American Singled Out, Detained By ICE After Blocking Ariz. Trump Rally—Guess Why (VIDEO)


In the wake of the “multiracial coalition of immigrant rights, faith, labor and local activists” blocking the main road to a Trump rally in Maricopa County, Ariz., Saturday, one protester was singled out and transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, despite being an American citizen, simply because she is Latino.

#UnitedAgainstHate, Mijente’s field director, Jacinta Gonzalez, joined protesters in the event, going so far as to lock herself by the neck to a vehicle, but once the demonstration was broken up and the protesters were sent on their way, Gonzalez alone was detained due to her surname and the color of her skin, and she didn’t just go to the county jail, but was instead transferred to ICE agents who proceeded to grill her regarding her citizenship and presumed immigration status. Gonzalez states in the video below:

“The two others were able to go home but because of my last name I was questioned by ICE and transferred to their custody. As I was trying to defend my rights inside, I saw the faces of two children in one of the holding cells. We’re going to continue to fight, to say ‘#Not1More,’ and ‘Dump Trump.'”

As Mijente points out, demonstrators released a statement a day before the rally—Friday—stating campaign rhetoric so synonymous with what one finds at a Trump rally has paved the way for “a package of anti-immigrant laws being proposed in Arizona’s statehouse—including those sponsored by the husband of Linda Kavanagh, the Mayor of Fountain Hills, where the Trump rally was planned.”

Gonzalez adds to the above statement in the video that similar anti-immigrant bills have been popping up in other states, as well, such as: Georgia, Louisiana and Pennsylvania.

Executive Director of Puente Arizona Carlos Garcia stated in regard to Arizona’s infamous SB1070 bill of 2010, which ended up costing the Grand Canyon State some $200 million due to boycotts, ultimately shaming Arizona internationally for its racism:

“In Arizona we’ve heard Trump’s hate before and we know where it gets us. The Trump effect isn’t just about a candidate. Trump’s ugly rhetoric is being turned into policy proposals as we speak that threaten the wholeness of our families and the safety of our communities. All people of conscience have to unite to stop it.”

Mijente director Marissa Franco stated:

“People will not sit quietly as Trump campaigns to move us back in the shadows, to the back of the bus, or back in the closet. The greatest act of love we can show is to shut down hate where it rears its head and demand that we do better than the cheap politics and false solutions that Trump is peddling. The billionaire may want to pit poor people against each other but our necks are not available for standing on.”

Gonzalez stated the coalition believes Trump rallies need to be shut down “because the hate, the racism, the xenophobia, the Islamophobia, the homophobia that is spewed in those events, is permeating America.”


Regarding her detention by ICE agents, Gonzalez stated:

“This just proves that the hatred and the profiling that Trump says and tries to promote is the same that exists within this administration. That’s why we have to continue to shut down Trump. We have to continue to fight for our communities and say ‘#Not1More.’ We have to continue to fight for the families like the family I saw inside.”

Gonzalez’s detention is just one possible negative outcome of many for going anywhere near a Trump rally.

Featured image composite by CNN / Puente Arizona via video screen captures.