Over the past year, the intersection of the Sterling and Kenai Spur highways in Soldotna has become a sort-of town square for protests and political demonstrations. That was the case Sunday, when hundreds of people stood in freezing temperatures to protest what they say is the overreach of federal immigration authorities, especially amid recent violence in Minneapolis.
Sunday’s protest came almost three weeks after immigration officers shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a nurse with a Minneapolis veteran’s hospital. Pretti’s death was captured on cell phone videos and is now the subject of a federal civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Pretti is one of multiple people shot and killed by immigration officers in the last six months amid a nationwide immigration crackdown by the White House. Along with Pretti, the shooting death of Renee Macklin Good, also in Minneapolis last month, sparked nationwide demonstrations against operations by Immigration Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Multiple signs held by Soldotna protestors overtly referenced the deaths of Good and Pretti. One held by a man who asked to be identified only by his first name, Rob, included a still image from the cell phone video of Pretti’s death.
“In bold letters on the top, it says, ‘Justice for Alex Pretti,’” he said. “There's an image on one side. It's an image from WWII – it's the Nazi Gestapo assassinating a Jewish man in cold blood, very much, very similar to what happened last week with ICE assassinating Alex Pretti. The images are superimposed on each other. They're back to back, so you kind of see the resemblance.”
Rob says there’s truth to the familiar adage – that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, and that Pretti’s death echoes the early days of Nazi Germany. He says ICE operations prioritize "roughhousing" over targeted immigration reform.
“I don't think we need them in this country,” he said. “Immigrants offer more than what they take away.”
As protestors arrived at the intersection Sunday, a Walgreens employee turned cars away from the store’s parking lot due to capacity.
Seventeen-year-old Dianna Wright parked across the street. She arrived at the protest shortly after it started, holding a sign that said, “Love Your Neighbor As Yourself.” Wright says she moved to Alaska from Minnesota, where she says she also protested after the police killing of George Floyd.
“Even in a small town like this, I think it's good to get out and show what matters, which is standing up for what you believe in,” she said.
On the whole, the Kenai Peninsula is a reliably Republican area, with a majority of voters favoring the Trump/Vance ticket in 2024. But the first year of Trump’s term has been marked by a smattering of demonstrations opposing federal policies, from Seward, to Soldotna to Homer.
Last spring, immigration officers arrested and deported a Soldotna business owner who the federal government accused of being in the United States illegally. Francisco Rodriguez-Rincon owned Senor Panchors Mexican Restaurant in Soldotna and was moved to multiple ICE facilities before being deported to Mexico.
Gracie Oseuk was protesting for the first time and said people should come together around their shared humanity.
“Hearing about everything that's been going on is so heartbreaking, and having, like, just trying to imagine what it's like for the families of the people who have been hurt and, like, just the kids that get disconnected from things that they know, it's so heartbreaking,” she said. “And we just, we need to see some change. We need to do something different.”
Oseuk, like some others, was holding a handmade sign. There’s a handful spread out on slushy snow berms, available to anyone who wants one. They’re far from the only symbols of protest, though. Some attendees are wearing red knit caps, which have experienced a resurgence of popularity and have roots in Norwegian resistance to Nazi occupation.
And mingling with the sound of traffic through the busy intersection was the sound of whistles. Those have also become a symbol of ICE resistance – including elsewhere in Alaska.
Marianna Macomber was wearing a red plastic whistle around her neck. She says the small noisemaker is a peaceful way to get people’s attention. She wants Congress to defund ICE and for more people to oppose injustice regardless of political party.
“I am just appalled at the presence of ICE and the negativity and the murders and that people can actually drive by and think that it's justified,” she said. “I just am – I'm just in awe, in a bad way, of how this has come so fast, and I'm really fearful of the next three years.”
Criticism of ICE on the central Kenai Peninsula hasn’t been contained to the highway intersection. Last month, Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly member Cindy Ecklund, who was born and raised in Minnesota, condemned ICE operations in the Midwest.
“It’s been a hard couple of weeks watching what is happening there,” she said. “I personally called our federal legislators and asked them to filibuster the upcoming Homeland Security appropriations bill, unless there is significant changes to how ICE operates so they aren't behaving like lawless thugs. Congress needs to step up and use its power in the constitution to rein in change, defund or abolish ICE.”
As of 1:30 p.m. Monday, the federal government is partially shutdown due in part to Congressional disagreements over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.
Back at the intersection, Steve Ford called the Trump Administration “disappointing since day one.” He’s participated in other protests over the last year and says he’s particularly frustrated with Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan for failing to speak out against Trump policies. Ford says the Obama administration deported more people than Trump, but without the “chaos.”
“No matter how many people show up in all the cities, Trump and Stephen Miller aren't going to change their tactics,” he said. “They're convinced they're right in the direction they're going. But what we got to do is attack the people that are cheerleading him on or not saying anything.”
Alaska’s two U.S. Senators have backed some elements of compromise legislation. Specifics haven’t been made public, but may make funding contingent on de-escalation training for ICE agents, on warrant requirements for agents entering someone’s home and on an end to roving patrols.
A U.S. House vote on the legislation is expected Tuesday, which could end the partial shutdown.
