Crowd at Eugene Federal Building protests latest Minneapolis killing

This story has been updated with additional interviews from the protest and events at a legislative town hall meeting nearby after the protest.

About 200 people had gathered by 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at the downtown Eugene Federal Building to protest the killing by federal agents of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis earlier in the day.

“We’re out here today because this is unacceptable,” said Kamryn Stringfield, 24, an activist who was leading some of the chants at the demonstration. “ICE is killing our people on the streets of this country, and our leaders are doing nothing to stop them.”

People had gathered on all corners of Seventh Street and Pearl Avenue holding signs and chanting against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Notice had gone out on social media early Saturday, calling for an “emergency protest” following reports of the shooting in Minnesota.

Some protesters used colorful chalk to write on the pavement in front of the federal building, phrases like “ICE OUT” and “Alex Pretti” — the name of the man reportedly killed in Minneapolis on Saturday.

After about an hour, many members of the group took their signs and walked around the Federal Building.

“This is both a message in solidarity with Minneapolis and a message to our leadership here in Eugene that they need to actually do something to protect us against ICE agents,” Stringfield said.

She said that while there have been fewer reports of immigration raids and arrests in Lane County over the past couple of months, she said she thinks many immigrants in the community still live in fear.

“Seeing what’s happening in other areas, it is very scary,” Stringfield said. “It’s scary for our immigrant neighbors. It’s scary for our legal observers. It’s scary for even just activists like me that come out here next to this building. These people could come out here right now and shoot me. What’s the city going to do?”

Benjamin Hagy attended the protest with his family. He said the Trump administration is trying to turn America into a fascist country.

“They’ve done a pretty good job of it in one year,” said Hagy, who is 48 and lives in Eugene. “It’s about to be the point where we can’t protest anymore, so we might as well do it while we can.”

Hagy called the shooting of Pretti by Border Patrol agents an “execution” of a protester. 

“And everybody knows that Trump is just going to not only make sure the guy gets away with it, he’s going to celebrate the murder,” Hagy said. “It’s ridiculous. This is America. It doesn’t feel like America.”

Kyanna Dagdagan said she was “absolutely outraged” by the news in Minneapolis. 

“I feel like it’s not normal,” said Dagdagan, a 30-year-old resident of Eugene. “It’s evil.”

She encouraged people “to show up and tend to the garden that they can reach.”

“It feels like a really massive problem, but the best thing that you can do is check in on your people, check in on your neighbors, check in on your friends and just take care of each other,” Dagdagan said. 

She held a sign that read “Chinga la Migra,” which she said translates to “F–k ICE” in Spanish. 

“I’m Hispanic and Filipino, and I just want to be able to stand up for my people,” Dagdagan said. 

A flyer being distributed at the protest announced that another demonstration against ICE is planned for noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25.

Legislative town hall

As Saturday’s demonstration at the Federal Building began to wind down, a group of protesters walked to Harris Hall in the Lane County Public Service Building on Eighth Avenue to attend a legislative town hall.

Speaker of the Oregon House Julie Fahey, state Reps. Nancy Nathanson and Lisa Fragala and state Sens. James I. Manning Jr. and Floyd Prozanski — all of whom represent Eugene-area districts — were to speak at the town hall ahead of the Legislature’s short session, which is set to begin Feb. 2. 

Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson introduced the town hall.

“I want to acknowledge that another innocent person was killed today in Minneapolis,” Knudson said. “Alex Pretti was shot multiple times by an ICE agent while exercising his constitutional right to peaceful protest in our country.” (News reports stated that Pretti was shot by U.S. Border Patrol agents, which have been working with ICE in many cities.)

Knudson said Minneapolis has been occupied by ICE agents and other federal agencies, as have other cities around the country. 

“Our community also is impacted by these same actions and the same violence, and it’s not acceptable. We refuse it. We do not accept it. If we could control it through actions at the local level, we would,” she said before being interrupted by people in the room chanting “ICE out” and yelling that more needs to be done about ICE in the community.

After about 15 minutes, tensions cooled in the room as some in the audience started singing “All we are saying, is give peace a chance,” lyrics from the John Lennon and Yoko Ono song.

As the town hall resumed, Fahey, who was seated at the dais with the four other representatives, spoke into her mic: “I think we should just start right off with what the Legislature is going to do to fight back against what we are seeing in the federal government this session.” 

She spoke of several bills the Legislature will consider: to empower Oregonians to sue federal agents for violating their constitutional rights; to require notification by schools to families when ICE is on campus; to prevent state contracts with businesses that participate in deportation; to strengthen data privacy to safeguard health and immigration data; to address masking and officer identification practices; and to strengthen legal protections for immigrants. 

“I just want to acknowledge that our communities are feeling tremendous amounts of fear and anxiety right now, and we are fighting as hard as we can to insulate this state from the worst impacts of the federal government,” Fahey said. 

After lawmakers answered a series of submitted questions, one person in the audience shouted, “Abolish ICE, yes or no?”

“We are looking at legislation that will hopefully hold accountable federal agents, including ICE,” Prozanski said in response. “We have to work within the parameters of what the law provides without us being no better than them and breaking the law.”

Manning said he would “abolish ICE in a heartbeat.”

“I don’t have that authority,” he said. “The state is limited to our geographical area.”

He said the community must stay united and not point fingers at one another. 

“I am glad that people came here today to stand up and make their voices heard,” Fahey told Lookout Eugene-Springfield after the town hall. “It’s important that people speak out about what they are seeing in our communities and across the country.”