ICE terrorism and the near disappearance of Allies in a post-Minneapolis world – even in Grand Rapids
It has been just over 5 months since an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. People were understandably shocked, then outraged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would engage in that kind of brutality.
For the next couple of months people were ready to do something here in Grand Rapids, with vigils being held, protests and marches denouncing ICE. For groups like Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE, the organizing that they both have been doing since 2017 not only continued, but it tried to resist being reactionary.
It is completely understandable that people would be outraged about ICE shooting and killing Renee Good. But here is the thing that those of us who have been doing the work for years is that, the immigrant community is always on high alert and always experiencing the terror that ICE inflicts in every community and every immigrant family.
In an article I wrote back on January 26th entitled, Why are white people so pissed off about ICE now? In that article I stated:
White people and the politicians they have voted for – both Democrats and Republicans – have been approving billions in funding for ICE since 2003, while undocumented immigrants were being arrested, detained and deported, along with hundreds being killed. You can read about these immigrant deaths by reading reports from Detention Watch Network and the ACLU.
Just because the news and social media are not filled with stories of ICE terrorism, it doesn’t mean that ICE has reduced their assault on immigrant communities. In Grand Rapids and Kent County, GR Rapid Response to ICE continues to receive calls on a regular basis regarding ICE sightings and ICE threatening families.
Every week GR Rapid Response to ICE is providing groceries and other basic necessities to dozens of families that have been impacted by ICE violence. Every week this group does patrols, offers accompaniment and does monitoring of ICE activity throughout the community.
GR Rapid Response to ICE has seen the number of people who want to do some shrink, with fewer people signing up for their regularly scheduled trainings. ICE activity remains significant in Kent County and could increase at any time, since they have been adding more agents and increasing the number of contracts in this area.
There used to be ally groups doing regular ICE Out protests in downtown Grand Rapids, but that stopped back in March. ICE activity in this city has not decreased and ICE is continuing to arrest people, to detain people and to separate families.
Now, it is true that ICE has changed some of their tactics, such as not deploying hundreds of agents to a given city and engaging is mass arrests. There has certainly been significant public backlash to those types of mass arrests, just like what we saw in Minneapolis. However, just because those tactics are being used ICE is still threatening immigrant families, still inflicting violence on immigrant families and still separating immigrant families.
Movimiento Cosecha needs allies to support their work and to get involved with their campaigns, campaigns that are ongoing and critical if we want to resist ICE locally. We have to move beyond being reactionary about ICE and understand that the harm that ICE does to immigrant communities and families is a constant, just as it was a constant before an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good. We have to move from merely protesting ICE to resisting ICE.
The Trump Administration, ICE officials and ICE agents want us to be complacent and avoid seeing the urgency around the harm that ICE is committing on a daily basis against members of the immigrant community.
13 things you can do right now to resist ICE
- You can follow the work of Movimiento Coesecha https://www.facebook.com/cosechagr and GR Rapid Response to ICE https://www.facebook.com/RapidResponseGR/
- You can share our What to do if ICE comes to your door cards.
- If you suspect that you are seeing an ICE presence somewhere, call our hotline 616-238-0081 and document what you can. Use the Salute card, but don’t post on social media as it can create more fear and panic for immigrant communities.
- If you know an immigrant that has an appointment to check in with ICE or immigration court cases you can have them call the hotline 616-238-0081 and have them request someone to accompany them to their appointments.
- You can support immigrant families that have been affected by ICE violence in Kent County by sharing and contributing funds through the Mutual Aid requests on the GR Rapid Response to ICE Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RapidResponseGR/
- You can organize a fundraising event like a house party or get 10 of your friends to contribute to a specific Mutual Aid request that can be found on the GR Rapid Response to ICE Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RapidResponseGR/
- If you know of immigrant community groups that are living in fear of ICE, Cosecha will offer to do a Know Your Rights training, which provides tips on how to keep yourself, your family and your community safe from ICE. Send an Email to movimientocosechagr@gmail.com.
- You can begin a conversation with leaders in your faith community and local non-profits about offering sanctuary to members of the affected community. If there is an interest members of Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE can meet with you or you can attend one of our regular Community Sanctuary sessions.
- You can sign up to take the GR Rapid Response to ICE training to learn skills and be part of our daily work.
- You can encourage your church to host a GR Rapid Response to ICE training. If there is an interest they can send an Email to info@grrapiresponsetoice.org.
- You can host an educational session on the History of US Immigration Policy. Just send an Email to info@grrapiresponsetoice.org.
- You can support the 6 sanctuary policies campaign that Cosecha and GR Rapids Response to ICE are trying to get the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County to adopt.
- Get involved in No Detention Centers in Michigan, support the people being detained in Baldwin, Michigan and get involved in their political and solidarity work. https://www.facebook.com/NoDetentionMI
Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce applauds GR City Commission unanimous vote for funding cops and developers
All six Grand Rapids City Commissioners and Mayor LaGrand voted to approve the $786 million City Budget on Tuesday, despite calls to reduce funding for the GRPD from residents.
However, there are some sectors of this city that are delighted that the $786 million budget was approved. The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the GR City Commission on Monday, May 18th, which you can read in the packet of information you can access here for the May 19th City Commission meeting.
The GR Chamber letter included the following comments, which reflects their priorities:
Grand Rapids has momentum. Our City continues to benefit from meaningful investment and economic activity. The Acrisure Amphitheater is opening, the Amway Soccer Stadium is taking shape, housing is being added across all price points, and investment continues in and along the Grand River. These are real wins for our community, and we will continue to advance vibrancy through public-private partnerships.
The letter specifically acknowledges their support for the GRPD by writing:
Public Safety Investment: Safety is the core component of a vibrant community and continues to be a top priority. We strongly support support the $1.3 million in public safety funding an additional 10 officers, as well as the $400,000 for crime prevention programming.
The work done by former-Chief Winstrom to strengthen the department, enhance community trust and address crime across all neighborhoods has been tremendous. We are confident that Interim Chief Trigg and his leadership team will continue to make Grand Rapids a thriving and safe place for families and businesses.
These sentiments clearly demonstrate the Chamber’s commitment to making sure the GRPD is full funded and that they desire to see more cops hired. None of this is a surprise especially since the priority of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce assist businesses in expanding their wealth and that means more cops to protect property and prevent the unhoused or political groups from disrupting business as usual in the downtown area.
The GR Chamber letter was signed by their CEO Rick Baker and the entire Local Government Committee:
- Rick Winn, AHC Hospitality
- Sam Cummings, CWD
- Rosalynn Bliss, MSU College of Human Medicine
- Chris Andrus, Mitten Brewing Co.
- Matt Biersack, Trinity Health West Michigan
- Bryan Harrison, Amway
- Tracey Hornbeck, Legacy Trust
- Doug Dozeman, Warner Norcross + Judd
- Mark Secchia, SILVA
- Dave Shaffer, West Michigan Community Bank
- Jessica Gutowski-Slaydon, Swift Printing Co.
- Monica Steimle-App, Rockford
- Aaron Van Andel, Amway
- Allie Walker, Truscott Rossman
- John Van Fossen, Meijer
- Meredith Bronk, Progressive Companies
You can clearly see from the names and the businesses they represent that public funding for private sector projects and the GRPD are a priority.
Two weeks ago I wrote the following breakdown of part of the city’s budget, specific to the GR Chamber of Commerce letter, more funding for police and development projects.
- $75.4 million for Police, including $1.3 million allocated for 10 police officers that were added in FY26 in anticipation of increased state revenue for public safety.
- $2.9 million for Oversight and Public Accountability – $1.7 million of this is for Axon contract including body cameras; $400,000 will need to be programmed for crime prevention efforts based on enhanced state revenue for public safety.
- $13.5 million for 61st District Court.
- $56.6 million for Economic Prosperity and Affordability of which $36.8 million is for corridor improvement districts and special authorities.
In the WZZM 13 story about the unanimous vote to approve the $786 million city budget, one of the commissioners said the following regarding the budget:
“Budgets are moral documents, it really reminds us that it’s not simply a spreadsheet or a collection of numbers, it really represents our values, our priorities, and ultimately what we believe residents deserve.”
Clearly the GR City Commission believes that more funding for cops and using public dollars for private sector development projects are their priorities, but to assume that this is what residents deserve demonstrates that they are out of touch with what many residents actually want.
“In any case, the hidden hand of of foundations can control the course of social change and deflect anger to targets other than elite power.”
– Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy
The David and Carol Van Andel Foundation
I have already written about the five different DeVos Foundations, with my most recent post on the DeVos Family Foundation. Now I want to look at the other significant foundations that members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure have, beginning with the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation.
The David and Carol Van Andel Foundation gave $8,404,702 in 2024, with $111,617,386 left in total assets in that foundation.
The David and Carol Van Andel Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2024, but there are some clear categories of groups they contributed to, such as the Religious Right, Think Tanks, Education-centered groups, and social service entities, to name a few.
Before I dive into how the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation distributed their funds, I wanted to point out that David Van Andel is chairman and CEO of Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, along with numerous other business investments.
Religious Groups
- Bethany Christian Services – $300,000
- Cascade Fellowship CRC – $90,000
- Grand Rapids Christian Schools – $200,000
- Grand Rapids Nehemiah Project – $350,000
- Mel Trotter Ministries – $1,000,000
- Pine Rest Christian Hospital – $2,000,000
- Potter’s House – $65,010
- Salvation Army – $85,000
- Wedgewood Christian Services – $60,000
- Western Theological Seminary – $500,000
These religious groups practice varying degrees of conservative politics, which fit into the ideological framework that the Van Andel family is committed to.
Pro-Capitalist Groups
- The Acton Institute – $43,500
The Acton Institute has long been supported by the Van Andel family, primarily because the their view that Capitalism and Christianity a great bedfellows.
Van Andel created or connected groups
- Grand Action Foundation – $3,000,000
- Grand Rapids Downtown Market Education Foundation – $15,000
- Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation $50,500
- Opera Grand Rapids – $408,000 (sits in the Board of Directors)
- Van Andel Research Institute – $61,430
It is instructive to see that in 2024, the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation contributed $3 million to the Grand Action Foundation, an organization that the Van Andel family has been involved in since it was founded, plus an organization that has convinced the City and the County to use hundreds of millions in public tax dollars to fund the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium. Not surprising, the new soccer team will be jointly owned by the DeVos and Van Andel families.
It is also not surprising that the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation contributed to Bethany Christian Services, which has reverted back to it’s more ridged and ideological stance on issues like only hiring Christian staff and taking an anti-LGBTQ position. Like the DeVos family, the Van Andel family doesn’t give money just for the fun of it, they use their foundation funds to strategically support the Christian and political right entities, especially in West Michigan.
Groups receiving Hush $
- 3 – 11 Youth Housing – $54,000
- Blandford Nature Center – $245,000
- Boy Scouts of America – $70,000
- Children’s Healing Center – $125,000
- Girl Scouts of Michigan Shore to Shore – $140,000
- Grand Rapids African American Health Institute – $70,000
- ICCF – $25,000
- Kids Food Basket – $50,000
- John Ball Zoological Society – $2,005,000
- Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital – $666,666
- New Image Youth Center – $250,000
- Pine Rest Foundation – $11,000,000
- West Michigan Sports Commission – $50,000
- Women’s Resource Center – $50,000
These groups all provide some sort of social service – people fleeing domestic violence, those who are housing insecure, people with disabilities, adoption and immigration. There are root causes to all of these issues, but these groups are not likely to address root causes and larger systems of oppression. When the Van andel family foundations make contributions, this will increase the likelihood that systems of oppression will not be addressed by these groups.
Foundations rarely make contributions without strings attached. The David and Carol Foundation has a long history of funding far right and religious right groups, which GRIID began documenting over a decade ago when I started this project. Lastly, it is worth noting that the David and Carol Foundation, like all of the foundations by members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, compliments the campaign contributions they make to further impact public policy and promote their religious and capitalist ideologies.
On May 14th, the City of Grand Rapids posted on their Facebook page and their website a story that makes the claim, Grand Rapids named one of the best places in America to start a career.
The source of this claim is WalletHub, which is market/finances-driven tool that is utilized by the professional and capitalist classes. Back in 2022 WalletHub made the claim that Michigan was the safest city in Michigan to live in, although their methodology for making such a determination is deeply problematic.
For the claim that Grand Rapids is one of the best places to start a career, WalletHub states:
WalletHub compared the relative market strength and overall livability of more than 180 U.S. cities. We examined each city based on 25 key metrics that range from the availability of entry-level jobs to the average monthly starting salary to housing affordability.
If you are looking at housing affordability, then Grand Rapids is the worst in Michigan. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition for the average cost of rent for a two bedroom place people need to earn a wage of $26.33 per hour to afford to live in Grand Rapids.
Entry level jobs are also significantly low in Grand Rapids, partly because the minimum wage in Michigan is $13.73 an hour and Grand Rapids is home to the ethos of screw the workers and start your own business, which is what they mean by entrepreneurs. According to a recent ALICE report – ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed – 47% of Grand Rapids households are living paycheck to paycheck. With this kind of economic data, how can WalletHub claim that Grand Rapids one of the best places in America to start a career?
For the past several decades Grand Rapids has been advocating for professionals to move here, which is why there has been such a push to invest so heavily in the downtown. Grand Rapids wants upwardly mobile professionals to locate here, which is also connected to the Grand Action 2.0 projects like the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium. If this city has more amenities, it will attract people who are part of the professional class.
In the City’s post about the WalletHub claim, their post includes comments from City Manager Mark Washington and Mayor David LaGrand. LaGrand is quoted as saying:
Grand Rapids continues to grow because our business community keeps creating opportunities for the next generation. With a younger and more diverse talent base than much of the country, our city is in a strong position for long‑term success. I’m grateful to the employers who are investing here and helping young workers build their futures in Grand Rapids.”
This commentary is instructive, since it makes the standard capitalist claim that businesses are the ones providing opportunities to works, when in fact workers are the ones that actually do the labor, which makes profits for the owners. Besides the Class Consciousness 101 observation, the other problem I have with the claim from Mayor LaGrand is that he doesn’t cite any source or data to support such a claim.
Lastly, it is worth noting how the Mayor uses the term “talent base”, which is what the business community refers to as students. A few years ago GVSU developed a program to partner with several major businesses in Grand Rapids to develop a talent pool. In fact, this is exactly what the group Talent First does, which is to see education as developing talent.
A reporter with De Volkskrant, a Dutch newspaper – recently reached out to me after they did an interview with Hank Meijer.
Interviewing Hank Meijer comes as no surprise as he has for decades been involved in Dutch/American Heritage work, like the lecture he gave last year for the West Michigan Dutch American Heritage Celebration.
As the reporter from De Volkskrant was doing some research on Hank Meijer he came across a GRIID article about the Meijer family that was less flattering. Thus, the De Volkskrant reporter reached out to me to ask if he could talk with me and pose some questions. I said, sure. Here is what the reporter wrote in their very next Email:
What is your main objection to Meijer Inc?
Do you consider that making a contribution to the community as a company? Or do they just do it for show?
I spent a day with Hank Meijer. He doesn’t strike me as the typical American billionaire; he writes books and supports many cultural initiatives. How do you see that?
This response and this question from the reporter with De Volkskrant told me a great deal about the reporter, what he thought about Hank Meijer and how he clearly has internalized the values of the Capitalist system.
What is your main objection to Meijer Inc? My main objection has to do with the fact that the Meijer brothers, Hank, Doug and Mark are each worth $6.2 billion, making their collective worth $18.6 billion, according to the most recent Forbes Real-Time Billionaires ranking.
The Meijer brother wealth jumped significantly during the pandemic, since they were making a killing off of their chain of retail stores. As I wrote in October of 2021, the Meijer brother’s wealth had grown $6.7 billion from the beginning of the pandemic to October of 2021.
The wealth of the Meijer brothers has continued to expand, which puts them as the wealthiest family in West Michigan, even wealthier than the DeVos family. Now, the Meijer family doesn’t insert themselves has much into politics as the DeVos family, but their wealth has similar outcomes for the rest of us, especially their employees.
Meijer Inc. employees thousands of people to work in their stores and their warehouses. The warehouse workers are unionized, but not the store workers. Store workers do not make a living wage, not even close to the amount that one would have to earn to afford the average cost of rent in the Grand Rapids market, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In order for Meijer store employees to afford the average cost of a 2 bedroom apartment they would have to earn $24.46 an hour. This number increases to $26.33 per hour for those living in Grand Rapids. Most Meijer store employees make way less than that, but they don’t have to.
In another article I wrote about the Meijer brother’s wealth I pointed out that in the first year of the pandemic, the Meijer brother’s increased their wealth by $2.6 billion. $2.6 billion would be enough to pay 26,666 employees earning $40 an hour for 40 hours a week for an entire year. Considering that the Meijer brother’s are currently worth $18.6 billion, it seems reasonable that they could afford to live off of $16 billion, the amount they would still have after paying employees a livable wage.
To the reporter’s other points about Meijer contributions to the community, I have a few responses. First, Meijer funds to run the Meijer Gardens and other charitable functions is money that comes from their foundation. Foundations by the rich are designed to hide some of their wealth so it won’t be taxed, then to distract us from the issue of poverty and inequality. Second, the food drive that Meijer does annually during the annual Meijer sponsored LPGA Golf tournament is both insulting and a PR stunt. Meijer employees are accessing food assistance because the Meijer Corporation doesn’t pay them enough.
The last point that the De Volkskrant reporter makes – “I spent a day with Hank Meijer. He doesn’t strike me as the typical American billionaire; he writes books and supports many cultural initiatives. How do you see that?” First, I would say, read everything above. Second, the fact that this reporter makes such an observation demonstrates that he feels that billionaires can be descent people and they earned their wealth so why all the complaining.
This is a fundamental problem with journalism today, where billionaires are treated as heroes and celebrated for their generosity. Reporters are rarely even asking how the billionaire class made their wealth, which is usually a combination of inheritance or by paying those who actually do the work unlivable wages. This was my response to the reporter.
Last night I facilitated the first part of a two part workshop centered around and Grand Rapids Power Analysis.
For about the past 12 years I have been doing a 10 Part series on the Grand Rapids Power Structure, looking at the families and organizations that have the most political, economic, social and cultural power in Grand Rapids.
I regularly use the slides from the Grand Rapids Power Analysis, as I regularly write about these families and organizations in order to provide ongoing analysis. For people who have seen these slides previously, I have recently updated some of the data, analysis and even added new slides to better reflect the far reaching power that the families and organizations in this city have, like the one here above. You can access the updated slides here.
In Part II, I will be looking at how we can organize and resist the economic, political, social and cultural power that the Grand Rapids Power Structure has in this city. This will be the first time that I have had the opportunity to talk about how we can engage in collective resistance to the Grand Rapids Power Structure developing strategies and tactics, especially as we seek to fight for social justice and collective liberation in this community. As I said during the presentation last night, you can not ignore the Grand Rapids Power Structure if you truly want to work on creating structural change.
Part II, the how to resist part of this two part workshop, will be on Sunday, May 31st at Fountain Street Church, from 2pm – 3:30pm. This workshop is free and open to anyone.
We now have two days behind us and by all commercial media accounts the opening of the amphitheater was a success. People bought tickets, some paid $60 for parking, and lots of businesses in downtown Grand Rapids were packed with consumers having dinner and drinks.
However, let us not lose sight about what the amphitheater project is and has always been about – expanding the wealth of those who proposed the amphitheater in the first place, the members of Grand Action 2.0.
Look at who was invited to be part of the ribbon cutting ceremony pictured here above. These people are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, which included two politicians – Mayor LaGrand and Kent County Chair Ben Greene, both claiming to represent the people, when in fact they do the bidding of those with the real power.
We all became aware of the proposed amphitheater in 2020, when the community was in the midst of a pandemic.
The DeVos family purchased the Charlie’s Crab property in order to make room for the amphitheater, which led to the City of Grand Rapids moving some of it’s services to a different location in order to clear out even more riverfront space for the Grand Action 2.0 proposed project. It is always instructive to see how much effort and public dollars are used for such projects while thousands of families in Grand Rapids have no secure housing.
In 2022, we learned that the Convention and Arena Authority would manage the amphitheater and according to City documents, the “Design and financial planning for the amphitheater continues through a partnership of Grand Action 2.0, the DDA/DGRI, the City, the CAA and other stakeholders.”
We have been told from the beginning that this was a private/public partnership, where the public (without it’s consent) provides millions, while the private sector reaps most of the benefits.
We have a local commercial media sector that has continued to endorse the amphitheater project, with gushing headlines using a news platform to celebrate the dictatorship of capitalism in this city.
In December of 2024, I wrote that the Kent County Commission voted for a 25 year contract with Live Nation for events at the Amphitheater, even though Live Nation is facing a federal lawsuit for having a near monopoly on tickets sales and for jacking up the price for concert goers.
Last September we found out how much public money has been used for the amphitheater project and we learned what the ticket pricing structure would be for amphitheater events.
In March of this year it was revealed that the GRPD is using the amphitheater as another justification for their own bloated budget, since the the Amphitheater and will be paying for at least 24 GRPD cops to work the Amphitheater events, to make sure that tourists and people with money will be protected from unhoused people or political dissidents who might interrupt their plans to have dinner & drinks before attending live concerts with overpriced tickets.
Movimiento Cosecha statement on the Court’s decision to deny Byron Martinez asylum in the US
Yesterday, I wrote about the Press Conference that Movimiento Cosecha hosted on their Free Byron Campaign. After Byron had his asylum hearing with the Judge this morning, they released this statement:
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that this morning a federal judge denied Byron Martinez asylum in the United States. This decision comes after Byron spent 100 days detained at the GEO Group-owned North Lake detention center in Baldwin, Michigan.
Despite months of organizing and advocacy by Movimiento Cosecha Michigan and our partner organizations through the #FreeByron campaign, we were ultimately unable to secure Byron’s freedom. He now faces deportation back to Ecuador, the country he fled after experiencing violence and threats to his safety. Supporters fear that Byron could face continued danger upon his return.
Byron Martinez was unjustly arrested and detained in Grand Rapids in February after ICE agents, assisted by ATF and GRPD officers, stopped him and used force against him despite the fact that he had asylum documentation in his possession. Advocates maintain that had officers allowed Byron the opportunity to present his paperwork, there would have been no legal basis for his detention.
During his detention, Byron endured harsh conditions, emotional trauma, and inadequate medical care. His case became a rallying point for community members, faith leaders, immigrant advocates, and supporters who organized press conferences, vigils, legal support efforts, public pressure campaigns, and community solidarity actions demanding his release and humane treatment.
Byron’s case is one example of the cruel and punitive immigration detention system that continues to impact countless immigrant families across the United States. As an immigrant-led organization, Movimiento Cosecha remains committed to resisting ICE and fighting for dignity, respect, due process, and permanent protection for all undocumented immigrants.
We will continue organizing, advocating, and standing in solidarity with immigrant communities facing detention, deportation, and separation from their loved ones.
Abolish ICE now!
I had a chance to talk with Cosecha organizer Gema Lowe and her reaction to Judge’s decision to deny asylum to Byron.
Many Latin American countries are in a very unsafe situation. In speaking with Byron directly about keeping himself safe and his family safe in Ecuador, he told me his mother’s business was bombed in, which forced his family to relocate. This was the primary reason why he came to the US in the first place. Now he has to face this danger again, with his losing his asylum case. He and his family made the decision for him to come to the US, but in this case he has had no say in what is best for him, the US government has decided and taken away his agency as a human being. This is what injustice looks like.
Free Byron Press Conference held on the 100th day of his detention, with a judicial ruling coming tomorrow morning
Movimiento Cosecha held another Press Conference today as part of their ongoing Free Byron campaign.
May 14th marks 100 days that Byron has been at the Geo Group-owned detention center in Baldwin, Michigan. Byron was arrested on February 3rd in Grand Rapids, where ICE, in collaboration with ATF and GRPD, arrested him on false pretenses, which was the focus of a Press Conference held on February 23rd.
A spokesperson for Movimiento Cosecha stated:
Byron was never given the opportunity to identify himself or present proof of his asylum case. Instead, agents forcefully pulled him from his car and slammed him against it as he desperately pleaded to show his paperwork. Witnesses describe a terrifying scene in which Byron was then thrown onto a snowbank, his face pressed into the freezing snow so hard that he struggled to breathe.
A week into his detention at the GEO group North Lake private detention center, Byron developed a facial infection that went untreated for 9 days until Movimiento Cosecha Michigan and our allies like GR Rapid Response to ICE, community members in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo ran a campaign and a phone zap demanding the proper medical care since his face became defigure and the infections was getting to the point of live threatening. Finally he received the medication he so desperately needed and this action saved his life.
We would like to highlight that his untreated condition is not isolated and many detainees have similar instances where their lives are in danger because of the precarious conditions. People in North Lake have taken action and went on a hunger strike demanding basic human rights like access to health care, nutritious food and the due process for their civil immigration cases. Movimiento Cosecha stands in solidarity with these efforts and supports those demands that violate basic human rights.
As far as Byron immigration case, he won his Habeas Corpus case in federal court but an immigration judge denied his release on bond under the bogus accusation by ICE that Byron was resisting arrest and therefore he was a violent person but we all saw the video where ICE agents assisted by a federal ATF agent and local GRPD were violent push into a snowbank and he couldn’t breath and we could clearly see who was being violent on the video. Since then Byron has been suffering trauma and nightmares inside North Lake where his mental health has also been taking a toll with anxiety and depression.
Cosecha organizer Gema Lowe then provided a chronological list of accomplishments in the Free Byron Campaign, which included Press Conferences, an Email campaign to ICE officials, a medical care phone zap, legal representation for Byron and a court victory, a vigil, community support letters ongoing visits and other types of community support. To read about all of the efforts in the Free Byron Campaign go here.
The next person to speak was with GR Rapid Response to ICE who made three specifics points about the Byron Martinez case.
- First, that the GRPD was present at his arrest with clear evidence of GRPD collaboration. This is something that they have on video, which you can watch here.
- Second, when Byron was first arrested he was taken to the Kent County jail, and eventually transported to the Northlake Detention Processing Center. The Kent County Jail is also collaborating with ICE, by providing holds for Immigration Customs Enforcement.
- Third, Byron’s has an asylum hearing on Friday morning and if he is denied asylum, then he will be deported. This means that both the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County have played a role in Byron’s case, causing him tremendous harm and demonstrating that local government’s and local cops are complicit in the unjust deportation of immigrants that came here seeking a better life.
The last speaker was Joana from the Southwest Michigan Coalition, who stated:
Tomorrow, May 15, Byron will attend his final asylum hearing. If the judge rules against him, his future will become deeply uncertain. Byron’s case has become highly visible within his community, and the violence he once fled in Ecuador has once again resurfaced through threats directed at his family. Byron knows very well that if he returns to his home country, his life will be in danger. He has been warned that returning could cost him his life.
After enduring the unjust suffering of being detained without an arrest warrant, surviving a life-threatening medical situation inside detention, and being denied timely medical care, Byron continues to carry deep emotional and psychological trauma. The violent arrest left him traumatized, and while detained he has suffered nightmares, anxiety, and depression.
Even now, after more than 100 days in detention, Byron faces an uncertain future. If the judge denies his asylum case, he cannot safely return to Ecuador, yet he also does not know where he will be able to go or what will happen next.
Today, we are asking the community to continue standing in solidarity with Byron, to continue supporting him, and to continue lifting him up with hope and positivity as he prepares for this critical moment in his life. Tomorrow, May 15, after more than 100 days in detention, Byron will finally face the final hearing in his asylum case.
Community members who would like to support Byron and contribute toward his release can donate through:
CashApp: $kbabk888
Venmo: @kbabk888
Any amount is deeply appreciated and urgently needed.
What we learned from Mayor LaGrand’s comments after the most recent City Commission meeting about Cops and ICE
As I noted in my post about the student organized rally and the student comments during the City Commission meeting on Tuesday. much of the focus was on adopting the Cosecha sanctuary policies, demanding justice for Da’Quain Johnson and redirecting some of the $75.4 million proposed funds for the GRPD to meet community needs.
Students comments, along with other community input during the Grand Rapids City Commission was important, even if it seems as if no one was being listened to. Several of the commissioners responded at the end, although most of their comments had nothing to do and completely avoided the point that people were making around ICE, the GRPD and the City budget. However, Mayor LaGrand had plenty of to say, which is what I want to focus on in the rest of this post.
There were two overarching takeaways from what Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand had to say in his closing comments, which you can watch here, beginning at 2:38:42 into the video, making his comments about twelve and a half minutes long. The two issues we learned were that Mayor LaGrand believes that 1) the GRPD are essential to public safety and that they don’t act out of malice; and 2) the 6 sanctuary policies that Cosecha has been demanding for over 15 months, Grand Rapids is already doing them.
Before the Mayor talked about what he thinks of the GRPD and law enforcement in general, LaGrand decided to response to someone’s comment about working on police issues for a long time. LaGrand said he has been working in the “law enforcement space for 36 years,” as a lawyer, and as a state representative. LaGrand goes on to say he has worked to end mass incarceration and create a justice system that is not biased around class or race. He then said that he has yet to meet a cop who did their job out of malice.
Interesting, now I don’t recall anyone talking about cops acting out of malice, but I do remember people talking about the structural or systemic nature of policing, which has been designed to protect property, wealth and power. This has been the case since much of policing in the US can be traced back to slave patrols. Please read Kristian Williams book, Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America.
It is not about malice or the “a few bad apples” argument, it is about understand the function of policing. See my 8 part articles based on a GRIID class on the history and function of policing in the US to find more resources and analysis.
The Mayor then says that he knows that the GRPD doesn’t act out of malice because he does ride alongs on a regular basis and that they do their jobs with courage. LaGrand even states at one point that all cops are not perfect, which evades the issue that people brought up on Tuesday night and have been doing for years in response to the GRPD, which has been to critique the systemic repression coming from the GRPD. Mayor LaGrand even went so far as to apologize to the GRPD for the comments made by mostly Black and immigrant community members.
From there he talked about spending years of his life trying to make the justice system better, which was followed by a list of his accomplishments, like the concerns raised by Black and Brown was about him and what he has done. Sweet baby Jesus……
Lastly, he said that living in a world without cops is a real stretch for him when he was talking about working with domestic violence victims, meaning that cops were absolutely necessary in domestic violence situations. The Mayor’s comment on this matter flies in the face of what the group INCITE in their toolkit says – Law Enforcement Violence against Women of Color & Trans People of Color: A Critical Intersection of Gender violence & State Violence
The second major issue that Mayor LaGand responded to was the 6 sanctuary policies that Cosecha has been demanding. LaGrand essentially said that the City of Grand Rapids is already doing them all. This is instructive in that the Mayor has only recently been saying this, even though Cosecha began their campaign in January of 2025. In fact, there has been an evolution or ever changing response from Mayor LaGrand regarding the 6 sanctuary policies which I addressed in an article from this past January.
Mayor LaGrand then proceeds to read each demand and tell people how the city is already doing them. LaGrand states that since he is a lawyer he wants to address each one and then provide his own insights. I am including the six policies here below.
What is instructive about what the Mayor said is regards to most of these sanctuary policies is that the city is already doing them because “it is in the policy” or because the “Chief of Police said so.” This is no real answer since there was no document provided to verify that the GRPD or the City of Grand Rapids was already doing it. People shouldn’t take the word of anyone who is in a position of power, we should demand evidence.
When Mayor LaGrand got to the issue of the GRPD collaborating with ICE, he said they are are already doing it because the Chief of Police said so. This is despite the fact that numerous people have seen first hand accounts of the GRPD cooperating with ICE, even a documented example when Byron Martinez was arrested and a GRPD officer had their hand on Byron while ICE agents are shoving his face into a snow bank. (Pictured at the beginning of this article)
Then there was the 6th policing, which LaGrand found to be confusing and tried to give an example such as Gordon Foods having a contract with ICE to keep their vending machines full. This kind of commentary from the Mayor is unfortunately too common. What #6 is saying is that the City of Grand Rapids should not enter into any contracts with companies that also have contracts with ICE. Now, there are lots of companies that have contracts with ICE, with the largest listed here. However, there are smaller contracts, which I discovered by doing some research, which you can find here. Again, the city should not enter into contracts with companies who have contracts with ICE, a federal agency that is disappearing people for being undocumented.
Lastly, the Mayor suggested that he is willing to have a conversation with the community about this. I would support such a conversation, especially if it was outside of a commission meeting.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 