Rallies to respond to ICE raid

Two rallies have been planned for this weekend in the wake of the Aug. 12 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that netted 57 suspected illegal workers at the Mills Manufacturing plant in Asheville.

An “Anti-ICE” rally will be held at Vance Monument on Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. and a Prayer Vigil will take place at First Congregational Church of Christ on Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m.

The events are being organized by the Coalition of Latin American Organizations.

Brian Postelle, staff writer

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

24 thoughts on “Rallies to respond to ICE raid

  1. Mysterylogger

    This is a joke right? Someone please tell me they are going to have a march for people who broke the law.

    This makes no sense whatsoever

  2. Joelle Kellem

    The march taking place tomorrow at 5pm (which begins at Vance Monument and ends at Pritchard Park) has NOT been organized by COLA, rather it has been put together by a front of concerned community members. We are students, community organizers, and workers in this county and are demonstrating independent of any one community organization. Come march with us!

  3. PatD

    ah yes …. the LAW. The LAW sure took care of those darn CRIMINALS. Before you post a stupid comment like this, just make sure you have not benefited yourself from having ‘illegal immigrants’ doing the work hypocrite Legal Immigrants (otherwise known as Americans), don’t want to do.

  4. avl

    I was driving to work from w asheville and noticed that vandals had grafittied a billboard with pro-mmigration messages near Westgate. one billboard said “no borders no raids” and on the other side it said I.C.E. out now, i guess its related or something

  5. barbara ann

    Marching to protest the law being enforced? ICE “in”, illegal entrants “out”. Everyone is welcome if you are legal.Wait your turn like everyone else.

  6. Reality Check

    Yes, the LAW. Strange concept isn’t it? We’ve been too remiss to enforce this one til now. Hopefully that is over.

  7. FreakingNews

    PatD I am a legal resident and I am NOY and American. There are so many misconceptions regarding Legality and Citizenship.

  8. PatD

    I am a legal resident too and I went through a lot to get my green card many years ago.
    That, however, is irrelevant to me.
    I view myself not more legal or illegal, here in this country, as any so called ‘citizen’ who really are offspring of that rightous murdering and plundering bunch of Europeans. These people came here and took the land away from native Indians. After killing most of them of course in the name of their god and religion. So now we all claim we are legal here and anyone else crossing the border is not?
    I have more respect for hard working Mexicans, illegal or not, then the lazy fat ignorant rednecks I see all around me. But of course, it’s ok to be an ignorant bigot, as long as you are ‘legal’.
    And then there is the fact that just about everyone in America, direct or indirect, like it or not, benefits from having a cheap and hard working workforce.
    So yes, the LAW, laid down by a certain group of people, it is a strange concept in many ways.

  9. LOKEL

    One thing you folks who bring up the Indians need to remember.

    That population of Native Americans, were not organized as a democracy and thus, had no laws that applied to the “Nation”; but had laws of many nations (tribes).

    It was not until the US Constitution was drafted, and signed by the leaders of THE UNITED STATES of AMERICA that our laws (including, eventually, immigration laws) were conceived and implemented.

    So it is a best irrelevant to squawk about the native americans that the Europeans mistreated. And, while I do not believe for a minute that the Native American tribes have been satisfactorily “repaid” for their misplacement to reservations, the effort was made by our forefathers to reconcile the negative effects from that immigration.

  10. Ribald

    The fact of the matter is, most of the people who come to this country illegally do it because they CAN’T wait for legal opportunities. The wait listing for immigrants from Mexico and South America are among the the slowest. When your country’s economy is collapsing and your family is starving are you just going to tell them, and yourself, “Well the law is the law”” If it’s a choice between breaking the law and possibly not surviving long enough to get here legally, what do you think they’re going to do. These laws make no sense in regards to the reality of the world.

  11. In the name of Che

    One huge hipocrisy to consider is the fact that the American economy employs MILLIONS of illegal workers to perform necessary jobs, but the government only provides maybe a couple thousand work Visas.

    That makes it easier to discard the workers when the work is done.

    Also, immigrants pay millions of dollars into Social Security which they will never be able to draw from.

    Get this, they pay taxes which pay for ICE to come and arrest them at their jobs.

    So, yes. We need to rally to support these people because not even their native governments can do anything for them.

  12. travelah

    Che was a terrorist who advocated nuking the US and remained bitter that the USSR did not nuke us during the Cuban missile crisis. His is not a name to attach to any movement regarding the rights of illegal aliens. In fact it’s an immediate vote to deport.

  13. Al Cottingham

    I don’t understand what has happened to this country. People break the law and sneak across the border. They drive and work here illegally. They get arrested fair and square for breaking our laws. And people are complaining about it? Obey the law or change it. We Americans welcome ‘legal’ immigrants. Not sneaks.

  14. Reality Check

    Some need to look in the mirror when they are calling others hypocrites. Examples abound in previous posts.

  15. PatD

    Or perhaps some need to check within before screaming about illegals, law breakers and criminals.
    Common hypocrisy is twofold.
    A: we almost all benefit so unless you make sure you don’t, shut up.
    B: We all break laws in some way or another (not very difficult when dealing with ridiculous and outdated laws).
    Is it really so difficult to admit that something is wrong with this entire immigration issue and perhaps we are all being played?

  16. Reality Check

    What that pro illegal movement is missing out on is that those who are against the illegal onslaught are ready to accept the corrections that will occur in the economy. Our legislators and law enforcement let us down by not enforcing existing law, now we have figured it out and that era is over.

    The argument that ‘we all break laws’ is hogwash and gets you an F in debate class. That argument is for children and always looses.

    What’s done is done. Rehashing what got us here over and over is not productive except for correcting those mistakes that have already been identified. Let’s move forward with an immigration policy that allows our economy to grow, social services to survive and reasonable opportunities for potential legal immigration.

  17. byrdwood

    Yes, the law is the law, but there are other truths here which are equally as stark.

    I don’t pretend to have this issue all figured out, but I don’t think we can understand the many facets of this issue unless we look at it compassionately. People, who have more in common with us than not, are compelled to come to the US to live a life full of fear. We have to ask ourselves why.

    I’ve always been a rule-of-law kind of guy, but if I were a poor parent from a poor country, I imagine that I might believe I am morally bound to break the law to provide a better life for my children. Whether you believe that or not, at least acknowledge that there are higher laws that that of governments and this introduces enough moral ambiguity to keep us busy for a long time.

    I apply the same compassion perspective towards those that write and enforce our immigration laws. This a messy, messy issue.

    Sure, the law is the law, but if we use that as an excuse to avoid seeing the human factor here, we’re copping out. Suffering is suffering.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.