GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Students and community members in Green Bay joined a nationwide 'Free America' protest Tuesday, demanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stay out of their community.
High school student Leah Peters was among dozens who braved the cold temperatures to participate in the demonstration at Harvey Street Park.
"I walked out of school to come here to protest against it. I was pretty upset about what happened in Minnesota. We need to come together as a community to stand against it and stand against ICE," Peters said.
The protesters also spoke out against Brown County's Warrant Service Officer program with ICE. The agreement "allows ICE to train, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on immigrants in their agency's jail."
Dalton Panske, a nursing student in Green Bay, said the recent ICE agreement with the Oneida Nation intensified local concern about ICE's presence in Northeast Wisconsin.
"ICE is going to come to our community if we don't say anything," Panske expressed.
Watch the full story by Jessica Goska here:
As of January, ICE has signed 1,317 memorandums of agreement for 287(g) programs like the one in Brown County across 40 U.S. states. Brown County is one of 19 Wisconsin agencies with an ICE agreement.
Peters and Panske said to change that, they hope more people call for change.
"Actions like this is what keeps our neighbors safe," said Panske.
The Brown County Sheriff's Office declined to comment on the county's agreement with ICE, referring to the sheriff's previous remark that immigration is a federal issue.
