Activists Protest Against ICE at Oaks Mall

A few dozen activists organized by Badass Feminists Gainesville (BFG) held a protest in front of the Oaks Mall Saturday morning to rally against the deportations and raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that have been taking place across the country. The protest came a day after the group held a protest on the I-75 overpass. 

Since the beginning of August, over two dozen people have been booked into the Alachua County Jail on an ICE detainer, the overwhelming majority arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol in coordination with ICE, booking logs show. The Alachua County Jail booking log indicates the majority were transferred from the jail into ICE custody relatively quickly. 

BFG member Brette Willits said she doesn’t know anyone who’s been arrested by ICE but that she’s talked to individuals that have adjusted their lives around the fear of being detained. “Who goes shopping, who takes the kids with them; they’ve adjusted their lives,” she said. “Whether they are citizens or have valid green cards, the fear level has adjusted their lives.” 

Protester David Goboff said some ICE agents should be held legally accountable for their actions, saying, “If they’re on video beating the crap out of somebody, that’s clearly outside of the range of whatever they were hired to do… If they were showing up to work every day and putting cuffs on people, saying, ‘I’m really sorry, I gotta take you in…’ They didn’t know that was gonna be so frowned on. I think it’s a case-by-case thing.” 

Protester Madeline, who declined to give a first name, said she knows people who’ve been affected by ICE raids but declined to give further information. She said ICE agents should be placed under an equivalent of the Nuremberg Trials, which held Nazis accountable for their war crimes. “Everyone should be held accountable, just like with the [Jeffrey] Epstein files,” she said.

BFG didn’t encounter any groups of counter-protesters; however, one man who was recording everything in front of him with a phone camera went around attempting to engage nearly every present activist in a debate. 

BFG plans to protest again this Friday from 3 to 5 pm at the I-75 overpass on Northwest 23rd Ave., and again on Saturday in front of the Oaks Mall from 9 to 11 am.

50501 GNV plans to protest on October 18.