More than 20 people protested ICE and border control overreach Saturday, gathering in front of the Barton County Courthouse on Main Street and at the corner of Lakin and Main. With organizers from the Women for Kansas group having notified City officials they would be there from 11 a.m. to noon, the protesters carried signs and occasionally chanted. Police were nearby but the gathering remained peaceful.
The protesters who spoke to this Great Bend Tribune reporter said they were not paid but were concerned about what is happening with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions they believe are unlawful and racist. Themes from previous “No Kings” and “Hands Off!” rallies in Great Bend were also reflected in some of the signs. There were American flags and references to the Constitution, such as the Fifth Amendment: “No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
Other signs were directed specifically at ICE, from the simple “ICE OUT” to “1st ICE Age, Dinosaurs died; 2nd ICE Age, Americans died.” and “ICE melts in the light of day; Marshall, Mann, Moran MIA."
Chants included: “Stand up, fight back! Democracy is under attack!” and “We the people have the power to stop this now,” and “No hate, no fear; ICE is not welcome here.”
Women for Kansas member Pam Martin, Great Bend, told the Tribune, “I’m here because I’m upset with what’s going on across the country. We know what happens when you give people that are poorly trained ammunition and no boundaries. We’ve seen this play out over and over, around the world, and it never ends well for the people.
“That’s one reason I’m here. The other reason is that it’s just awful; what they’re doing is racist. ... They only target people of color.
"And our senators need to hear the message – enough is enough. We have a Constitution, and they had a bipartisan agreement before the election that actually would have taken care of things without the violence.”
She said the protesters are not against removing people that have committed crimes. “But it’s not a crime to come to this country, especially as a refugee.”
Great Bend resident Stephanie Pfannenstiel, also spoke to reporters.
“I’m here to protest ICE actions, including their unlawful and unconstitutional actions and how that’s being supported at higher levels of our government,” she said. That includes “recent Supreme Court decisions overthrowing a California order that it was not okay to detain people based on race, language, place of work, etc,, saying that ICE can detain people based on what they look like.
“If you listen to some of the orders from chief federal judges in Minneapolis, ICE has violated over 100 court orders in January; it’s not just Minneapolis.”
She added, “I am increasingly concerned by the executive branche’s discussion of using ICE to police elections.”
Currently, U.S. citizen Marimar Martinez is giving testimony in Congress after being shot five times by ICE in her car in Chicago, and surviving, Pfannenstiel continued. She also cited concern about ICE attempting to enter the Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis.
“In January alone, six people died in ICE detention. Two U.S. citizens were killed at protests in Minneapolis,” she continued. “There was an average last year of 170 children in ICE custody per day, up to 400 was the greatest amount of children in ICE custody.
“I am a Kansas foster parent. I have had unaccompanied minors in my home, one who walked from Nicaragua, traversed the Darien Gap and went on trains through Mexico and arrived here, then went back for her little sister. She wants to get a GED and be a cosmetologist. She is in Riley County, where ICE was raiding.”
With no way of contacting her former foster child at the moment, Phannenstiel said she has no way of knowing if she has been detained or what her status is.
She continued, “Those who have immigrated according to laws are being taken out of the courthouse or going into their hearing and finding out that their temporary protected status has been overturned. Even if you don’t have concerns about what’s happening to people or think they deserve it because their paperwork is not in order right now, that’s not what we’re seeing. What we’re seeing is that it could happen to anyone, citizen or not, that you can be shot and killed whether you’re a citizen or not, and that there are no consequences for ICE. I really hope that people in Great Bend are aware of this, and that our senators and Congresspeople in Kansas and at the federal level are aware of this and taking action.”
