Students gather at SRU to protest ICE
SLIPPERY ROCK — Around 50 students marched Friday, Jan. 30, around Slippery Rock University’s campus joining national protests against funding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Students shouted chants of “Down, down with deportation. Up, up with liberation,” and “What do we want? ICE Out,” while holding signs calling for justice and the abolition of ICE.
The local protest was part of two different national protests, ICE Out of Everywhere and National Shutdown, which both call for justice for the killings of Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Silverio Villegas González and Keith Porter Jr. by federal agents.
“People aren’t going to school, work, not shopping, things like that to protest ICE in our communities and I think it’s important we do something to stand in solidarity and show that we’re here to fight fascism,” said sophomore Ariella Westreich, who organized the protest.
The protest comes just over a week after eight people were taken into custody during a single targeted vehicle stop Jan. 22 at Ryan Homes at Park Place Townhomes in Cranberry Township.
The Butler County sheriff’s office worked with ICE to make the arrests at a construction site in the Cranberry Township community, according to an ICE spokesperson.
Westreich said the protest, which she began planning Tuesday night, got mixed reactions. Some students pumped their fist in agreement as the protest passed and others laughed and began filming. The number of students involved grew as the protest continued, though.
“It’s important that we keep people aware, keep up the pressure and let people know we do not find this acceptable,” said Sean Logue, a senior and vice president of the College Progressives at Slippery Rock.
Logue said he feels everyone is worried about ICE being active in the Pittsburgh region despite Gov. Josh Shapiro saying he doesn’t support ICE’s operations in Pennsylvania.
“That’s kind of ICE’s m.o., they go where people tell them we don’t want them,” Logue said.
Ryan Wajert, president of the College Progressives, said he believes ICE is intentionally targeting Minneapolis as the capital city of the home state of political opponent Gov. Tim Walz, who ran against the Trump-Vance ticket in 2024 with former Vice President Kamala Harris, and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
Minneapolis was also the site of a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the pandemic, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE launched Operation PARRIS in mid-December in Minnesota to reexamine thousands of refugee cases using new background checks and intensive verification of refugee claims.
“A lot of the targeting has been specifically to target ‘leftist’ or ‘liberal’ cities and states,” said Wajert, a sophomore. “If it was about illegal immigration, they’d be hitting Florida and Texas harder than they are.”
According to Cathy Lalonde, chairwoman of the Butler County Democratic Committee, a vigil in memory of Alex Pretti, who died Jan. 24 in a confrontation with ICE agents in Minneapolis, is planned Sunday in Butler Township.
Lalonde said the vigil will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. on Route 356 from the area across from the VA Butler Healthcare Medical Center toward Aldi.
