{"id":141419,"date":"2026-01-28T17:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/141419\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T17:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:37:07","slug":"dallas-ice-protesters-want-to-do-the-right-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/141419\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas ICE Protesters Want to Do the Right Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

For every historically significant protest over the past 250 years, there have likely been hundreds, if not thousands, of demonstrations that went unnoticed by many outside the immediate area where the rally took place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For every March on Washington, there have been countless events near city halls<\/a> and state capitols spreading the word about racial injustice on a local or regional level that haven\u2019t become standard lessons in history books.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For every Stonewall Uprising, there have been scores of gatherings across the nation devoted to promoting LGBTQ+ rights that have not been seen as the tipping point for a new movement.<\/p>\n

For every Moratorium to End the War, there have been many more, smaller, less ambitious but no less passionate pleas to end military conflicts over the past few decades as the U.S. has sent troops to Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

For every group of Silent Sentinels, there have been less heralded, untold throngs of women and allies marching for women\u2019s and reproductive rights in conservative states such as Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration of President Donald Trump, a new, impassioned round of protests <\/a>of all sizes for an array of causes has swallowed busy intersections, courthouse lawns, city hall plazas and downtown streets of North Texas in a regularly occurring way that hasn\u2019t been seen for at least some time, if ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

North Texas is expansive enough that demonstrations often take different forms. Colorful signs and shouting marchers aren\u2019t always needed to make one\u2019s voice heard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the battle over whether Dallas should allow short-term rentals to operate in single-family neighborhoods has continued over the past few years, a large group of residents has filled City Hall\u2019s council chambers, sporting matching T-shirts with \u201cHomes Not Hotels\u201d on the front. Each Monday, a small group of pastors meets to form a public prayer circle in front of the Dallas ICE field office, in plain view of those driving along Interstate 35, to pray for the safety, fair treatment and dignity of ICE detainees.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not every local protest event is a multi-city effort spearheaded by a national organization, as the attention-grabbing No Kings and Hands Off! have been. Opposing Trump, ICE, the wars in Ukraine or Palestine and even Elon Musk have brought sometimes thousands together, or sometimes just a single soul with a handwritten sign out into the streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But when many of today\u2019s most pressing troubles seem overwhelming or simply too big or too far away to tackle, why is it that so many locals take the time to lift their voices? Changing the course of history on a grand scale isn\u2019t necessarily what many North Texas activists are trying to do; their aim is often much more humble, but they feel their efforts, even solo ventures, can have an outsized effect on how our world moves forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The Right Thing To Do\u2019
\n\"SamanthaSamantha Mitchell with comedian Paula Poundstone at a Dallas rally<\/p>\n

Courtesy Samantha Mitchell<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take long for Samantha Mitchell to explain why she began taking part in protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since 2016, she has helped lead Indivisible Dallas, a grassroots, volunteer-led organization \u201cdedicated to defending democracy and defeating authoritarianism\u201d that collaborates with other local groups on events across Dallas.<\/p>\n

Mitchell has seen the steps taken by national and state officials against people who do not look like her, were not raised like her nor have ever lived near her. She acknowledges her privilege while letting the past inform her present efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised by a nanny fleeing violence in El Salvador, a woman who left her own children behind in part to care for me and earn enough money to send for them,\u201d she says. \u201cI was taught to read and to write by a Black teacher from Nigeria. I grew up with family friends from Mexico City who taught me Spanish and how to season my food. Queer and trans people throughout my life made me feel seen, understood, worthy and loved as a human, just as I am, expecting nothing in return. \u2026 I feel it\u2019s not just my right to voice dissent in the face of threats to democracy and peace, but it\u2019s my obligation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mitchell was an organizer for the June and October No Kings rallies in Dallas. We know why she started protesting, but what specifically does she hope her actions will yield?<\/p>\n

\u201cMy personal goal is to teach people that democracy is for everyone, even for those who disagree with me and this movement,\u201d she says. \u201cI want all of us to win. We are not each other\u2019s enemy, despite the best efforts of those in power to tear us apart.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reclaiming the People\u2019s Voice<\/p>\n

In Fort Worth, Deborah Guerrero has, in recent months, teamed up with some folks from Indivisible to protest, but her unique approach didn\u2019t begin as a group project. In May 2025, the 62-year-old was dismayed by the ultra-conservative redistricting in Tarrant County, something she told the Observer in October \u201cfelt like a theft of the people\u2019s voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

After asking herself the simple question of what one person can do about the matter, Guerrero began posting large signs <\/a>on the pedestrian bridge high above Interstate 30 near Arlington Heights High School. For the first few days, she was by herself. Her first sign read \u201cStop the gerrymandering, Tarrant County.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

On her fourth day on the bridge, Guerrero said she was joined by a woman still healing from hip surgery. More volunteers joined in, and one sign-covered bridge soon became three, with messages aimed at the Epstein files, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Trump catching the eyes of morning commuters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, when you pick bridges over packed freeways during the morning rush hour, you hope to reach as many people as possible with your message. Guerrero estimates between 35,000 \u2013 37,000 cars pass under their signs on most mornings, but for her, it\u2019s a smaller number that could pack the biggest punch, fulfilling her goals as a protester.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are working people heading into their day,\u201d she said. \u201cIf seeing our signs sparks even one workplace conversation, if it inspires even one person to dig deeper, to resist, and to stand brave with us, then we\u2019ve accomplished our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking for Those Who Can\u2019t Speak<\/p>\n

Sometimes a solo protester takes to the street and isn\u2019t eventually joined by others with signs, but is lifted up through the encouragement of others. After seeing news reports about an ICE agent in Minneapolis shooting and killing Renee Good, an unarmed 37-year-old mother of three, on Jan. 7, Dawn Nuefeld decided she couldn\u2019t simply do nothing.<\/p>\n

The way in which the shooting happened in the daylight, in front of so many cameras, with so many people surrounding the scene, struck Nuefeld, an attorney. Like so many others, Nuefeld watched the video of an ICE agent shooting his gun into Good\u2019s vehicle and felt like the agent had no concerns for hiding his behavior or thinking twice about his deadly actions. That was too much for her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nuefeld grabbed a black Sharpie and drew massive letters spelling out \u201cFUCK ICE\u201d on a white poster board and headed to a busy intersection near her home in Frisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did it for me was, I thought how it was not enough for me to sit there [at home] all afternoon and just take in additional information,\u201d she says. \u201cIt didn\u2019t feel like enough. I felt like it was going to be more detrimental to me to just sit there. I thought I have to do something. I need the community who can\u2019t speak for themselves to know somebody is speaking for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she stood holding the sign high near the intersection of Legacy Drive and Main Street, she took in the honks of support and words of encouragement from some, while shouldering the insults hurled at her by others. Nuefeld, whose mother is Black and father is white, also couldn\u2019t help but notice the looks some of the people who clearly did not approve of her expression gave her as they drove by. She has taken part in other protests recently, but this time was unique in that the spiteful glares were aimed solely at her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe looks of anger on people\u2019s faces, I\u2019ve seen those faces before,\u201d she says. \u201cThey reminded me of the pictures of desegregating schools in the South. That\u2019s literally what I saw, and it was extremely emotional, because I recognized those faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feeling the pull to get up and do something, anything, led Nuefeld to conduct her one-woman demonstration. The action might\u2019ve developed quickly, but she still had a goal in mind. She wanted to call out the hypocrisy, she says she\u2019s seen in the months since Republican commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed. While conservatives were on TV talking about how Good might still be alive had she complied with the ICE agents, Nuefeld recalled how those same conservatives were praising Kirk \u201cas a saint\u201d in the wake of his killing, but now, Good was being almost demonized after being killed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The hypocrisy she wanted to call out doesn\u2019t stop there. The people she says now refer to Ashli Babbitt, the woman killed by Capitol police on Jan. 6 as she tried to force her way past police through a broken window, as a martyr, are those saying Good should\u2019ve simply minded the ICE agent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had someone reach out to me on social media after that day, to basically say shame on me, because he had to explain to his 6 and 8 year old, what \u2018fuck ICE\u2019 means,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m sure that same gentleman would be totally OK with the Ten Commandments hanging in a classroom, but what happens when your 6- or 8-year-old needs to ask their teacher what adultery is?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I Will Continue to Dissent\u2019<\/p>\n

With only a year under the second Trump administration\u2019s belt, the inspiration for protests of all shapes and sizes will likely not slow down anytime soon. But a dearth of causes has never been a problem for Mitchell, Guerrero and Nuefeld.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigrants are not the reason we cannot afford to pay our skyrocketing rent in Dallas, Mitchell says. \u201cTrans people are not the reason we don\u2019t have adequate health care. Black folks are not the reason we fear to send our children to school in an age where a school shooting happens almost every day in our country. \u2026 Despite any personal risk, I will continue to show up and peacefully dissent in any way I can. I hope others will join me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Guerrero\u2019s bridge sign crew was at it again, this time advocating for Democratic Texas Senate candidate Taylor Rehmet. Other Fort Worth bridge signs from the recent past include messages against war in Venezuela and for affordable healthcare here at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although Renee Good\u2019s death spurred Nuefeld into action on Jan. 7, that\u2019s just one cause she feels strongly about. With two kids, she\u2019s alarmed by what she has seen happen to the state\u2019s education system and to the rights of LGBTQ people. She sees in Trump a leader who could cause a war far greater than what has already been seen in Venezuela. She\u2019s a veteran of rallies and says she won\u2019t stop speaking out anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people here on the ground doing the work, but I will continue to support,\u201d she says. \u201cEven decided that my sign is going to stay in my trunk, if I ever come across another individual standing by him or herself, protesting, I will join them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For every historically significant protest over the past 250 years, there have likely been hundreds, if not thousands,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7962,102,104,103,1724,9227],"class_list":["post-141419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-activism","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-immigration","tag-racial-justice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}