Denver, CO – In the late morning of November 2, Denver Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) gathered in the Lawrence Street Plaza on the Auraria Campus for a celebration on Dia de los Muertos.

Members of Denver SDS set up an ofrenda with pictures of and offerings for people murdered by ICE. Around the ofrenda were at least a dozen pages of ICE victims’ names from 2003, the year the agency was established, until now.

“In Mexico, this tradition is a communal one; neighbors, members of the community, come together at cemeteries to remember those who are loved amongst them,” stated Emil Mondragón, a member of Aurora Unidos CSO, “And this is exactly what we’re doing today, to remember those who have passed in our communities, in this country at the hands of ICE, DHS, and the presidential administration.”

Students chanted, “Money for jobs and education, not for bombs and deportations!” and “When la raza are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

For nearly two years, Denver SDS has been fighting for the Auraria Board of Administrators (ABoD) to pass a policy that bans ICE from campus entirely. However, despite trying to negotiate with ABoD, campus admin still declines anything that may risk their federal funding – even if it would benefit 40% Latino/Chicano student body.

In the 1970s, the Auraria campus was founded and built around, and eventually upon, the historically Chicano and Latino neighborhood of the same name. Campus founders forced out generations of Latino families, with a belated and false promise of financial support of future students from the neighborhood. Now there are only a few houses standing, and most of them are occupied by CU Denver and MSU Denver fraternity and department offices, with few still housing families.

“I’m standing on the graveyard of Mexican businesses and Mexican families, and this was a Latin neighborhood, and a majority of the people here spoke Spanish,” said Rodolfo Antonio “Tony” Rojas of Denver SDS, “This institute is supposed to serve us, and it doesn’t. It’s pretty pathetic and we shouldn’t be in this situation.”

Despite the struggle against ABoD’s refusal to pass a policy banning ICE on campus, Denver SDS will continue the fight to protect their fellow students and community members alike.

#DenverCO #CO #StudentMovement #ImmigrantRights #ICE #DiaDeLosMuertos