Billings, MT protest demands justice for Alex Pretti, no cooperation with ICE

Billings, MT – The Billings Alliance for Immigrant Rights held a protest at the Yellowstone County Courthouse on Thursday, January 29 in honor of Alex Pretti, who was murdered by Customs and Border Protection agents in Minneapolis. Over 100 people turned out to support BAIR’s demands that the Billings police department not sign a 287(g) agreement, justice for all victims of ICE terror, and legalization for all.

The Trump administration has praised the federal agents for their crimes and labeled civilians who fight back as “terrorists.” While the rally was called to protest the injustice of Alex Pretti’s murder, BAIR shared other stories of victims of state-sanctioned violence.

“Silverio Villegas Gonzales was a father with three children who was shot by an ICE agent in Chicago after dropping his kids off from school. The DHS tried to justify the execution by claiming self-defense. Bodycam footage and eyewitness testimony contradicted this lie!” BAIR co-founder Andreas Storey stated.

The protest received support from the Billings chapter of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. MMIP advocacy involves highlighting indigenous people who have gone missing or been murdered without their cases resolved. The work to investigate these cases has been stalled by the Trump Administration, notably its removal of the “Not Invisible Act Commission” report from the DOJ website.

The founder of MMIP Billings, Charlene ‘Charli’ Sleeper, told the crowd, “ICE and Border Patrol both have innocent U.S. citizen blood on their hands because they’re poorly trained and overcompensated for incompetent work. We need to call for Kristie Noem to be removed from her position in DHS and improved funding dedicated to missing and murdered indigenous peoples. Yet here we are spending billions on ICE instead.”

Across from the protest, three men stood cosplaying as ICE agents: faces covered, bulletproof vests and tactical-style gear, each with a visibly holstered firearm. A segment of the rallygoers crossed the road to disrupt the counter-protest. Brooke Lynn, of Billings held a sign that said “Fuck ICE! Say no!” in front of the ICE supporters.

“We showed them a picture of Liam Ramos, the five-year-old from Minneapolis, they said it was AI. There was no reasoning with them. I concluded that you can’t argue with people in cults, so we shamed them and covered their signs with ours,” Lynn explained.

On that side of the road sits City Hall, which has been eyed by Billings residents as a place to demand change. Since the murders of Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti, community members have been attending city council meetings to demand that local law enforcement do not sign a 287(g) agreement with ICE.

On January 26, Helena, the state’s capital city, passed a resolution that proactively limited Helena PD’s cooperation with ICE. This resolution specifically instructed Helena police to not enter a 287(g) agreement and not to stop, investigate, detain, or arrest anyone based on their suspected immigration status.

BAIR is demanding that a similar resolution be passed in the city of Billings immediately. Lain Dorsey, a BAIR co-founder said, “Council member Kendra Shaw claims that ‘state law prohibits Billings from enacting local ordinances limiting ICE.’ Well Helena just proved that that is bullshit! So the Billings city council needs to take action now!”

The Billings Alliance for Immigrant Rights will be mobilizing community members to the Billings City Council meeting on Monday, February 9 at 5:30 p.m. to demand that Billings PD does not cooperate with ICE. Stay updated by following BAIR on Facebook or Instagram @billings_air.

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