A large crowd of several hundred people gathered in downtown Pensacola on Monday afternoon in protest of ICE and its actions in Minnesota.

As the sun set over MLK Plaza, protestors had spilled out of the park and to three of the corners surrounding Palafox and Garden streets. Many holding signs, some chanting, the message was the same—get rid of ICE.

“We’re out here today in rejection of the violence happening in Minnesota between ICE and working class people,” said volunteer Dashawn McKenzie with the Pensacola Liberation Center. “We saw the murder of Alex Pretti and the murder of Renee Good. We’re standing in contrast to that saying we want ICE off our streets and we want the government to stop spending our tax dollars on ICE that is murdering people and deporting our neighbors because we have no issue with our immigrant neighbors.”

Opposition to ICE has grown steadily in recent days after federal immigration agents shot and killed two people in Minneapolis this month, including Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who treated veterans, and Renee Nicole Good, a poet and mother of three.

Republican lawmakers have increasingly called for investigations into the killing of Pretti as Democrats refuse to fund the Department of Homeland Security despite the likelihood of a government shutdown.

After a call with Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz on Monday, Trump said he would send border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to lead some operations on the ground.

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Pensacola protest calls for an end to ICE video

Video shows Pensacola residents protest in a show of solidarity with Minneapolis

The protest on Monday was one of several planned across Florida this week, and the first of two in Pensacola. Organizers say they plan to hold a second protest on Friday.

During Monday’s event, there was no visible counter-protest other than a couple stray comments from vehicles driving by. That didn’t surprise McKenzie, who said he has seen both sides of the aisle come together in recent days over ICE actions.

“I’ve talked to a million right-wingers and I know people want us to all hate each other like it’s a Facebook comment session war, but in reality most people don’t their government murdering people. Even Second Amendment advocates are standing in defense of Alex Pretti, working class people on the right are like ‘Hey, I may like Trump ,but I don’t like this.’ That’s the reality of what’s happening.”

USA TODAY reporters contributed to this story.