Kansas City protesters echo calls for justice against ICE

UMKC students gathered with hundreds of people outside City Hall on Jan. 8, demanding accountability for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions following the killing of a former Kansas City woman by an ICE agent.

Protestors showed up despite a chilly rain and branded the death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good as “blatantly brutal” and unjustified. 

“It’s the right of the people to protest against ICE brutality,” said UMKC sociology sophomore Lana Peregrina, “Everything we have was fought for… we will continue to speak up until we bring justice for the lives ICE has taken, and ultimately, to end ICE’s mass deportations.”

Peregrina is a third-generation Mexican American with roots in El Paso and was one of the few speakers representing The Party for Socialism and Liberation KC (PSL). They added that at least 32 deaths have occurred in ICE custody last year, and that it’s crucial for people to show up regardless of the weather conditions.

Peregrina said that deportation and ICE detention centers have been an issue under every administration. The main difference is how much money is being invested. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in 2025 funded around $165 billion in appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security, increasing ICE agent recruitments and detention capacities.

As a result of the OBBBA, ICE’s total detention budget for FY2025 exceeded $14 billion, an increase of more than 400 percent compared with FY2024 detention funding.

UMKC criminal justice major Michelle Brown said this was her first time attending a protest, and was motivated by the “anger and sadness” she felt watching the Minneapolis shooting online.

“I felt sick to my stomach watching the videos and thinking about how I’m a U.S citizen as well, and maybe that could happen to me too,” Brown said. “You can see that Renee was trying to drive away. That ICE agent who shot her could have stepped aside from her vehicle. His life was not in danger, and Renee was not going to run over the ICE agents.”

Anti-ICE KC residents and community groups rallied approximately from 5:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Participating organizations included Party for Socialism and Liberation KC (PSL), Boots on the Ground Midwest, and Kansas City Democratic Socialists of America (KCDSA). 

Community members had the opportunity to voice their outrage and stories through a public forum.

Silvia Melisa Diaz shared her experience of living in El Paso and the misinformation surrounding Mexican American history.

“I was able to go to Mexico and come back, and I just saw the beauty in it. El Paso is actually one of the safest cities,” Diaz said. “Seeing the hypocrisy – how saying that Mexicans are being r*pists…that’s not how I grew up.”

Diaz added that more people need to stay informed, noting that ignoring such events does not prevent similar tragedies from occurring.

A UMKC alumnus, 74-year-old John LaRoe, advocated legal change on every front from voting to petition circulation, saying that slacking off “simply is not an option.”

“A sign that I saw at a Muskrat Resistors protest this past Saturday really hit home for me,” LaRoe said. “It was simply, ‘Now, Only Everyone Can Save Us,’ meaning we all have to get out.”

The Party for Socialism and Liberation also hosted a similar protest in St. Louis on Jan. 8, where locals lined Manchester Road in response to the deadly shooting.

This weekend, grassroots movement 50501 KC and Boots on the Ground Midwest plan to host a vigil for ICE victims on Jan. 10 at 3:30 p.m.

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