'We're not going to stand for it': Hundreds march Downtown ABQ to protest Alex Pretti's death

A few hundred people battled the cold and slippery conditions on Sunday to speak up against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the shooting death of an intensive care unit nurse in Minnesota.

Many shouted, "We want ICE off our streets. No justice. No peace," as they marched down slushy sidewalks and streets from outside the Bernalillo County Courthouse to Civic Plaza. Others held signs with messages such as "From Albuquerque to Minneapolis: Stop the Terror" and "Renee Good ICE Bad." 

Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross while driving inside an SUV during an immigration crackdown earlier this month. And Alex Pretti was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent during a Minneapolis protest following Good's death on Saturday morning.

ICE claims that Good had used her car to ram an ICE official and that Pretti had been armed, though video shows ICE officials disarming him before shooting him. The two killings have sparked nationwide outrage and Democrats in Congress are threatening a partial government shutdown this week over funding to ICE in the wake on the incidents. 

At the Roundhouse, New Mexico Democrats have called on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to take additional action to protect New Mexicans from ICE. The Legislature, in the midst of a 30-day session, is already considering a measure to ban counties from contracting with ICE — a move that could love one of three private prisons on New Mexico with which ICE contracts.

"If we cannot exercise our 1st and 2nd amendment rights without getting beaten or murdered then those rights no longer exist," Rep. Sarah Silva, D - Las Cruces, said in a statement Sunday. "As elected leaders we all took an oath to defend and uphold our constitution. Now is that time."

Among the marchers at Sunday's event was Albuquerque resident Tim Rysanek, who said he came after learning about Pretti's death. 

"He was an American citizen who had done nothing wrong," Rysanek said. "He was just trying to help a lady being bullied by ICE, just trying to help her up and ICE murdered him for it. I'm out here to exercise my First Amendment right and let everybody in this country know we're not going to stand for it."

Fellow marcher David Sanchez said, "What's happening in the country is out of control."

"I think we're all aghast," he said. "If anybody would have asked me if any of this could have happened two years ago, I would have been like, 'That's crazy.'"

Pretti's death sparked people like Albuquerque teacher Chris Salas to come out and protest for the first time in years.

"I decided that it was enough," he said. "I got to stand up for my community ... I could have been Alex Pretti yesterday."

As Salas walked across Tijeras Avenue and Sixth Street, he went by Diana Stetson, who held a sign saying that Albuquerque stood in solidarity with Minneapolis.

"Peaceful demonstrations like this should be supported and not suppressed," she said. "... This event wasn't even advertised. This is a spontaneous reaction to a horrible event in our country."

Resident Cameron Kwon said he came because it is important to support people's constitutional rights.

"Whether you are innocently detained or you (committed) a crime, everybody still has a right to due process," he said.

Inside Civic Plaza, protesters listened to speakers talk about ICE, Renee Good and ICE's alleged treatment of immigrants.

"We will fight until the last people at these detention centers are reunited with their families," said Kuveni Scanlan with the Party for Socialism & Liberation. "We will keep fighting until every single immigrant has full rights and is able to live without fear."

Kwon said the events in Minnesota have more people feeling uncomfortable about what is going on, "and more and more people are standing up nationwide."

Gregory R.C. Hasman is a general assignment reporter and the Road Warrior. He can be reached at ghasman@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3820.