By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
About 90 people gathered Sunday afternoon at the corner of 27th and Vine in Hays to protest ICE deportation efforts and clashes with protestors in Minneapolis.
Some of the protesters specifically focused on the recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents.
Pastor Ben Houchen of Hays did not refer to the event as a protest but rather as an assembly to promote national unity.
"We are coming together for a better America than what we are devolving into," he said. "I think, at this point, this is beyond politics. This is about humanity, how we're going to live in this world together as humans."
Stephanie Pfannenstiel is a former Fort Hays State University student who traveled from Great Bend to Hays for the protest.
"I'm protesting ICE's policies, particularly the Kavanaugh stops and the Supreme Court's decision that race, language and place of employment are reasons to detain people and determine later immigration status," she said.
Mary Turner, a registered Republican from Hays, said, "This is John Brown's Kansas. ICE has no business in our state."
John Brown was a famous abolitionist in Kansas before the Civil War. Brown was captured and executed in Virginia for leading a violent raid and inciting a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859.
She chanted through a bullhorn, "If you can be shot for protesting, you do not have the right to protest. ... If you can be shot for being legally armed, you do not have the right to bear arms."
Charles Brown Jr., a Vietnam veteran from Planville, said, "As a veteran, I didn't sign up for this. ICE is violating Constitutional rights every damn day."
Ainsley Lenays of Hays said, "What ICE has been doing is just completely unacceptable. What I have seen in videos and from people in Minnesota is the exact same thing that was done in Germany."
Lenays' family came from Germany and is ethnically Jewish.
"I very strongly believe we are repeating history, and we have to fight back. Because even if it's not me in trouble right now, it's not going to stop with just one group."
Sherri Truan said, "Our country is in a sad state of affairs and being run by a bunch of psychopaths and terrorists. It's the new Gestapo. It's 1930s Germany.
"We're losing America. We got to be out here. We got to be loud to let people know," she said. "Things are not right in America right now. The whole world sees it. Why doens't our government see it? Why doesn't our Congress? What is taking them so long to take action?
"I'm not going to be scared off by this," Truan said. "This is the time to be wary, but not be afraid. This is our country. This is what it was founded on—freedom, free speech, not worrying about getting shot because we went to protest. No, that's not America. That's why I'm out here. I'm trying to save what we got left."
Anna Towns, chairwoman of the Ellis County Democratic Party, helped organize the protest.
"I was reached out to by several community members who wanted to be out here today to let people know we do care about our neighbors and that the behaviors that ICE is exhibiting are completely unacceptable," she said.
"Our rights are being trampled on. If we don't stand up now, it will soon be too late. I think it is important for people in rural areas to know they are not alone in that opinion."
She said more people were driving by, honking and giving them thumbs up, than at past protests.
"We think people are coming around on this issue and are excited to be together in community to stand up for our neighbors," she said.