Students, teachers calling on Walz to impose moratorium on evictions amid ICE surge
Outside the governor's mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Friday, demonstrators, including many students and teachers, pleaded for Gov. Tim Walz to enact an immediate eviction moratorium to help families impacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
Students at the protest were standing up for their classmates.
"I'm at the dual language program at the high school I go to, and all of my classmates are home. They're hiding. They're afraid. It's a really noticeable difference to walk into an empty classroom every day," Josie, a member of the Sunrise Movement, a political organization, said.
Educators pleaded for Walz to help families that are financially crushed by the ICE raids.
"Rent is due on Sunday, Feb. 1, and a lot of our families have been denied the right to work because of ICE occupation and can't pay their rent," Kate Peruoco, an educator, said. "Educators are really concerned about our students and their families in this moment, and the governor is the only one who can call a moratorium on eviction, and so we're here today to ask him to do that."
Protesters say many immigrant families are in fear for their lives and can't go to work, while the breadwinners of some other families have been deported, leaving their loved ones financially strained.
"I had this really heartbreaking conversation. She said, 'I lost my father, brother and husband overnight,'" Viviana Salazar said. "They all lived together and now she's left with her three kids in an apartment that was a two-bedroom apartment, and she doesn't know how she's going to pay her rent."
Viviana Salazar is the founder of Nuestra Lucha MN, a nonprofit created to uplift and help those in the Hispanic community. WCCO met her at Colonial Market, a business she often partners with to help provide relief to impacted families.
Through Nuestra Lucha, Salazar is fundraising to help these families.
"Rent is not inexpensive, especially in a city," Salazar said.
Since launching the fundraising program last week, Salazar says she's raised more than $25,000 and has received at least 20 applications from those looking for assistance.