About 80 protesters bundled outside of Sen. John Fetterman’s Pittsburgh office, urging the Democrat to take on aggressive immigration tactics as winds whipped up a “feels like” temperature in the negatives.
“The people wanted this to happen,” said organizer Tracy Baton of Indivisible Pittsburgh. “Even with the cold, you know, they said it’s colder in Minnesota.”
The crowd, led by organizations including Casa San José and Frontline Dignity, pressed Fetterman to join others in his party who have vowed to block federal funding for an augmented Department of Homeland Security – which oversees ICE – since federal officers killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.
“People are dying, there is nothing else left. We are at our last lines of defense,” said Monica Ruiz, executive director of Casa San José, as she pushed up her winter hat after struggling through snow-bound streets to reach Downtown from Beechview.
Should the spending bills falter, the federal government will enter a partial shutdown by the end of the week. Fetterman, an immigration hawk within his party, has eschewed demands to hold up the spending bills, though he has joined the chorus of calls for impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
In a statement Monday, Fetterman said he would consider stripping the DHS appropriations from other funding components to avoid a shutdown.
“I reject the calls to defund or abolish ICE. I strongly disagree with many strategies and practices ICE deployed in Minneapolis, and believe that must change,” he said.
“We must find a way forward and I remain committed to being a voice of reason and common sense.”
Fetterman’s office did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
Slideshow from Tuesday’s protest: Organizer Tracy Baton of Indivisible Pittsburgh, at center in pink headband in first photo, stands amid about 80 protesters as snow falls outside Sen. John Fetterman’s Pittsburgh office, Jan. 27. “They voted for him because they thought that he would stand with them and their politics and their communities, and that’s what he purported to be during his campaign,” said Baton. “That is absolutely not what they got.” (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)
“If you can’t shut the government down for a couple days or a couple weeks or a couple months, then what do these lives mean to you?” urged Ruiz. “You’re not protecting us, you’re killing us — people are dying.”
As backlash to ICE ripples through the region, local activists are putting pressure on the county to oppose federal aggression. An ordinance banning information-sharing between Allegheny County staff and federal agencies and prohibiting cooperation with immigration officers makes its way to committee tonight after picking up six cosponsors. Global Switchboard, a human rights group based in Pittsburgh, is circulating a petition to gather support for the bill.
Last week more than 500 volunteers packed into a Shadyside church to learn how to legally witness immigration raids to document officer actions and protect those arrested. Over the weekend, smaller protests formed, including outside a Target store in East Liberty.
Correction: Indivisible Pittsburgh organizer Tracy Baton was misidentified in an earlier version of this story.
Stephanie Strasburg is a photojournalist with Pittsburgh’s Public Source who can be reached at stephanie@publicsource.org, on Instagram @stephaniestrasburg or on Twitter @stephstrasburg.
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