Thousands of protesters gather to rally against federal agents, Trump admin in Chicago's Loop
Thousands of Chicagoans turned out for two protests in the Loop on Sunday following another deadly shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Despite the weather, the thousands of protesters who showed up at Congress Plaza were enraged, furious, and motivated to fight for change.
"I'm angry, I'm mad as hell, and I want to do something about it, so I am out here today," said Aaron Nofke.
He, along with others who came out, said they have attended multiple ICE protests in Chicago before, but this one, on the heels of 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti's death, is different. He was using his voice to protest the actions of federal agents, exactly what the protestors were.
"Who are they going to kill next? like he was at a protest, he was filming it, he was doing what y'all are doing right now, and he was murdered," Nofke said.
Pretti was an ICU nurse who worked at the Minneapolis VA hospital and was identified as the man killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent. This comes less than three weeks after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good, also in Minneapolis.
"It's scary to come out and protest because just yesterday we saw this government murder a peaceful protester," said Lieutenant Gov. Julianna Stratton.
Elected officials, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, emphasized that ICE needs to be abolished and defunded.
It comes after a video shows the moments leading up to Pretti's death, but the narratives the federal government is coming out with contradict what people see.
"We are not ok with ICE killing and shooting innocent people without impunity! We are not ok with this, Chicago," Johnson said.
Even with single-digit wind chills and the snow, thousands of people marched from Ida B Wells and Michigan down Michigan Avenue to another protest at Federal Plaza.
"What you are seeing here is people feeling there are no constraints on ICE and it is operating with impunity," said Robert Pape, professor at the University of Chicago.
Pape said while protesters may feel powerless at times, they are not going to wait for a midterm election. They are exercising their right to protest.
"See, the Trump administration has power, and if they invoke the insurrection act and the Supreme Court goes along with it, they will have legal authority to use that power, that's not the same thing as legitimacy," he said.
Some elected officials who were at Sunday's protests said they are working to end all contracts with vendors the state of Illinois has with ICE.
Full interview with Robert Pape