The first floor of the Cleveland State University Student Center filled with students carrying handmade signs and bundling up against the cold on Friday, after they walked out of classes and prepared to march to join an anti-ICE demonstration in Public Square.

The action was part of a nationwide strike calling for the withdrawal of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol agents in Minnesota, and signaling that Clevelanders would resist any local presence after federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

Despite temperatures dropping to 6 degrees, New Era Scholars founder Rameer Askew led dozens of students through snow and slush down to the square, rallying those who felt called to take a stand against the aggression of ICE and border patrol agents in several major cities in recent months.
 

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Dozens of students walked out of class to join the nationwide strike against ICE. (credit: Nicole Wloszek)
 

“It’s our responsibility, not only to CSU, but to the rest of the community,” Askew said, ahead of the march. “We as students have always been a spark to the revolution.”  

At Public Square, Askew joined other civic leaders in addressing a much larger group of protesters. He reminded students of their collective power.  

“We are standing up because we don’t have to be afraid, we don’t have to step back,” Askew said to the hundreds that gathered downtown. “When they (ICE) do get here, they aren’t going to move not one student, because we are not afraid.”

His comments came after ICE and border patrol agents killed two U.S. citizens protesting in Minneapolis: mother and poet Renee Nicole Good, and ICU nurse Alex Pretti.  

The comments also come at a time when ICE has been granted increased authority to operate on college campuses, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Among the targets across the nation has been Minneapolis’ Augsburg University.

Sophomore film and media arts major Hunter Shreve said that this was the second protest he had attended, and that it’s something he believes is essential after recent events he described as eye-opening. 

“Growing up I wasn’t really a big political person,” Shreve said. “But I feel like it’s really necessary to stick together, especially if you’re standing up for what’s right.”

Shreve brought fire Pokémon cards to distribute amongst comrades, as a gesture of connecting and building community and to symbolize that fire melts ICE. 

“I thought, well, I’ll just give out some fire Pokémon to the people, because everyone loves Pokémon, and we’re all in this together,” Shreve said. “We’re like a big Pokémon team, you know?”

Another student, Magaly Lemus is a first-generation American and both of her parents are from Mexico. She said she found the courage to attend the protest with the support of a friend. 

For students like Lemus, whose families have immigrant roots, the demonstration had personal significance.

“It’s such a blessing to have the opportunity to be here and do things they weren’t able to do,” Lemus said, “They came here for a better life, which is why most immigrants do.”
 

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The Cleveland protest came after ICE agents killed two U.S. citizens, protesting in Minneapolis: mother and poet Renee Nicole Good, and ICU nurse Alex Pretti. (credit: Nicole Wloszek)