A separate protest at Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., runs from noon to 1 p.m.
The NAACP Pasadena Branch is organizing a 6:30 p.m. demonstration at Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave.
Both events reflect coordinated actions in more than 250 locations across 46 states, according to organizers at nationalshutdown.org.
The protests cap an intense week of local organizing. On Monday, nearly 800 people packed All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena for a community defense training session—organizers had expected only 100 to 200 attendees. On Wednesday, approximately 150 protesters gathered outside Robinson Park Recreation Center during Mayor Victor Gordo’s State of the City address.
Brandon Lamar, president of the NAACP Pasadena Branch, announced the City Hall demonstration on social media this week. “DENA! Join us for a public demonstration against ICE and this administration,” Lamar wrote. “We need ICE out of our communities. The Terror in our communities need to STOP!”
Lamar said the demonstration will also address the Trump administration’s announced plans regarding Eaton Fire recovery. “We are also standing against the Trump administration announcing taking over the REBUILD of our community,” he said, according to a post attributed to him.
The nationwide shutdown follows the fatal shootings of four people by federal immigration agents in recent months. Renée Good, a 37-year-old American mother of three, was killed on January 7 by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Alex Pretti, also 37 and an intensive care nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital, was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents on January 24 in Minneapolis while filming the encounter on his phone. Two others—Silverio Villegas González near Chicago and Keith Porter Jr. in Los Angeles—were also killed by federal agents.
Organizers nationwide are calling for economic disruption: no work, no school, and no shopping. “The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country—to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN,” according to the nationalshutdown.org website.
In his State of the City address Wednesday, Mayor Victor Gordo acknowledged community fears following local ICE activity. “To everyone in our city, especially those who still feel afraid or targeted, know that you belong here,” Gordo said. The mayor referenced the January 7 arrest of José Madera, director of the Pasadena Community Job Center, who was cited for a misdemeanor after following and documenting an ICE vehicle in northwest Pasadena.
Pasadena has hosted several large demonstrations in recent months. On January 10, more than 1,000 people gathered at Garfield Avenue and Colorado Boulevard as part of a nationwide “ICE Out for Good” weekend of action, according to San Gabriel Foothills Indivisible, which organized that protest.
Organizers have emphasized peaceful protest. San Gabriel Foothills Indivisible, which has organized previous Pasadena protests, emphasizes nonviolent protest protocols and maintains regular contact with Pasadena Police and City Hall to coordinate logistics, according to organizers.
Additional protests are scheduled throughout Los Angeles County on Friday, including at Los Angeles City Hall at 1 p.m., the ICE Detention Center downtown at 3 p.m., Monrovia Library Park at 5 p.m., and Burbank City Hall at 12:30 p.m., according to LAist.
EVENT DETAILS:
Pasadena City College Protest
Friday, January 30, noon to 1 p.m.
1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena
NAACP Pasadena Branch Demonstration
Friday, January 30, 6:30 p.m.
Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave., Pasadena
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