Crowds rally at Springfield City Hall to protest ICE

About 50 people gathered at Springfield City Hall on Friday, Aug. 14, to rally against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and support local immigrants.

Organizers stood on the steps of the building and made speeches, sharing stories of immigrants killed by federal agents during enforcement operations and calling on a crowd dotted with homemade signs to build community in the face of fear and violence.

Some decried recent reports of immigration enforcement in Springfield, urging city leaders to do more to protect local families. 

“I’m tired of seeing headlines from our own city of Springfield saying that people are being kidnapped and sent to detention centers,” said Kriscia Rivas, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and La Gente Unida de Lane, a local immigrant rights group.

Rivas told the stories of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Houston man fatally shot in early July by an ICE officer on his way to work, and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian man killed by an ICE officer during a traffic stop in Maine less than a week later. More than 100 people mourned Araujo and Guerrero at two separate vigils outside the Eugene Federal Building last month. 

“I’m ready for change,” Rivas said, to cheers. “I’m ready for ICE to be abolished. Our community is grieving the loss of our neighbors and friends. These atrocities need to stop now.” 

Miguel Rivas, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Lane County Immigrants Defense Network, urged attendees to unite in their activism against federal immigration enforcement.

“We are fed this lie that we can’t do anything, we are fed the lie that we have no community, that we have no one we can count on, and that there will be no one but ourselves to help us,” he said. “We are fed the lie that our neighbors don’t care, that racism will always divide us. It’s this fear, the fear that nobody cares, that’s what divides us.”

He pointed to the 140 detainees at the ICE detention center in Tacoma on a hunger strike as of Aug. 11, seeking better conditions, including proper medical care. 

“They got organized, and they built themselves strong enough to take on this immense challenge,” he said. “Their strike will be heard, and it’ll be announced to everybody. We will not let them fear that no one is listening.”

Organizers set up a poster board in the center of the plaza, where attendees wrote messages condemning ICE and voicing support for local immigrants.

“Dear immigrant neighbors, we are with you,” one message reads. “You are not alone! We will fight for your rights and dignity.”

Lupita, the midday host of Lane County’s only FM Spanish-language radio station, “La Que Buena,” also spoke at the rally. She said she was heartbroken over how ICE is “quietly lurking” in the community to arrest hardworking fathers. She said 19 detentions were reported to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition’s hotline in Oregon between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7. 

A Springfield resident and food cart owner named Margarito was reportedly arrested Aug. 10 by ICE while working, according to a GoFundMe for his family and Facebook posts. A member of the family declined a request for comment. 

“They say that they’re targeting dangerous criminals, but that’s not what we’re witnessing,” Lupita said. “We are watching people with no criminal history being taken from their jobs, businesses, and from their families.”

She also called on city leaders, urging them to show up to rallies in solidarity with their cause. Springfield city councilors Steve Moe and Jill Cuadros, who attended the gathering, listened quietly as she called out to the crowd.

“Where are they? Where are their voices? I would really love to know how many families must be separated before they stand beside us,” Lupita said.

In an interview, Moe said he came to the protest because recent immigration enforcement is “unfair,” and community members are scared. Responding to calls for city leaders to take more action, he said councilors are “carefully looking at” and responding to reports of local ICE activity. 

“We’re here because we want to hear what the community has to say,” Cuadros added. “We’re listening. We’re here.”