AUSTIN, Texas — Music from tubas and saxophones echoed outside Austin City Hall on Saturday as immigrant rights advocates rallied to demand an end to Austin Police collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
La Frontera Unida, an immigrant rights community organization, hosted the rally as part of ongoing calls for ICE agents to be pushed out of Austin and for Austin police to stop working with the agency. “We’re having a rally, principally to demand an end to APD collaboration with ICE,” said Jesse Valdelamar of La Frontera Unida. He added, “For one thing, we want ICE out of Austin, we want to stop deportations,” and, “and we’re trying to raise the demand of legalization for all.”
The rally was peaceful, though other protests across the country — including in Austin — have led to arrests.
The demonstration came as a handful of Austin City Council members, including Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, recently released a five-point plan addressing how federal officers operate in Austin. The plan includes a point focused on protecting protesters’ First Amendment rights.
Fuentes said the goal is to protect people demonstrating peacefully if large-scale federal operations occur. “We want to ensure that in the event of any mass scale federal operations, that we’re doing what we can to ensure the safety of those who are peacefully protesting,” she said.
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Paul Von de Haar of Hands Off Central TX said he supports efforts to protect protesters. “Any way that the city can defend and assure people that their rights will not be trampled, that they will not physically be harmed for coming out, I welcome that,” he said.
Von de Haar says he’s heard from people who are afraid of attending protests. “One of the things that I hear most commonly from people just on the street, you know, handing them flyers, having these casual conversations is, ‘I don’t want to go. I’m scared,'” he said.
Valdelamar said he welcomed the council’s focus on protecting protesters, but said he plans to keep demonstrating regardless. “I have confidence that, you know, if they were to throw bogus charges on me or any of my friends, like here in El Frontal de Unida, that the community will come out and help defend us,” he said.
Fuentes is joined by council members Jose Velasquez, Zohaib “Zo” Qadri, Ryan Alter and Mayor Pro Tem Jose “Chito” Vela in support of the five-point memo, which was sent to Austin City Manager TC Broadnax earlier this month. The group has asked for a response within 30 days.
Fuentes described the approach as proactive. “That is being all about being proactive and ensuring that we have an adequate response,” she said.
La Frontera Unida said it plans to speak with City Council more about immigration tactics in the coming months.