Protests of ICE, Minneapolis shooting grow in the suburbs

Suburban protesters joined counterparts nationwide Sunday to demonstrate against the killing of a Minneapolis woman by a federal agent last week and the immigration policies of the Trump administration.

Rallies were held in communities including Arlington Heights, Naperville, Wheeling and Lake Zurich.

In Arlington Heights, protesters with signs lined Northwest Highway Sunday morning, bundled up against the cold temperatures. Some passing drivers honked their horns in support.

“If one person sees us out here today and feels less alone, then that's what matters to me,” said Schaumburg resident KJ Cochran.

Beverly Palmer, a 93-year-old retired teacher from Arlington Heights, held an anti-ICE sign while seated on a bench. She said she was motivated by anger at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the president, “and all his cronies.”

Pauline Tisthammer of Elk Grove Village said she believes the ICE agent who fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday should be prosecuted.

“She was not a threat, and he shot her three times in the face, point-blank range,” she said.

Trump administration officials appeared on the Sunday morning news shows to defend the agent and White House policies.

“What we do know is that this was clearly a law enforcement action, where the officer acted on his training and defended himself and his life and his fellow colleagues,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union. “It's a tragedy that this family has lost a loved one and that our country is dealing with the situation.”

Later Sunday, protesters gathered for a candlelight vigil in the parking lot of Carnicerias Jimenez grocery store in Wheeling.

“Jimenez and Latino grocery stores have been hit really hard by ICE activity,” said Ariel Lozner, a Harper College student and co-president of event organizer Hands Off Wheeling.

“We all need to understand that ICE does not bring safety to our communities. Instead, they bring fear and destruction,” group founder and co-president Victor Chavez Tobias said. “We’ve seen how they profile their neighbors to split loving families apart just because of the way they look. They take parents away from their children.”

Lynn Cruz, a college student who came to the U.S. from Mexico at six years old, said, “Regardless of immigration status, everybody deserves to be treated with the same dignity.”