Quick Take
Hundreds of people gathered at the intersection of Ocean and Water streets in Santa Cruz on Monday afternoon to protest the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by immigration officers in Minnesota. The gathering came just one day after an emergency anti-ICE rally in Watsonville, which also brought hundreds of people together.
Seeing the intersection of Ocean Street and Water Street in Santa Cruz flooded with protesters is becoming a common sight.
On Monday afternoon, hundreds gathered at the busy intersection to protest against federal immigration enforcement following the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, who was shot by federal officers in Minneapolis over the weekend. The killing happened just over two weeks after federal immigration officers shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good, also in Minneapolis.
According to a New York Times report, Pretti was recording Border Patrol agents and attempting to help fellow protesters pushed over by agents before he was tackled to the ground by numerous officers and shot in the back at least 10 times.
The demonstrators related to the killing of protesters in unique ways. Patricia Weyland, who worked as a nurse since the 1980s before retiring, said that the killing of Pretti was especially impactful. Her husband was a nurse practitioner, and her son is a registered nurse as well, and is close in age to Pretti.
“That could’ve been [my son],” she said. “It was always very bad from the beginning, but this hit home even harder.”
Weyland said she hopes that the recent killings are a turning point for a larger swath of the population.
“This was a young person, a nurse who was trying to help people and was completely innocent,” she said. “There are people who are hired by ICE who don’t have the right training, skills, ethics or morality.”
The protesters at the Monday event organized by Indivisible Santa Cruz County held signs condemning the killing of Good and Pretti, and calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment and the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sam Burkhardt wore a black-and-white striped prisoner’s outfit and held a sign with the ICE logo and text written beneath that read, “A Gestapo by any other name is still the Gestapo.” He and his neighbor, Georgia Guido, stood right up against the curb on Ocean Street.
Burkhardt said the protests are growing in numbers and are getting more lively, but he thinks it took longer than he would have expected.
“What does it take? People dying in front of you on the street? I think some people think it’s just somewhere else, and as long as it’s not affecting me and my own family, it’s no big deal,” he said. “But every single time it’s getting bigger and bigger.”
Santa Cruz resident Alicia Benoit led one of the chants. As she paced up and down Ocean Street, she yelled, “Abolish!” and a line of people behind her responded “ICE!”
Benoit said she’s been to just about every local protest against the Trump administration’s actions, and said that she thinks “people are getting more desperate.”
“How do you watch any of this and not cry?” she said.
Even if people can’t protest, Benoit said advocacy shouldn’t stop there. Sharing accurate information and news, as well as videos from those on the ground, makes a difference.
“And donate. Whether it’s mutual aid, immigrant advocacy organizations, trans organizations, pick something that’s important to you,” she said. “And just show up. If you can’t show up, tell other people so they can.”
It was the second Santa Cruz County protest in as many days, as hundreds gathered in Watsonville on Sunday evening to protest the same incident. That protest also condemned the killing of Good, and the detention of 5-year-old Liam Ramos in a Minneapolis suburb earlier in the week. Immigrant advocacy group Your Allied Rapid Response also held a candlelight vigil in Santa Cruz at the downtown clock tower to honor Pretti.
Demonstrations took place throughout last week, too. On Friday, activists and organizers held a rally in front of the Scotts Valley Hilton hotel, criticizing the hotel chain for housing ICE agents in Minnesota. Last Tuesday, Watsonville High School students participated in a walkout to protest against immigration enforcement both locally and nationally.
The scene was reminiscent of a previous demonstration on Jan. 11, soon after Good’s killing, with protesters lining the sidewalks from the intersection all the way past the county building to the south and nearly reaching the Santa Cruz Diner to the north. There was live music and chants, and horns from passing cars filling every second of the protest.
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