MORNING HEADLINES  |  Hundreds of people turned out in two weekend rallies in Charleston to protest brutal immigration enforcement by the federal government in Minnesota.  

People also turned out Sunday at a similar Columbia rally protesting how the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) used “excessive force” on Saturday when a 37-year-old nurse was shot to death in Minneapolis.  The Minnesota city has been tense since earlier in the month when an ICE agent shot and killed a mother of three.

On Saturday in Charleston, about 300 people met at Brittlebank Park to protest and listen to speakers defend democracy.  The next day, hundreds more met at Marion Square to lash out at ICE.  Two people were arrested on minor charges.

Among the things protesters yelled: ““No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA!” 

In a weekend statement, First District Democratic congressional candidate Mac Deford criticized ICE’s shooting of the nurse, U.S. citizen Alex Pretti:    “He wasn’t storming a building. He wasn’t attacking anyone. He was exercising his First Amendment rights and came to the aid of another American who had been knocked to the pavement. That is not a crime in this country. That is citizenship.”

Deford also lambasted Congress for not dealing with ICE and its brutality: “Congress should be in session right now. Not next week. Not after the headlines fade. Right now. When the executive branch kills an American citizen, and Congress doesn’t immediately hit the brakes, that’s how republics fail.”

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In other recent headlines

CP OPINION, Brack: Expand voting instead of trying to close it. “The Republican political kerfuffle over whether primary elections should be only open to members of a political party or all voters is nothing more than election-year blather.”

CP WEEK IN REVIEW: Data center regs get bipartisan traction at Statehouse. As massive computer data centers continue to explode across South Carolina, a state senator with a history of bringing lawmakers together across ideological and party lines is preparing to introduce sweeping legislation aimed at reining in what critics call their worst excesses.

STORM: Eastern U.S. pummeled by winter storm. Almost one million Americans, including thousands in S.C., were without power Sunday after a winter storm packing heavy precipitation and record low temperatures rolled across much of the U.S. this weekend.

Delta Air Lines to buy at least 30 North Charleston Dreamliners. The first plane is expected to be delivered in 2031.

Charleston mayor asks affiliated Housing Authority to kill redevelopment deal. Charleston Mayor William Cogswell says the current deal with an Atlanta-based developer to add more than 700 units to an existing 286-unit downtown property is too limited in scope.

1 injured in Moncks Corner mosque shooting. Police say the man is in stable condition at a local hospital after being found at the mosque Sunday with multiple gunshot wounds.

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