Denver, CO – On September 20, over 30 people gathered to picket outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Denver Field Office in response to the recent wave of summons issued by ICE. Over the past month, hundreds of immigrants across the community have received letters ordering them to appear for check-ins at this facility.

These letters, signed by Detention and Deportation Officer Joshua Nieves, have caused widespread confusion. Many included incorrect addresses, directing recipients to an empty field next to the actual ICE building. The Colorado Rapid Response Network was first alerted to these misleading summonses in late August. Several individuals received notices to appear at the ICE Processing Center in Centennial between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. on both Saturday, August 30, and Sunday, August 31. Since then, similar letters have continued to go out every weekend.

In response, a coalition of community organizations including the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, American Friends Service Committee, Aurora Unidos CSO, and Immigrant Protection Teams quickly mobilized. This group of community organizations has organized picket lines in front of the ICE field office every weekend, offering vital support to those showing up for their summons. Volunteers are on hand to provide legal resources, clarify misinformation, and inform people that they can request to reschedule their check-ins by emailing Denver.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov.

These efforts have been effective in informing directly impacted individuals about their rights and available resources, helping them avoid being caught off guard and ensuring they have time to seek legal counsel. However, organizers have confirmed that at least 11 people have been detained as a result of these notices.

Yoselin Corrales, an organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO, emphasized the urgency of the moment, encouraging people to organize and take action and reaffirming that “We will fight for the liberation of our people and we will win.”

This local action was also part of a national weekend of mobilization aimed at protesting a recent Supreme Court decision that effectively greenlights racial profiling during ICE operations in Southern California. The decision followed a July district court ruling that had ordered DHS to stop racially profiling during immigration stops. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with ICE, allowing roving patrols to continue.

In the context of ongoing attacks on immigrant communities including continued efforts by the Trump administration to undermine sanctuary cities, organizers remain committed to resisting these injustices through grassroots organizing, direct action and community defense.

#DenverCO #CO #ImmigrantRights #AUCSO #CIRC

Colorado Springs, CO – On Tuesday, April 29, a crowd of about 100 community members gathered in front of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to demand local law enforcement stop cooperating with federal immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump’s administration.

The demonstration, organized by the Colorado Springs People’s Coalition, came in response to a Sunday raid in which more than 300 officers from local and federal agencies – including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Colorado Springs Police Department, and El Paso County Sheriff’s Office – surrounded a nightclub with weapons drawn. Authorities ordered occupants to exit with their hands up, detaining and transferring 114 people to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Protesters gathered near the sheriff’s office entrance, holding signs reading “We say no to deportations,” “Free political prisoners” and “End El Paso County Sheriff’s Office cooperation with ICE.” Chants of “¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” “The people united will never be defeated!” and “Say it once, say it twice, we will not put up with ICE!” echoed as a coalition of groups, including Aurora Unidos CSO, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, the Colorado Rapid Response Network and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, joined the rally.

Nayda Benitez of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition stated, “The community, especially immigrants in this community, already don’t feel like they can call local law enforcement to report crimes.”

Khalid Hamu of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization connected the immigration crackdown to economic issues, stating, “Trump is dehumanizing immigrants to distract us from this broken system designed by billionaires for billionaires.”

Yoselin Corrales of Aurora Unidos recalled false narratives about “violent gangs taking over Aurora” in 2024. CSPC founder Brandon Rincon called the raids “terror attacks targeting Black and brown people.” Rincon called for community control of the police as a solution to make the community safer, stating, “These are police crimes, and how do we stop police crimes? Well, we stop police crimes with community control — an all-elected, all-civilian board that has the power to write policy, hire and fire police officers, investigate misconduct and harassment, and get these officers off the force.”

As sheriff's office employees watched from windows, the crowd continued chanting for over an hour, at one point joining in a chorus as Rincon sang a Black Panthers’ resistance song Power to the People, Free Our People.

#ColoradoSprings #CO #ImmigrantsRights #Trump #InJusticeSystem #ICE #CSPC #CSO #CIRC #CRRN

Denver, CO – On February 25, a collaboration between the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition (CIRC) and Aurora Unidos Community Service Organization (AUCSO),helped mobilize over 300 people from across Colorado for a general assembly hearing on an anti-immigration bill, SB25-047, in the Denver state capitol building.

Before the hearing, there was a rally outside facilitated by Aurora Unidos CSO and Freedom Road Socialist Organization that included the chants of “Legalization for all,” “No raids, no fear, immigrants are welcomed here” and “When Trumps says go back, we say fight back!”

Yoselin Corrales of AUCSO said the bill would do “irreparable harm to our immigrant families, friends and neighbors. Senate Bill 47 would make it easier for local police to collaborate with federal immigration enforcement. Having police act as ICE agents erodes trust amongst immigrant neighbors and makes our communities much more unsafe.”

Corrales continued, “A lot of people believe this bill is dead on arrival, but I think we have learned that we can’t always trust our elected officials to act on behalf of the best interests of their constituents. It's important to show up today, make our voices heard, and then continue to show up to remind them that we are watching them, and that we will hold them accountable!”

Nels Pine, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, told the crowd, “At the core of this growing immigrant rights movement are Chicanos, Mexicanos and Central Americans. These communities are concentrated in and around the oppressed Chicano Nation in the Southwest and are overwhelmingly working class and most willing to fight. At the same time, we need to unite with everyone targeted by the Trump administration, from Haitians to Venezuelans. No to deportations! Que viva La Raza! Chicano power!”

In the hearing, there were testimonies from people who supported the bill and people who were against the bill. Nearly all the testimonies in support came from sheriffs, commissioners and police officers. However, these supporters of the bill were far outnumbered by the hundreds who showed up in opposition.

One mother spoke of the anxiety and terror she felt when she and her husband were “pulled over by the police and questioned whether we were legal citizens, but because we had our documents at home the police detained us for five days!” During this time, she was only able to contact her children via a telephone where they were being detained. This was just one story of dozens like it that were told.

The hearing lasted nearly seven hours, with the overwhelming majority of the testimonies opposing the bill, resulting in a 3 – 2 vote against it. As the crowd exits the capital, some people chanted, “¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!”

#DenverCO #CO #ImmigrantRights #CIRC #AUCSO