Tacoma City Council meeting disrupted by boisterous anti-ICE protesters
People calling for federal immigration authorities to leave Tacoma were so boisterous they prompted a brief recess at Tuesday’s Tacoma City Council meeting.
About 150 people rallied outside and inside the Tacoma Municipal Building on Feb. 10, calling for the Tacoma City Council to listen to their demands to end the Northwest ICE Processing Center and divest from ICE.
This rally was the third in a series of anti-ICE protests led by the Pierce County Immigration Alliance outside the Tacoma Municipal Building coinciding with council meetings. Two weeks ago, hundreds of protestors blocked traffic on Market Street.
Though attendees remained on the sidewalks Tuesday, they still did their part to disrupt the council meeting.
Dozens of them spoke during the community forum, with their comments often followed by cheers and applause. Before they entered the council chambers, their echoing chants from a floor above could be heard on the council livestream.
Mayor Anders Ibsen told attendees a few times to refrain from cheering and clapping during and after comments. When the audience’s cheering continued, he called for a brief recess – a rarity for Tacoma City Council meetings.
Council members left the room as protesters in the council chambers continued chanting, “When immigrants’ rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!”
At-large council member Latasha Palmer returned to the chambers during the recess and asked attendees to follow the council’s rules for speaking during community forum. When the meeting resumed after the recess, Ibsen called for attendees to be respectful and said the council would end community forum if the applause and cheering continued.
“If people cannot conduct the meeting respectfully and continue to be disruptive, we will close community forum and adjourn,” Ibsen said.
Talison Crosby, a member of the Pierce County Immigration Alliance, said the organization met with the mayor and Tacoma City Council a week ago to discuss the PCIA’s proposed resolution.
The city told the organizers that they can’t do anything, Crosby says, which he believes isn’t true.
“They hold the business license of the Northwest Detention Center. They could revoke it, and they’re not doing it,” Crosby said.
Kasandra Seda, the chairperson of Latin American grassroots organization Capybara Colectiva and a member of International Migrant Alliance attending the rally, said it’s a positive to see people make noise to call out the city council’s inaction.
“We want people to not be afraid to continue to come out, to support, to be part of the defense for migrants,” Seda said.
