Retired Mennonite pastor Tina Schlabach wore a stole embroidered with Bible verses and illustrations created by people in México seeking asylum as she spoke to the crowd of faith and community leaders — calling on immigration agents to stop targeting migrant families.
“This current authoritarian regime and the sending of ICE into our cities without oversight is making many of our neighbors feel not only unwelcome, but traumatically unsafe,” Schlabach said.
She was among dozens of faith leaders from across Southern Arizona gathered at a Target parking lot in Tucson to protest federal immigration enforcement actions on a rainy Friday afternoon.
“Open the hearts of those who speak today, that they may speak freely. Open the hearts of those who listen, that they may listen deeply,” said Rev. Amalia Vagts, a Lutheran pastor in Tucson, as she opened the press conference with a prayer.
The event was held in solidarity with a strike against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in Minneapolis called “A Day of Truth and Freedom,” that originated in Minnesota. In addition to faith leaders, the strike drew support from labor unions and community leaders across Minnesota with hundreds of businesses agreeing to close for the day.
Rev. Bart Smith, a Presbyterian pastor in Tucson, said they stood firm with the four demands put forward by faith leaders in Minneapolis.
“Number one: that ICE leave Minneapolis immediately. Number two: that the officer who murdered Renee Good be held accountable according to due process. And number three: that no additional federal funding be appropriated for ICE,” Smith said.
Their fourth demand called for businesses such as Target to stop supporting ICE. “That’s why we’re sitting in a Target parking lot is because they are aiding and abetting this unlawful force and we are calling upon them to quit supporting ICE, to quit allowing ICE to have their parking lots as a staging operation.”
Schlabach spoke of the importance of solidarity and collective action.
“I think we have to work together. Otherwise you know those holding power right now want us to feel small and defeated and like there’s nothing we can do,” Schlabach told Arizona Luminaria. “But when we are together, when we come up with creative acts of resistance, out of our faith traditions, out of our community work, then there is a lot we can do.”
The final speaker Juan Cuellar, director of education and advocacy for the organization Kino Border Initiative, recounted stories from people who have encountered ICE.
Reporting misconduct by federal agents
The Pima County Attorney’s Office is asking community members to share photos or videos recorded from a safe distance that may show improper or illegal conduct by immigration officers.
Submit materials: Visit the Pima County Attorney’s Office website here and use the submission option on the homepage.
“We hear first-hand the stories of cruelty that individuals pulled from ICE, that they’re pulled from their cars, they’re pulled from their work sites, from their homes, and they’re beaten,” he said.
Cuellar was the only speaker to offer a binational perspective, drawing on his experience working directly with people at the border after they have interacted with ICE
“My message from the border for everybody here today is we can’t ignore what’s happening and we have to keep standing up. Maybe we can’t change the policies, but we can’t keep just the silence,” he said.
While the press conference took place within El Con Mall, in the same shopping center as the Target, the faith leaders were not the only ones speaking out. Nearly 100 protesters lined the sidewalks outside the shopping center, holding signs and chanting as passing cars honked in support.
Friday’s protest was one of several demonstrations held across Tucson this week as communities mobilized to decry ICE actions locally and nationwide.
Earlier this week, thousands of students walked out to protest ICE raids and Trump administration policies. The Tucson Mayor and Council also voted to create an ordinance blocking ICE’s use of city property.
A video showing ICE agents shattering a car window and detaining an older Latino man last weekend drew outrage from the community and local leaders. Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva’s office said they will be looking further into the incident.
“Congress should not provide continued funding to this rogue agency that continues to operate recklessly and without any accountability,” Grijalva’s office said in a statement to Arizona Luminaria.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has repeatedly argued tactics agents use are in line with necessary law enforcement operations and that the Minneapolis agent that fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother, acted in self-defense.
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