GREEN BAY (NBC26) — A DACA recipient organizes a protest march against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in downtown Green Bay this weekend. She tells NBC 26 why she feels targeted by the president's migrant crackdown.
- Meet Verenice Lopez, who says she came to the U.S. with her family at two years old
- Lopez is a DACA recipient, which means she has temporary protection from deportation and has the ability to work
- She is organizing a protest march against the increased arrests of undocumented migrants following President Donald Trump's return to office
- Hear from the activist organizations helping Lopez to organize the event
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
Since President Trump took office last month U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data shows nearly 800 migrants have been arrested on average each day. A protest against ICE is planned here in downtown Green Bay this Saturday. I'm Pari Apostolakos and I met the activists organizing it.
Verenice Lopez says she came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was two years old. Lopez tells me she is a DACA recipient, which means she has temporary protection from deportation and has the ability to work.
When she heard about the increased emphasis on deportations for undocumented people by the President, she says she felt fear and anxiety.
"It definitely scares me and makes me feel, obviously, targeted," Lopez said. "Being in this position, you just feel like you have to be on the lookout at all times ... I kind of had like a calling to do something about it."
So she began organizing a peaceful protest. As of Tuesday, more than 400 people have expressed interest in attending Lopez's event on Facebook.
"I feel like we're just labeled, you know? We're labeled as like a citizen, illegal alien, immigrant and things like that," Lopez said. "So, personally I don't feel like a label defines who we are as human beings."
Organizations like Hate Free Outagamie have volunteered to help with the march this weekend.
"It shows that marginalized community that their neighbors care," Hate Free Outagamie Leadership Committee Member Jay Gibbs said.
Gibbs says Hate Free Outagamie is mainly focused on LGBTQIA+ issues. But, he believes it is important to lend their voice to this cause.
"It comes down to overreach," Gibbs said. "These [ICE] agents and the federal government and how they are conducting themselves with these raids is what is unacceptable, their behavior ... So everyday people are being made to be fearful and worried."
The Green Bay Anti-War Committeehas also stepped in to help host this weekend's protest.
"We hope to raise awareness of the true causes of migration and change the conversation away from the scapegoating [of] our brothers and sisters," Green Bay Anti-War's Scott Dempsky wrote in part in a statement to our newsroom.
"We're not all criminals, we're not bad people and we're here trying to have a better life," Lopez said.
The protest march begins on the CityDeck at noon Feb. 8.
