What we are witnessing is not normal, and we cannot allow it to become normalized. The deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffery Pretti, both U.S. citizens, have shaken our communities and strained public trust in the institutions meant to protect us. Just months before, right here in Illinois, Silverio Villegas González, died at the hands of ICE agents despite having no criminal record. Families are grieving not only the loss of life, but the loss of truth, accountability, and basic human rights.
America’s strength rests on a simple principle: constitutional rights apply to everyone, and government power must be wielded with transparency and bound by the rule of law. When masked federal agents operate without accountability and officials spread narratives that contradict eyewitness accounts, our democracy is weakened, and worse still, our neighbors’ lives are endangered.
And yet, in this moment of pain, we also see courage. In Minneapolis and across the country, communities are gathering peacefully, choosing care over chaos, and standing up for one another. This is what democracy looks like when people refuse to turn away.
This is a MAYDAY for American democracy, a call to tell the truth, to protect constitutional rights, and to reaffirm our shared humanity.
We call on our communities to:
• Engage locally. Grassroots organizing, from rapid response networks in your city or town to signing petitions like this one, which demands the ICE Chicago Field Office release Federico Alexis Alcantar from detention, puts the power to affect change directly in the hands of the people.
• Continue exercising your constitutional rights peacefully, to show up, to speak out, and to demand accountability from elected leaders. We urge you to contact your U.S. Senators and tell them to vote NO on the DHS funding bill.
• Support organizations doing the daily work of protection and care, including The Resurrection Project and our partners, who provide legal defense, rapid response, and community support for families living in fear.
