Around 50 protesters, swaddled in puffy coats and wearing hats, huddled around the Alexander Memorial statue outside the Monroe County Courthouse.
It was 24 degrees outside around 2 p.m. but the wind chill lowered the temperature by 10 degrees.
The group stood outside the courthouse for about 90 minutes Tuesday for Bloomington’s “Free America Walkout,” held in association with Bloomington 50501. 50501 is a national grassroots movement that aims to unite all 50 states with identical protests on the same day, their website states. The group demonstrates regularly and organizes the national “No Kings” protests.
“We refuse to accept raids, purges, surveillance, violence, lawlessness, and fear as the new normal,” Bloomington 50501 said in a press release about the event. “We will halt the routines of power, support our communities, and take action with courage and care.”
The walkout called on people to leave their places of employment in protest of the Trump administration’s actions, particularly relating to immigration. Bloomington’s chapter of 50501 decided to demonstrate in front of the courthouse in addition to the walkout.
Protesters held signs displaying phrases like “ICE OUT” and “NO OIL EMPIRE.”
Bloomington native Rosa-Lyn Householder came without a sign. She has one at home, she said, but it was too large to bring to such a cold protest. She ended up holding three signs throughout the protest, offering to hold signs when other protesters’ hands got cold.
She used to work for the Environmental Protection Agency and said she protested out of concern for the environment and the future of the planet. Householder said she feels environmental concerns aren’t properly emphasized within the government, but she knows that it shouldn’t be the first issue from the protest addressed and resolved at the national level.
“ICE is the most worrisome for the future of United States,” Householder said.
Associate research scholar Sandy Washburn is a member of Bloomington 50501. She and others within the organization attended a Bloomington vigil for Renee Nicole Good and decided the group should do more than local iterations of the national organization’s protests.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Good on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis. Her death, captured on video, sparked nationwide protests.
Bloomington local Elizabeth Blackwell attended the protest because she recently lived in Minneapolis for graduate school. ICE remains present in the city, causing Minneapolis Public Schools to offer remote learning to students missing school because of a fear of ICE until Feb. 12.
Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey have spoken out against ICE presence in the Twin Cities. The Justice Department subpoenaed the two, along with St. Paul mayor Kaohly Her, Tuesday as part of a federal inquiry on the officials’ relations and handling of ICE within their constituency.
Blackwell said most of her friends who remain in Minneapolis are immigrants, who have largely stayed indoors and under the radar after Good’s shooting.
“I've been contacting a lot of friends there,” she said. “They all say it's way worse than you'll see on the news.”
Blackwell said she was at the protest for her friends and anyone else unable to safely demonstrate.
A speaker sat near the courthouse’s memorial. Through the protest, it intermittently played music when not paused for spontaneous speakers.
“Been down one time, been down two time, never going back again,” Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac sang from the speaker.
At the end of the song, the music stopped, and local Danni Dasmaks started speaking.
“We don't want war here,” they said. “We don't want war in Venezuela, and we sure as hell don't want the war in Gaza.”
U.S. strikes have killed at least 115 people on Venezuelan associated boats, alleged to be importing drugs to the United States, since Sept. 2. The U.S. military led a strike Jan. 3 in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital city, capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Lawmakers and legal experts have condemned the Trump administration’s actions — including a second strike on one alleged drug boat — as illegal under international law.
Dasmaks attended the protest to advocate for human rights and said that was what mattered to them, not one political party or another. In-person demonstrations are important, they said, because they show the same story to everyone there.
“It's important for people to come out here and say the truth because everyone gets lost in media,” Dasmaks said. “Everything is very much easily manipulated, so it's very important that people come out here even when it's cold like this.”
