Protesters dance, march to Morgan Hill ICE office for immigrants’ rights

In a protest accompanied by Aztec dancers, lowriders and plumes of burning incense, over 150 marched to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Morgan Hill.

The diverse group of marchers came out Thursday afternoon to protest ICE enforcement and the ongoing immigration crackdown spearheaded by President Donald Trump’s administration, deriding the effects of the actions on their communities, offering a show of political force outside of the Bay Area’s urban centers.

“We are here to speak up and show up for those who are being taken,” said Rebeca Armendariz, a former Gilroy City Council member and one of the organizers of the march, who said ICE was threatening immigrant communities and being “dismissive of our constitutional and our civil rights.” “First it’s them, then it’s us.”

Under the hot afternoon sun, a cadre of Aztec dancers stomped and swayed to the relentless tattoo of drums, the foot-long feathers of their crowns bouncing to the rhythm as they led the marchers on a mile-and-a-half trek through Morgan Hill’s main thoroughfare. Onlookers watched the crowd move through the streets, waving from balconies or shooting video from their cars and porches.

The protest drew a diverse crowd from Morgan Hill and across the South Bay to protest in front of the ICE office, from union members to young families and clergy.

“It’s a justice issue. … There’s a quite a strong sense that our faith calls us to do this,” said Reverend Mary Blessing, an Episcopal priest, noting “Jesus was a refugee.”

Casey Sutterland came with her partner and two children to the protest from San Jose. “My grandparents were in the Dutch resistance to the Nazis. … I want my kids to feel like they’re part of that legacy of resistance.”

Some recalled the detention of local Ulises Peña Lopez, a Sunnyvale resident who had to receive emergency medical treatment after being detained by ICE.

Others called out Trump’s executive order seeking to end sanctuary laws that exempt places like hospitals from immigration enforcement activity. “There’s so much fear,” said Darlene Torres-Voss. “We deserve to know that when we walk into a hospital, we won’t walk out in handcuffs.”

ICE and the Morgan Hill field office did not immediately reply to a request for comment regarding the protesters’ concerns.

Standing in front of the ICE office, Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong noted the county’s continued funding and response against the Trump administration and called for unity throughout the South Bay. “Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere,” she said, recalling the welcome and support her parents received as Vietnamese refugees in San Jose. “That is the spirit, that is the legacy. To stand with immigrant families is in our blood.”