Despite severe weather, more than one hundred people rallied outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in Pittsburgh’s South Side Thursday to protest federal law enforcement immigration raids and to stand in solidarity with neighbors and community members “disappeared” by the Trump administration.
United Steelworkers organizer Guillermo Perez led the crowd in chants as they marched from Three Rivers Heritage Park adjacent the Hot Metal Bridge to Homeland Security offices two blocks away. A half-dozen uniformed federal officers stood in front of the offices for the duration of the rally, which featured speakers from co-organizers Indivisible Pittsburgh, The Disappeared, 1hood, and Casa San Jose–Pittsburgh’s Latino community resource center.
“You cannot disappear people–people are not inanimate objects” said Farooq Al-Said, 1hood’s Director of Operations.
“These are neighbors, these are human beings, these are people who are looking for dignity and humanity.”
The previously scheduled peaceful protest hit an emotional climax when Jaime Martinez, Casa San Jose’s community defense organizer, stood in the pouring rain and described how just over 24 hours earlier he watched people including young women being handcuffed and shackled by ICE agents at Tepache Mexican Kitchen & Bar on Sheraton Drive near Cranberry Township, just south of the Butler County line in Allegheny County.
Unlike other speakers who directed their remarks to the crowd of protesters assembled on Sidney Street, Martinez frequently turned to speak directly to the officers assembled in front of the Homeland Security office, his voice quaking with emotion as he recited the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
His recounting of the heartache he felt at the raid prompted some in the crowd to yell out in anger at the agents, which Martinez immediately condemned. After the rally, Martinez told the Independent that successful civil rights movements throughout history did not match violence with violence.
“It’s important that [ICE officers] know that we’re not going to return the same tactics,” Martinez said over the sound of salsa music playing from a stereo.
“In my view, hurling insults is not the way. The way I was taught is to turn the other cheek. That doesn’t mean to let them run over you, but it means to hold some space for grace. I see raids every day. I hear about detentions every single day. And every time it strikes at my soul, but I know these people are also human. And too often we forget about that. And the way we win is through our humanity.”
WTAE reported that Homeland Security Investigations Pittsburgh and Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia led the June 25 operation at Tepache, which resulted in the arrest and detention of 14 people for “immigration violations.” (HSI and ERO are the two law enforcement components that operate under ICE, which itself is a federal law enforcement agency operating under the Department of Homeland Security.) KDKA reported that the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration also assisted with executing the federal search warrant.
Pastor Ross Carmichael of Shadyside’s St. Andrew Lutheran Church spoke after Martinez. He said that a core tenet of the Christian faith is to love and serve neighbors no matter where they come from, and that it was past time for people of faith to speak out against ICE’s actions.
“When people are unable to worship in peace, when essential members of the community are taken away from us, it also tears apart the church – the very body of Christ,” said the pastor.
