Aurora rallies for victims of ICE and FBI repression, demands hands off Nadia Topete!
AURORA, CO – Protesters in Aurora, Colorado gathered outside of an ICE detention facility operated by GEO Group on Sunday morning, July 19. They rallied to raise a number of demands regarding conditions in the detention center, the recent ICE murders of Joan Sebastian-Guerrero and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, and acts of repression against anti-ICE protesters Including Nadia Topete and 21-year-old Emma Landis, who was shot by a GEO Group employee after attending a protest outside the facility earlier in the week. Over 80 people attended the event where they heard speakers from various movements in the city and participated in chants against ICE’s continued attacks on their communities.
“We are gathered here today to demand justice for all victims of ICE’s violent terror across America,” said Miles Thompson, an emcee for the event and chair of the Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee (DACAC). “We’re also here to say that protesting is not a crime! Hands off Nadia Topete!” DACAC called this event in conjunction with Aurora Unidos CSO as part of a national week of action for Nadia Topete called by the Legalization For All Network.
Topete, an immigrants rights activist in Los Angeles, has been a target of FBI repression in recent weeks. In addition to ending the harassment against Topete and her fellow activists, organizers across the country have used this week of action to call for justice in the cases of Joan Sebastian-Guerrero and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo who were murdered by ICE agents during separate incidents in the last month. The event was supported by other local organizations, including the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
The Aurora ICE detention center, specifically, has made national news twice this week. The first was on July 16, when the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) announced that it had confirmed at least one case of tuberculosis inside the facility. While GEO Group denies any tuberculosis, community members detained inside claim at least a dozen cases have been identified. Tuberculosis is a preventable and treatable lung infection that can be contagious and deadly if not properly handled. In a facility already notorious for medical neglect, the community is concerned for the safety of those inside.
Yoselin Corrales, a Honduran immigrant and organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO said, “Our group has been working with immigrants inside to help document medical neglect, guard mistreatment, food insecurity, and the abuse of detention center staff for over a year now. Frankly, it was only a matter of time before something happened like what we’re seeing now.”
GEO Group, the private prison corporation that operates the Aurora ICE detention facility, was given until Friday, July 17 to submit to CDPHE inspection and turn over medical records to the state regarding tuberculosis. As of the writing of this article, GEO Group is completely refusing to comply with this investigation. Just last week, this for-profit corporation was awarded a half-billion dollar contract to open a new ICE detention center in rural Hudson, Colorado. This facility would almost double the number of people ICE could detain in the state and reduce visibility for these detentions by moving them far outside of the urban areas where Coloradans mostly live.
The news of the potential tuberculosis outbreak led to multiple protests against ICE and GEO Group this week but one, in particular, resulted in another national headline.
On Thursday, July 16, after a protest disbanded, a GEO group employee shot a woman in the foot while she was leaving the area. Emma Landis, the woman who was shot, was able to attend Sunday’s event where she expressed gratitude for her fellow activists and solidarity with those detained inside the facility. “It’s really nice to see my community come together in support of this and all I can say is ‘let’s keep doing this!’” She added, “ I don’t want to be a trend, I want to be an advocate for these people because they don’t deserve this at all. Nobody deserves this at all.”
The call to continue to fight and organize was common among all of the people who spoke. “We’re not here to write a strongly-worded letter or ask you to send an email,” proclaimed Corrales, “we’re here to commit to continuing to show up until the people inside these walls are free, and those who have contributed to this violent system are punished! Don’t do the enemy’s work for them and back down before the battle, join an organization and become part of a fighting force!”