature, and not investigations that lead to nowhere,” said Denali Marin, who organized and presided over the gathering.
Among the specific requests of speakers was calling upon Alaska’s all-Republican congressional delegation not to approve funding for the immigration operations as part of a pending budget package. But a deal between the Trump administration and congressional members that includes funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for two weeks while enforcement operations are further discussed was announced Thursday night.
Concern the enforcement actions — which President Donald Trump acknowledges are directed against cities led by Democrats — are about more than immigration was expressed by Ati Koon Ya Nagoodi Nasiah, executive director of the Indigenous activist coalition Haa Tóoch Lichéesh.
“ICE has been occupying cities for so many months to normalize their existence,” she said. “This is straight out of a fascist playbook so that when the time comes they have the upper hand, and that's at the voting booth in November. So we cannot allow their existence to be normalized. We cannot allow them to stay in our cities. We must continue to stand up.”
Thursday’s protest was the second Juneau event in the past five days, following a candlelight vigil on Sunday. Emma Sulczynski, a university student, said people across the U.S. are planning an “ICE out” strike on Friday.
“Strike on going to school, going to work and on spending,” she said. “You don't have to do all of these things. But whatever is accessible for you, please stand in solidarity with the brave people in Minneapolis, and in the rest of our country who are resisting day and night.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
