About 110 members of the San Marcos community attended the “Action Now” protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity at the Hays County Courthouse on Feb. 15.
ICE has been spotted in multiple locations around the Hays County area. On Jan. 15, there was an ICE raid in Kyle that resulted in a person sustaining injuries.
Step Up San Marcos, a grassroots coalition committed to defending democracy, organized the protest. They pride themselves with speaking out on social issues and injustice, as well as promoting people to exercise their right to vote.
Joseph Sokal, a San Marcos resident and Step Up member, said the overarching goal is to bring awareness to the current state of the government and to encourage people to speak their minds.
“There are people that object to the current regime and that are pushing back. We were hoping people who feel similarly will feel likewise empowered to step forward, to speak their mind and to fight against what is the greatest threat to our democracy in my lifetime,” Sokal said.
ICE has also appeared in the Buda area. Earlier this month on Febuary 2nd, there was an altercation between a Buda high school student and a Kyle resident. The altercation resulted in injuries to the high school student and the arrest of a 45-year-old man.
Many protestors felt that the current government is not fulfilling their duties in the correct way. Chris Bowman, a San Marcos resident and a step up member claimed that “they are not fitting the bill.” Bowman said the protest was organized to inform people about what ICE is doing in terms of immigration.
“I feel very strongly for our country, people have died for this country, it’s a democracy, and everyone has a right to their freedom of speech, and the way [ICE] is going about the immigration thing is totally wrong and dangerous,” Bowman said. “I feel like the president we have today is undemocratic, and I am protesting everything his regime has been doing.”
Cat Wuracka, a San Marcos resident and Step Up member, has prided herself with years of activism. She believes that the country is in more of a dire state than it has been in years.
“I think this country is a much worse situation than we have seen in generations, and I am very afraid that if we don’t help raise awareness and get people to the polls in November, we may lose our opportunity to vote,” Wuracka said. “This [protest] is a kind of wake people up kind of thing.”
The coordinator of the Protest, Scott Henize, said he is concerned for the immigrant population in San Marcos. He said he understands that there is a concern for students and immigrants when attending protests in general.
“A big calling for me is just to help the immigrant population,” Henize said. “We have a very large Hispanic population here, and a lot of people are very intimidated by the thought of ICE coming into town. So we really have to be out here for the people that can’t be out here themselves.”
Henize said he hopes that in the near future, more Texas State students will come out and protest, in order to pass the torch down to the youth, as they can be a louder voice for future causes.
“We feel as a republic, it’s our responsibility to speak up and to let our representatives know that we are not happy with this, so that we can effect change,” Henize said.
