GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Immigrant rights activists protested outside a Department of Homeland Security office in downtown Grand Rapids Wednesday afternoon.

Organizers with Movimiento Cosecha GR and the GR Rapid Response to ICE team gathered Wednesday, April 25, outside the building at 517 Ottawa Ave. NW.

Members of the group spoke out against deportation violence and advocated for a four-day worker and student strike in late April to show the economic importance of immigrants.

The four-day strike in Grand Rapids is planned to start April 28 and end May 1. It's planned to end with a march on May 1, International Workers Day, starting at Roosevelt Park near Chicago Drive and Clyde Park and continuing to downtown Grand Rapids.

Gema Lowe, community organizer for Movimento COSECHA, said Wednesday's demonstration was prompted by anger over recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions involving immigrants.

People being taken from the community belong to the community they contribute so much to, Lowe said.

When they demonstrate, she said, they are exercising their First Amendment rights and following a long history of protest for rights in this country.

"It's our turn to fight for immigrant rights," Lowe said.