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Barrier keeps protesters away from Cedar Rapids ICE office as hundreds gather in support of immigrants
An Iowa City nonprofit has been hosting the accompaniments for several years
Sep. 2, 2025 5:25 pm, Updated: Sep. 3, 2025 7:40 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Officers from the Cedar Rapids Police Department stood by Tuesday morning to enforce a police-tape barrier outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in the Cedar Rapids Homeland Security building, while hundreds of community members gathered in the street to protest deportations and support immigrants reporting to the office for check-in appointments.
Escucha Mi Voz, an Iowa City nonprofit, organized the protest to accompany four families who they knew had appointments Tuesday. All four accompanied families left the office with a new appointment scheduled for next year, and they spoke to protesters afterward to thank them for the support.
“Thank you to all of you for showing up,” Nelson Perez, one of the accompanied immigrants, told the crowd through a translator. “We’re workers and we’re here to fight for our families and better futures.”
“I feel stronger now, seeing all of you out here with joy on your faces,” Jaky Torres Toro, another accompanied immigrant, added, also speaking through a translator. “I hope you can accompany me next year, too.”
Several other immigrants also came to the office Tuesday for appointments, and at least three people were detained, according to Escucha Mi Voz organizers who spoke with family members of the people who didn’t come out of the office.
Maria Eugenia Enriquez Reyes, 29, was one of the three people detained. She and her husband, Omar Abilez, had an appointment Tuesday morning, and when they arrived they were told immigration officers had a deportation order for both of them that had arrived earlier that day. Enriquez Reyes was detained, and Abilez was told he has to leave the country within the month, with his son.
The couple has lived in the United States for almost two years after fleeing threats made against Enriquez Reyes by individuals in Mexico, where they are from, according to Abilez.
“We came and entered at the border. They let us pass, and said we had until 2027, but at the last check-in we went to they said that our documents didn’t mean anything because we never had a case in front of a judge, and they gave us parole for another year,” Abilez told The Gazette in Spanish.
Abilez said he’s hoping to work with Escucha Mi Voz to find a lawyer who can help get his wife released from ICE custody.
“I’d like to see if I can fight for her to be released so we can leave together,” he said in Spanish.
Tuesday’s protest was the largest the nonprofit has seen, with more than 250 people coming out to support. The parking lot of the Elk Lodge, next to the ICE office, usually has spaces available for protesters, but it was full by 7:30 a.m., when the protest began. An alleyway between the Elk Lodge parking lot and the ICE office was blocked off by police, as was the front lawn of the office, causing protesters to stand in the street on Square Drive SW rather than directly in front of the building.
Evann Biedenbech and Blaine Zabokrtsky, two attendees of the protest, said this was their first time coming to an accompaniment, but they’ve protested at other events in the past. They said they felt the protest was a way to stand up for what they believe is right.
“This is a country of immigrants,” Zabokrtsky said. “Everyone here’s an immigrant.”
“I think it’s beautiful when a whole bunch of different people can come together as one,” Biedenbech added.
Amy Krieger, another attendee, had multiple signs with the names of Iowa residents who have been detained or deported, who she was there to support. Some of the people on her signs were people she knew personally, and others were people whose family members and friends she has connected with after hearing about their detention.
“We’re all here for a very serious reason,” Krieger said. “We know everyone who is checking in today needs our support.”
Agents with the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Services invited Escucha Mi Voz leaders to a meeting on Aug. 26, a week before the planned accompaniment, to inform them there would be a barricade set up during Tuesday’s check-in meetings.
This is the first time the federal agency has taken measures to keep community members away from the office during check-ins, despite Escucha Mi Voz organizers regularly accompanying immigrants to these meetings for the past several years.
An accompaniment last month, on Aug. 5 had a larger turnout than the nonprofit had seen in the past, though not as many as came out Tuesday. Multiple residents were detained that day, despite the large community presence. Cedar Rapids police were called to the area briefly when a few protesters parked their cars outside the office in an attempt to block ICE vehicles from leaving the parking lot. Tow trucks were also called, but the owners of the cars moved them and no arrests were made.
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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