Hundreds of people showed up in downtown Brookings on Monday night to attend a candlelight vigil to honor those who lost their lives protesting the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis.

Over 300 people attended the vigil that was organized 24 hours in advance by Brookings Area Indivisible (BAI), a nonpartisan, nonviolent group that says it aims to support pro-democracy efforts.

Attendees assembled in front of the Brookings Post Office with candles and signs. BAI organizers led the group in singing two non religious songs called “Gentle Angry People” and “Hold On,” as well as chanting the names of ICE victims Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti many times throughout the event. The crowd also chanted phrases like “no peace, no justice,” and “stand ready, be good.”

“At my core, I hate that we have to do this,” said Craig Jorgensen, a co-chair on multiple subcommittees for BAI. “I hate that this is a thing we’re doing. It’s bolstering to know that there are people who care, who have basic empathy … it seems like that’s where we’re at. I really feel like we’re at a point where you either have empathy or you don’t.”

During and after the event, vigil attendees congregated across the street at Cottonwood Coffee, where BAI gave them each an opportunity to sign letters addressed to U.S. Sen. John Thune. Over 280 letters were signed, detailing numerous grievances regarding the Trump administration and what organizers see as Thune’s complacency, asking where Thune will draw his “red line.”

In addition, each letter gave the signer an opportunity to write their thoughts on these issues and state where their “red line” was.

Passersby in vehicles showed their support for the cause by honking and waving to the crowd, to which the crowd reciprocated. Signs delivered a variety of messages, such as “Let’s Love One Another Now!” and “As you do to the least, you do to me,” and “NO ICE” spelled out via individually lettered signs.

“Civic engagement is one of the biggest ways that anyone can make an impact in their community,” said SDSU freshman political science major Isabelle Weller. “I think that in our current state of the U.S., there are people who are senselessly throwing away our Constitution and doing unlawful actions, and we need to bring attention to it if we want any reform to happen. No one is safe at the current rate that we are going.”

Brookings Area Indivisible was founded in March 2025 in response to policies passed by the Trump administration, according to co-founder and co-leader Brenda Andersen. The group holds weekly meetings to organize informative events, promote networking resources for immigrants in the U.S. and more.

“It’s really about saving our democracy,” Andersen said. “We’re seeing our rights being taken away. Things like white supremacy are really concerning, and we’re seeing them come back. It’s almost like we’re going backwards.”