Since the shooting deaths in Minneapolis in January, federal immigration authorities, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have kept a lower profile despite clocking record arrests throughout the country.
That changed when an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7. Araujo was not wanted by immigration authorities in the lead-up to the vehicle stop that resulted in an agent shooting him in the abdomen. His brother and another passenger were arrested and detained, The New York Times reported.
The following day, federal immigration authorities arrested two people in northeast Bend, according to Central Oregon Peacekeepers, which shared photos of the arrests on social media. A representative for the Portland Immigration Rights Coalition confirmed that two people in Bend were arrested on July 8.
Activist group 50501 Central Oregon says “enough is enough.” The group is organizing a peaceful protest and vigil on July 11 at the Peace Corner in downtown Bend, beginning at 2:30 pm.
“From Houston to Central Oregon, from Minnesota to Maine to Texas, communities are living with the consequences of ICE enforcement,” organizers said in a press release. “We are gathering to say enough is enough. ICE out now. Abolish ICE everywhere.”
50501 Central Oregon is the local chapter of the national 50501 initiative, whose name is short for “50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement” and states its purpose as fighting for democracy against fascism and the billionaire class.
50501 Central Oregon organizer Dana Madison told the Source that folks who are aligned with its values yet might be hesitant to join a peaceful protest, should nonetheless give it a shot.
“There’s nothing like being able to talk with people, where you don’t have to self-filter and they understand where you’re coming from,” Madison said. “Not everyone is being callous and cold; there are other people that feel the same feelings as you.”
Organizers encourage folks taking part to bring signs and nonperishable food donations for 50501 Central Oregon’s food drive. Cash donations will go toward the effort by We Black Radio, a local Black internet radio program, to bring Malynda Hale, a singer, songwriter and activist, to town for a performance and speaking engagement.
The Central Oregon chapter has organized the weekly Defend Democracy protests since October and, notably, the No Kings rally in Drake Park on March 28. The group also led local vigils and protests of the federal immigration authorities’ shooting deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January.
“From Houston to Central Oregon: Abolish ICE Everywhere” Protest, Vigil
Saturday, July 11, 2:30-3:30pm
Downtown Peace Corner
Corner of Wall Street and Newport Avenue, Bend
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
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It would be nice if you published such articles in the online edition PRIOR to the event instead of the day after.
News outlets prefer to publish the day or days after a public event when measurable outcomes are available, to analyze the actual results, and avoid jumping to conclusions they may later have to correct or retract. Waiting allows journalists to write definitive, fact-based recaps rather than merely promoting unverified previews which is simply free advertising. Promotion of an event is the responsibility of the event organizers through their own media / social media platforms.
This was published on July 10, the day before the event.
Begs the question “What if they gave a demonstration and no one came?”
Either a day early or a day late?
Jerry Rubin, founder of the Youth International Party, maintained that standard peace rallies no longer worked (1960s).He believed the primary goal of activism was to capture television and newspaper attention through shocking, absurd, or confrontational actions. This worked only marginally before backfiring on the Yippies and others associated with them. MLK promoted direct action. King offered nonviolence was not passive; rather, it required aggressive, active resistance to evil. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, MLK praised the “sublime courage” and “amazing discipline” of nonviolent demonstrators in the face of provocation.
A day early or a day late – meaningless if your message fails to deliver.
“The 50501 moderators also partnered with Political Revolution, a PAC and volunteer-only activist organization founded out of the conclusion of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016.” – USA Today, February 5, 2025
50501 is a political movement which piggy-backs off of formally organized and often legally registered like entities such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) which has a Bend chapter. 50501 lacks a formal infrastructure, has a history of operational shortcomings, and is far more symbolic in its rhetoric and events than anything else.
Plus, it sends conflicting messages regarding its events. For example, asking for donations…asking for food…asking for donations to bring an entertainer to town. This is skewed messaging and may explain why 25-35 people actually showed up for an hour on the corner.
And it is impossible in 2026 to re-invent the counterculture / New Left movements of the 1960s which rallied behind the antiwar movement (Vietnam) in specific with supporting social issues and leadership coming from multiple segments of American society. In addition, political violence as promoted and actioned by organizations such as the Students for a Democratic Society, the Weather Underground, the American Indian Movement, the Black Panther Party, and SNCC to name a few enjoyed financial, training, advisory guidance and direction, and more from Russia, Cuba, North Vietnam, and China.
Today “the movement” sees the same overseas players but at the forefront are billionaires on the Left pitting their money and resources against billionaires in the middle or on the Right – as well as millionaires who see themselves as somehow financially apart from the billionaires they rail against.
Where President John F. Kennedy offered “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” – Che Guevara’s doctrine taught “To foment one [revolution]…an armed vanguard of dedicated guerrillas must take direct action to catalyze change, famously noting that “it is not necessary to wait until all conditions for making a revolution exist; the insurrection can create them”.
History shows us that Powers greater than presidents and revolutionaries oft determine what will be. Kennedy was assassinated by his own countrymen. Che, whose only successful revolution was Cuba, failed in Africa and was compromised, captured, and assassinated in Bolivia while Fidel Castro turning a blind eye to his former comrade in arms.
Insurrection is a dangerous business.
What then is 50501 and other like organizations today? As Mao Zedong termed them they are paper tigers that appear threatening but are entirely powerless in practice.
“You say you’ll change the constitution
Well, you know
We’d all love to change your head
You tell me it’s the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead” – “Revolution”, The Beatles