50501 Iowa Coalition Newsletter

Click below for a list of Iowa No Kings events

January ReCap - Cedar Rapids

On January 3rd, we were able to collect clothing for two local shelters, Willis Dady here in Cedar Rapids and Shelter House in Iowa City. Also, we were able to provide coats, gloves, hats, and sweatshirts to community members who visited the library during our event. We ended up donating 10 Coats, 5 sweatpants, and 20 jeans to Willis Dady. Our community provided 10 coats, 45 sweatshirts, 3 hats, 5 pairs of boots, and 50 articles of children's clothing to Shelter House. (Only certain items were requested by each organization. If both shelters requested an item, we split the items we collected in half.)

Thank you, to everyone who donated and showed care for our community members!

January 3rd was also the day that Donald Trump bombed Venezuela, kidnapped their president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores. These attacks are a blatant violation of international law as well as human decency. We responded to this administration's horrendous actions with a 'Pop Up' demonstration on Jan 4th, to raise awareness to this issue and educate members of our community. Although it was short notice and cold, we had 10s of people joined us at the corner of 8th Ave SE and 2nd St SE to say "HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!" and to say that Iowans will not tolerate another pointless War for Oil.

Sadly, on January 7th, 2026, Renee Nicole Good was murdered by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, MN. The next morning (01/08), community members gathered at the DHS Office in Cedar Rapids to say we want ICE OUT OF IOWA AND MINNESOTA! But ICE was not done.

On January 24th, 2026, Alex Pretti, a VA Nurse was murdered AFTER being disarmed from his lawful C.C. He was unarmed, restrained by several ICE officers after going to the aid of a women who was violently shoved down by an ICE agent.

Due to the increased violence, 50501 Iowa Coalition and Linn County Visibility Brigade hosted a candlelight vigil on January 25th, to honor and remember the six individuals who had been recently murdered by ICE. Even with the extremely cold temperatures, over a hundred people gathered to mourn the loss of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends and neighbors due to ICE violence. We mourned the safety we once felt in our communities and neighborhoods. We mourned the loss of a country we all call home. We also discussed ways to protect our community members here in Eastern Iowa. If possible, please attend a Know Your Rights Training hosted by Escucha Mi Voz or Iowa MMJ. This will help prepare you for when ICE comes to your workplace, home, or community spaces. Additionally, keep an eye out for rallies at the ICE/DHS office in Cedar Rapids. Community presence at the office helps to prevent our neighbors from "disappearing". The more we have eyes on ICE, the better we protect our neighbors.

At our January 25th vigil, we remembered the following six individuals who were recently murdered by ICE.

Francisco Gaspar-Andres

Died December 3, 2025

Keith Porter Jr.

Died 31, 2025

Geraldo Lunas Campos

Died January 3, 2026

Renee Nicole Good

Died January 7, 2026

Victor Manuel Diaz

Died January 14, 2026

Alex Pretti

Died January 24, 2026

At the very end of the month, 50501 Iowa Coalition organizers supported the student led walkout at Coe College here in Cedar Rapids by providing marshals and medics. Its incredibly inspiring to see students exercising their constitutional rights during a time when those very rights are being threatened. People within the community came out to support the students in their quest to be heard, as well. Their support of our youth is greatly appreciated!

March Recap

Friends and neighbors, thank you for joining us on March 1st to grieve as a community for all those lost in the last year at that hands of ICE and the cruel leadership currently in control of our nation. On Sunday March 1st, we mourned and remembered 77 people who were mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, and more who share one key thing - they didn't deserve to die. Unfortunately, we do not know the names of all 77 of these individuals, and we may never learn them. In honor of those fourteen individuals, and all other unknown people who have died because of ICE, we created a wreath to honor and remember them. We ask all Iowans to take action to help get ICE out of Iowa. Start locally. Hold your elected officials accountable when they are silent about the injustices that immigrants face from ICE and this administration.

Are you in a county that houses ICE detainees in the county jail? You should wonder why your county supervisors allow your county to profit off of peoples' pain. Are the detainees living in humane conditions? In Linn County they are NOT! Activists have been working to contact detainees in the Linn County Jail to offer them support, they have learned that the conditions are inhumane. The jail is overcrowded, people are sleeping on the floor, the phone system is often not working properly, they're not allowed visitors, the temperatures are cold and many are sick, they're not offered translation services, they don't know what they can do to get out.

 If you are in a county that has an ICE office, another way you can show up for immigrants is to gather community members at the office to accompany immigrants to their mandatory check-ins. You can remind them not to sign anything, and you can keep track of who comes out and who possibly has been detained.

Please keep in eye on 50501 Iowa Coalitions Social Media page for information about protective accompaniments, ICE Out Vigils, and more ways to get ICE Out of Iowa. Please also check out Escucha Mi Voz, Iowa City Catholic Worker House, and Advocates for Social Justice for more ways to help protect our immigrant friends, family, and neighbors in Cedar Rapids.

Future

Please join 50501 Iowa Coalition's Cedar Rapids chapter on March 29th at 6:30 pm on Mays Island to remember and honor the 79 people we have lost to the violence and cruelty of ICE since January 2025. 15 people have already been murdered in 2026. This number will continue to climb as long as ICE is allowed to continue their violent rhetoric unchecked. We, the people, have to make it clear that any life lost is unacceptable. We believe that the only path forward includes ABOLISHING ICE and PROSECUTING the agents responsible for these deaths.

In loving memory of the lives lost too soon,

1/16/2025 Unnamed Honduran Man

1/20/2025 Felix Bauckholt

1/23/2025 Genry Donaldo Ruiz Guillien

1/29/2025 Serswit Gezahegn DeJene

2/20/2025 Maksym Chernyak

2/23/2025 Juan Alexis Tineo-Martinez

3/10/2025 Unnamed Woman

3/10/2025 Unnamed Person

3/15/2025 Ruben Ray Martinez

3/28/2025 Elena Catarina Morales-Chan

3/28/2025 Enrique Juan Tizol Macario

3/29/2025 Unnamed Chinese Woman

3/31/2025 Unnamed Man

4/8/2025 Brayan Rayo-Garzon

4/16/2025 Nhon Ngoc Nguyen

4/25/2025 Marie Ange Blaise

5/5/2025 Abelardo Avellena-Delgado

6/7/2025 Jesus Molina-Veya

6/15/2025 Unnamed Guatemalan Man

6/23/2025 Johnny Noviello

6/26/2025 Isidro Perez

6/27/2025 Unnamed Man

7/7/2025 Ryan Louis Mosqueda

7/12/2025 Jaime Alanis

7/19/2025 Tien Xuan Phan

8/5/2025 Chaofeng Ge

8/14/2025 Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez

8/17/2025 Unnamed Ecuadorian Woman

8/30/2025 Unnamed Mexican Man

8/31/2025 Lorenzo Antonio Batres Vargas

9/8/2025 Oscar Rascon Duarte

9/12/2025 Silverio Villegas Gonzalez

9/18/2025 Santos Reyes-Banegas

9/20/2025 Trinn A. Hatch

9/22/2025 Ismael Ayala-Uribe

9/23/2025 Yahir David Martinez

9/24/2025 Unnamed Mexican Man

9/24/2025 Norlan Guzman-Fuentes

9/29/2025 Huabing Xie

9/30/2025 Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez

10/2025 Estikakur Rahman

10/4/2025 Leo Cruz-Silva

10/4/2025 Unnamed Mexican Woman

10/11/2025 Hasan Ali Moh'D Saleh

10/13/2025 Unnamed Cuban Woman

10/13/2025 Axel Everado Iquic-Sequen

10/13/2025 Manuel Mateo Lopez

10/23/2025 Gabriel Garcia-Aviles

10/23/2025 Jose Castro-Rivera

10/25/2025 Kai Yin Wong

11/14/2025 Bartolo Baltazar Baltazar

11/14/2025 Epifanio Molina Bravo

11/14/2025 Hector Lopez Lopez

11/14/2025 Unknown

12/3/2025 Francisco Gaspar-Andres

12/5/2025 Pete Sumalo Montejo

12/6/2025 Shiraz Fatehali Sachwani

12/11/2025 Isaias Sanchez Barboza

12/12/2025 Jean Wilson Brutus

12/14/2025 Delvin Francisco Rodriguez

12/14/2025 Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir

12/15/2025 Nenko Stanev Gantchev

12/26/2025 Unnamed Mexican Man

12/31/2025 Keith Porter Jr.

1/3/2026 Geraldo Lunas Campos

1/5/2026 Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres

1/6/2026 Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz

1/7/2026 Renee Nicole Good

1/9/2026 Parady La

1/14/2026 Victor Manuel Diaz

1/14/2026 Heber Sanchez Dominguez

1/23/2026 Wael Tarabishi

1/24/2026 Alex Pretti

2/16/2026 Lorth Sim

2/16/2026 Jairo Garcia-Hernandez

2/16/2026 Dr. Linda Davis

2/24/2026 Nurul Amin Shah Alam

2/27/2026 Alberto Gutierrez-Reyes

3/2/2026 Emmanuel Damas⁩

See you there!