“We’re bigger than ICE, all of us together!”
Protesters in Los Angeles oppose deportation of Rómulo Avelica-González
By
Zac Corrigan, Kevin Martinez and Marc Wells
8 March 2017
Around 100 people protested on the steps of the US Immigration Court in downtown Los Angeles on Monday against the abduction and detention of Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez. Romulo was pulled over and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in front of his 13-year-old daughter Fatima as he dropped her off for school last week. Fatima captured the arrest on her mobile phone and the video has been viewed more than 600,000 times.
“When I saw the video and the young girl and her father being taken away it broke my heart,” Jung Hee, a mother of two from Romulo’s neighborhood of Highland Park, told WSWS reporters. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be that young girl and see one of her parents get taken away,” she said. Jung said she came to the protest because she “wanted to stand up for certain communities that are being targeted right now and say, ‘That’s not right, that’s not the country I want to live in.’”
Jocelyn Avelica, Romulo’s 19-year-old daughter, addressed the demonstration. “We’re not leaving,” she said. “We’re bigger than Trump! We’re bigger than ICE, all of us together!” Protesters chanted, “Fuera Trump! Fuera ICE!” (“Get out Trump! Get out ICE!”)
Monday’s demonstration is only the latest in a wave of protests in opposition to the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants. A series of executive orders signed by Donald Trump, and a memo from Department of Homeland Security Director John Kelly, place millions of immigrants in imminent danger of detention and deportation. Trump told a press…