Milwaukee, Brookfield protests respond to ICE activity, shootings

Protests respond to ICE activity, shootings

Protesters in southeast Wisconsin continued to urge federal agents out of cities and echoed calls to disband U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

MILWAUKEE - Protesters in southeast Wisconsin on Saturday continued to urge federal agents out of cities and echoed calls to disband U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

They remembered Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the two people who were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this month.

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Brookfield protest

What they're saying:

Hundreds of people lined the sidewalks along Bluemound Road in Brookfield, demanding justice and calling for an end to I.C.E. operations.

Brookfield Resist protest on Bluemound Road

"We’re not just a bunch of people standing around with signs," said Maryann, a volunteer with Brookfield Resist. A retired nurse, she declined to give her full name out of fear of political retaliation.

"We’re just a group of Brookfield citizens that got together and felt it necessary to exercise our rights, our freedom of speech," she added. "I see that the health of my community, my country, is in jeopardy, and I need to do something to help nurture it back to health." 

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Organizers with Brookfield Resist said nearly 1,000 people signed up for Saturday's protest. They called the recent violent incidents involving federal agents alarming.

"We shouldn’t be a ‘them’ and an ‘us’ – we are neighbors," said Maryann.

Milwaukee demonstration

What they're saying:

In Milwaukee, demonstrators had a personal connection to Pretti. Halee Newby said losing someone so close brought the national debate to her doorstep.

"I felt like I had a connection to Alex Pretti, not only as a once-neighbor, but also a fellow human," she said. "It makes me terrified, honestly, to see what’s going on in our country."

Bicyclists ride in downtown Milwaukee, a demonstration in response to the shooting of Alex Pretti

Pretti, who worked as an intensive care nurse at a Minneapolis VA hospital, grew up in Wisconsin. He previously participated in the annual Riverwest 24 bicycle race.

Hundreds of bicyclists from several cycling groups met at Milwaukee City Hall for a Riverwest24 lap Saturday, a pedaling protest to remember one of their own.

"It’s important that we mobilize now, that we organize now and that we continue making plans so that when that day comes – not if, when that day comes – we are ready to support our fellow citizens and community members in need," said Newby.

Republican response

The other side:

FOX6 News reached out to the Republican Party of Waukesha County and the Republican Party of Milwaukee County for comment on Saturday's protest but did not hear back by the deadline for this story.

As protests continue across the country, President Donald Trump on Saturday said he instructed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to not intervene in Democratic-led cities unless help is formally requested.

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