Protests were held Saturday, April 19, in areas of Skagit County, including Mount Vernon and Anacortes, as part of the ongoing Hands Off movement that has spoken out against changes and proposed changes by the Trump administration.
The theme of the protests was ICEOutofWA, a call for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to steer clear of a state that has indicated it is pro-immigrant.
Several protestors said protesting during the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival would help draw attention to the immigrant workers that may work in the tulip fields and who help make the Tulip Festival possible.
“The main reason I’m here today is just to be in solidarity with immigrants and especially the farmworkers in the local area that make the tulips and a lot of other agricultural things around here possible, and they’re our neighbors,” Chuck Rinehart said.
Kush Doshi of Marysville talks about the importance of protesting ICE during the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival at the Skagit County Courthouse on Saturday, April 19.
He said the protest provided exposure to the issue for those in the area for the Tulip Festival.
At the crux of the immigration issue is the lack of due process that has been denied to documented and undocumented immigrants throughout the country.
“We the people to be together in solidarity, and ICE is representative of some of the undue process that is going on,” protestor Donna Qualley said.
Some held up signs calling for the release of local activist Aflredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, who is in the Tacoma Detention Facility awaiting his day in court after being taken into custody by ICE a few weeks ago in Mount Vernon.
“The destruction of due process ... treating people in such an inhumane manner, it’s not right, it’s not who we are,” protestor and Indivisible Skagit member Jeff Creager said.
Two protestors from Bellingham said they have seen the impacts of ICE detainments and activity in their hometown.
Earlier this month, ICE raided a roofing company in Bellingham and apprehended dozens of individuals, according to the Associated Press.
“Basically, the most recent issue that affects all Americans and not just immigrants is the fact we’ve had at least two or three people get hauled off to El Salvador or otherwise incarcerated ... without any kind of due process,” Rinehart said. “It means Americans, not just immigrants, and people that look like immigrants need to be vigilant.”
On April 5, Hands Off protests drew about 1,000 protestors to Mount Vernon and Anacortes.
“What’s happening now is oppression ... we’re here because of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and if ICE wants to kidnap people and send them to a concentration camp, we’re not going to let them,” protestor Peter Sakura said.
ICE has made 32,809 enforcement arrests in the first 50 days of Trump’s second term. The number compares to 33,242 arrests during all of 2024, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security news release.
Thirty-nine of the individuals arrested were suspected terrorists, the agency said in the release.
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