‘Today it’s our family. Tomorrow it can be another’: Hundreds rally to demand release of man violently seized by ICE in Iowa City

Hundreds of people crowded around the stage on the Ped Mall late on Friday morning to rally in support of Jorge Elieser González Ochoa, the Iowa City resident violently seized by ICE agents as he was working at the nearby Bread Garden Market on Thursday morning, a little over 24 hours earlier. He requires medical attention, according to speakers at the rally, though it’s unclear if he has received any since his detention in Cedar Rapids.

González, who is from Colombia, came to Iowa City in November 2024 and lives at the Catholic Worker House with his partner and their baby son. He was busy working in Bread Garden’s outside dining area when he was approached by plainclothes agents, not displaying badges or any other form of ID. The agents grabbed González, who pulled away from them and retreated into Bread Garden. Video taken by bystanders show a visibly frightened González calling out for help in Spanish. 

The agents pursued him into the store, where their actions were caught on video taken by customers. Two agents tackle González and hold him down on the floor, one of them kneeling on his head. At one point while they struggle to handcuff the panicked González, the agent kneeling on his head unholsters a Taser and turns it on. Onlookers shout at him not to use the Taser, and he doesn’t. They also demand the men holding González down to identify themselves, and eventually one says they are “federal agents,” but doesn’t elaborate beyond that. 

Members of Escucha Mi Voz (EMV), a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of and assists immigrants, recognized one of the aggressors as Billy Walker, an ICE agent from the ICE field office in Cedar Rapids.

After the agents finish handcuffing González, they march him to the store’s rear entrance and force him into an unmarked minivan with Linn County plates. González continues to shout for help the whole time. According to the inmate roster of the Linn County Correctional Facility, Gonzalez is being held there on immigration detainer issued by ICE. 

As of Friday afternoon, ICE had not issued any statements about the seizure and detention of González, who had no criminal record and regularly checked in with immigration authorities.

González was preparing to file for asylum. He was enrolled in ICE’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program, which allowed him to remain free until the final disposition of his immigration case. As part of ATD, he attended scheduled appointments with ICE and was also required to wear a monitoring device on his ankle. Agents would have known exactly where he was when they decided to seize him at one of the most popular eating spots on the Ped Mall just before the daily lunch rush began. 

“ICE’s actions were reckless and disgraceful. Jorge has committed no crime,” Alejandra Escobar of EMV said at the beginning of the rally. “Jorge has done nothing wrong. Immigrants deserve to live with dignity and justice.”

“This time of aggressive and belligerent kidnapping in broad daylight is not an isolated incident. This has been happening in Iowa. It’s becoming normal, a common thing.” 

González and his partner are members of EMV, which organized the rally on Friday that featured local elected officials, members of the clergy from many denominations, and González’s partner and mother-in-law. His infant son, who was born in Iowa, was also present. 

“We condemn the excessive force that was used yesterday with Jorge,” Escobar said. “We demand his freedom now. President Trump is driving the attacks on our immigrant families. And we call on Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson to stop letting Trump and ICE trample over our immigrant families.”

Eva Castro, González’s mother-in-law, who is also from Colombia, talked about how she felt seeing the videos of the agents subduing González. 

“What happened was so violent,” she said through an interpreter. “It is so hard to see the videos, the trauma that was endured.”

“We’re feeling upset,” she continued. “We left our country, we left persecution, we left violence and we’re supposed to be here in a safe space.”

She emphasized that, “Jorge wasn’t doing anything wrong to bring on this kind of treatment.”

Castro thanked the hundreds who had gathered on the Ped Mall. 

“I’m grateful for every one of you who have shown up,” she said. “Whatever identity that you bring, we know that we’re stronger together.”

Standing together is important to ensure justice for immigrants and to protect everyone’s rights, she said. 

“Today it’s our family. Tomorrow it can be another family. But together we will win.”

Laura Castro, González’s partner, showed the emotional strain from the previous 24 hours as she took the microphone and spoke. Her words were also translated for the crowd by a member of EMV. 

“It’s sad to see these videos, to see his face and how he looks so scared, when these officers who are not identifying themselves are kidnapping him,” Laura said. “He’s not a criminal, he’s not a bad person. He was simply working for his home, for his family, so that we could have a better life.”

“I feel lonely here today just with my son, when I thought that we’d be together as a family and raise him together,” she continued. “We came here to find better opportunities, but they just separate us from our families.”

“I’m here today because I don’t want this to happen again.” she said. “I want them to stop violating our rights as immigrants. I’m asking all of you to come together, that we unite, so that this doesn’t happen to other families.”

“Jorge came to Iowa just last November to reunite with his family, and to contribute to our community,” Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague told the crowd. “He has no criminal record, his baby boy is a U.S. citizen. He was not taken from a dark alley, not from a hidden corner, but in broad daylight in the middle of a grocery store, where families, children, were shopping.”

“This was not routine enforcement. It was aggressive and it was uncalled for. They knew where he was. He’d been attending all of the immigration appointments. They knew where he was. He was at work.”

“We’re now learning that he needs medical attention, and we’re calling upon them to give it to him now,” Teague added. 

Like other speakers at the rally, Teague called for González to be released, so he can return to his family. And like other speakers, he called on Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Rep. Ashley Hinson to help with González’s case and to work to protect the rights of immigrants. ICE seems unlikely to comply with the first request, and Miller-Meeks and Hinson are even more unlikely to abide. 

Hinson, whose congressional district includes Cedar Rapids, where the eastern Iowa ICE field office is and where Gonzalez is being held, is currently running for the U.S. Senate. She has repeatedly expressed support for President Trump’s mass deportation program and his administration’s aggressive use of ICE. She has not commented on ICE’s actions in Iowa City.

Miller-Meeks, whose district includes Iowa City, hasn’t commented on it either. But on Thursday afternoon, about two hours after ICE’s seizure of González became known and videos of the violence were circulating online, Miller-Meeks did post about ICE on her campaign X account. The three-term congressmember denounced people using harsh language about ICE and declared, “ICE officers are heroes protecting our country, and I will always stand with them against the reckless, dangerous attacks.”

Assaults on our Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are up 1000%.

Calling LEO’s “members of the Gestapo” and threatening the lives of them or their families because they are doing their jobs following the law and deporting illegal aliens is unconscionable.

ICE…

— Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (@RepMMM) September 25, 2025

There were no Republicans among the many elected officials who stood on the stage Friday. 

State Rep. Elinor Levin said the actions of ICE and the failure of elected representatives like Miller-Meeks and Hinson to protect basic rights makes her “feel sick.”

“All I want to say is that that sickness in my gut is because I feel powerless, when my federal counterparts are not only watching this happen and refusing to speak on behalf of my neighbors and our collective constituents — they want it,” Levin continued. “They are voting for it, they are fighting to see our community torn apart, and it makes me sick.”

But Levin, whose Iowa House district covers south and western Iowa City, as well as University Heights, said it was “amazing” and encouraging that so many people turned out in the middle of a weekday to support Jorge González, just 24 hours after agents had slammed him to the floor, before forcing him into an unmarked vehicle. 

Levin also read a statement from state Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner. The Iowa City Democrat intended to speak at the rally, but was unable to attend. Weiner’s message focused on how ICE’s actions appear to violate the due process guaranteed to everyone by the U.S. Constitution. 

“When law enforcement — or apparent law enforcement — arrives in plainclothes with no name badges, no bodycams, no visible badges, when they do not announce themselves, have no judicial warrant, have to be asked repeatedly to identify themselves, and grab someone violently, endangering others as well, that puts every one of us at risk,” Weiner said through Levin. 

She added, “Yesterday’s actions appear designed to anger and incite this community.”

Jon Green’s message about ICE was more blunt.

“Fuck ICE,” the chair of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors said. “That is the moderate position, that is the baseline, that is the very minimum. Afterwards, we need to prosecute these folks.”

Like Levin, Green saw the unity being displayed on the Ped Mall as an important first step to holding ICE accountable. 

As might be expected from a member of the clergy, Pastor Ryan Downing of Faith United Church of Christ in Iowa City took a somewhat different approach than Green when he spoke at the rally, although he did use sharp language to denounce ICE’s “Gestapo tactics.”

“Make no mistake about it, the kind of force that was used yesterday was meant to do one thing: sow fear. … To sow fear in our immigrant neighbors, to sow fear in us,” he said. “Well, in the scriptures of my tradition, we have a simple piece of wisdom when powers of discord and violence are ascendant. Be not afraid.”

“Take courage, be not afraid. And so, let’s let them know … we will not disappear into the shadows, we will do everything we can to keep people like Jorge from being disappeared and torn away from their loving family.” 

As the rally came to a close after almost an hour, Alejandra Escobar encouraged people to join EMV in front of the Cedar Rapids ICE office on Square D Drive SW, to support immigrants as they go into office for scheduled check-ins. 

“Seven-thirty a.m.” she said. “Wake up early.” 

October, Escobar said, is No ICE Month.

See more photos from the rally: