Centennial, CO – At 8 a.m. on Monday, July 20, organizers and community members from across the Denver Metro area joined together for a protest at the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Denver Field Office in Centennial, Colorado.

The protesters come together for a die-in scheduled by the Shut Down GEO Coalition to highlight detained immigrants' demands for freedom, humane conditions, and to end all contracts with GEO Group, the operators of a for-profit detention facility in Aurora, Colorado. GEO Group was also recently awarded over $528 million dollars to open up a shuttered correctional facility in Hudson, Colorado.

The rally began with speeches from organizers and family members of immigrants who have been impacted by the racist and brutal deportation system. Speakers touched on the longstanding history of medical neglect, insufficient and unsafe food, low wages, guard and staff abuse, and, most recently, a confirmed case of tuberculosis within the Aurora GEO facility.

Despite pressure from medical professionals, legal advocates and the local community, the GEO Group has still not met the demand for compliance from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for contact tracing and a full health investigation. While GEO Group delays crucial investigations and treatment, they could ultimately be subjecting the entire city and state to unnecessary health risks.

After the speeches, protesters staged a die-in where they laid down on the ground in front of the ERO office, representing the lives stolen by ICE and private prison contractors GEO Group and CoreCivic.

While attendees were lying on the ground, listening to recordings of testimonials from families of those in detention, a group of protesters stood off to the side holding a large banner that read, “Dignity not detention, end deportations.”

Five Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers approached this group of organizers and called in additional officers for back up. Eventually, two officers returned to attempt to pull the banner away from protesters but failed. When the DHS officers were unsuccessful in threatening protesters to retreat, they called in the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, which brought less-lethal crowd control weapons.

Arapahoe County sheriffs pushed the group of protesters forward and into the public street, where they eventually targeted four protesters who were then pulled from the group, handcuffed, and detained for around two hours within the ICE facility under Arapahoe County and ICE supervision before being released with state and federal citations.

Upon the protesters’ exit, the remaining crowd was chanting for each organizer's release. The organizers arrested included longtime organizers in the community Arnie Carter and Terry Burnsed, as well as Yoselin Corrales, an immigrant rights organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO.

After taking a moment to regroup, Corrales addressed the crowd, stating, “It’s far past the time to send a strongly-worded email, we need to show up and be willing to put more on the line for those facing injustice in our community!”

#CentennialCO #CO #AuroraCO #ImmigrantRights #ICE #Featured

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!”

#AuroraCO #CO #ImmigrantRights #ICE #DetentionCenter

Colorado Springs, CO – On July 5, the family of Alex Martinez-Sarmiento gathered in the parking lot where Martinez-Sarmiento was killed one year before by Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) officer Connor Jacob Wallick.

More than 30 people gathered around a shrine for Martinez-Sarmiento, including members of Colorado Springs Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (COSAARPR) and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Many attendees held signs and banners demanding justice for Alex and the indictment of Wallick. COSAARPR member Brandon Rincon led the group in chants like “Running away, don’t shoot” and “Indict, convict, send that killer cop to jail.” As the sun set, people in attendance held up candles and released balloons to honor Alex.

On July 5, 2025, Wallick chased and shot Martinez-Sarmiento in the back three times as he was running away, killing him. In the year since then, members of the family and COSAARPR led dozens of actions demanding that Wallick be fired and charged with murder.

On December 10, 2025, District Attorney Michael Allen ruled the shooting justified, angering the family, who continue to fight alongside COSAARPR to get justice and accountability for their loved one. Recently, the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Colorado Springs.

“It’s heartbreaking being out here,” said Rincon, “We shouldn’t have to be out here demanding justice. We shouldn’t have to have our loved ones gunned down in the streets by racist, crooked, cowardly police officers like Connor Jacob Wallick.”

Rincon echoed the demands of the family, stating “This family deserves justice, this family deserves peace of mind, this family deserves transparency, accountability and answers, and Connor Wallick deserves to rot in jail.”

FRSO member Bug Peterson condemned the killing as a case of national oppression, saying that “here in Aztlán, the Chicano nation, there’s a long history of racist police violence against Chicanos, Mexicanos and Latinos.” Peterson described how American imperialism brutalized not just nations around the world, but also nations here in the U.S., noting that “police are on the front lines of enacting that brutality.”

As the family mourns, they continue to fight. Alongside COSAARPR and FRSO, they are determined to win justice for Alex and to get violent police officers off the streets of Colorado Springs.

#ColoradoSpringsCO #CO #InjusticeSystem #KillerCop #COSAARPR #OppressedNationalities

Denver, CO – On the morning of June 28, tens of thousands of Coloradans gathered at Cheesman Park for the annual Pridefest parade. Dozens of organizations marched from Colfax Avenue to downtown Denver, chanting, “No hesitation! Trans liberation!” and “From Stonewall to Gaza, globalize the intifada!”

Banners from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and many other groups, spanned the mile-long parade. Many had hand-painted slogans like “Queers bash back against Trump! Stonewall was a riot!” “Pride means fight back!” “Protect trans kids!” and “Chinga la migra!”

During Denver’s previous two Pride festivals, activists took over the main stage to demand that the primary organizer of Denver Pridefest, The Center on Colfax (The Center), divest from genocidal military companies like Lockheed Martin. Organizers also demanded an end to police presence at the parade. The Center’s former CEO, Rex Fuller, resigned in 2025. In 2026, The Center has refused money from corporations invested in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.

Now, for the first time in many years, The Center invited local organizers to lead a segment of the Denver Pride parade and re-center the root of Pride: protesting the injustices and violence against LGBTQ people, and connecting the Palestinian struggle to the Queer community’s struggle.

“We are here as scrappy trans folks because we fought, and we are here to recruit you to the same kind of scrappy fight, because when we fight, we win!” remarked Z Williams, a trans rights activist and the founder of Bread & Roses Legal Center, a social justice legal defense organization. “That is the only way our community has gotten what we have, and where we are at.”

There were an estimated 550,000 total Pridefest attendees, with tens of thousands watching the Pride parade and witnessing the event return to its origin as a protest fighting for LGBTQ rights.

#DenverCO #CO #LGBTQ #Pride

Colorado Springs, CO – On June 19, the Colorado Springs Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (COSAARPR) gathered at Colorado Springs City Hall to hold a Juneteenth rally against the racist attacks on the voting rights act.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Vista Grande Community Church of Christ and Freedom Acres Ranch endorsed the action.

“We see them trying to silence our voices through gerrymandering, mass incarceration and violence, but we have always fought back and will continue to fight,” said Memphis Curry of COSAARPR. Miles Thompson of the FRSO stated, “We understand that to beat back these racist attacks we don’t need Black or brown capitalism, we need a new system that works for all people, socialism.”

A crowd of about two dozen filled the city hall steps as chants rang loud between speeches highlighting the recent police murder of one-year-old Kohen Wiley. “Say his name” was called with responses of “Kohen Wiley” filled the air. Looks of determination and anger painted the crowd.

#ColoradoSpringsCO #CO #InjusticeSystem #KohenWiley #OppressedNationalities #Juneteenth

Colorado Springs, CO – On June 23, the Colorado Springs Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (COSAARPR) held a march through the streets of Colorado Springs demanding justice for one-year old Kohen Wiley, who was murdered by Mississippi police. The march ended at Colorado Springs Police Department headquarters where protestors lit candles, and a moment of silence took place.

COSAARPR was joined by various community organizations and churches including General Strike US, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Vista Grande Community Church of Christ.

“The FRSO condemns the murder of one-year-old Kohen Wiley and echoes the demands to bring Hunter Foster to justice” said Jessie Proffit of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Brandon Rincon, the founder and chair of COSAARPR, stated, “Kohen Wiley should be alive. Kohen Wiley was stolen from this world by a racist and rotten police system that has stolen too many lives for us to list.”

The action started at Dorchester Park in downtown Colorado Springs. Chants of “Justice for” were quickly responded with “Kohen Wiley!”.A crowd favorite, “Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!” was heard all throughout downtown. A crowd of about 20 or so people marched downtown holding signs demanding justice for Kohen Wiley.

#ColoradoSpringsCO #CO #InjusticeSystem #KohenWiley #COSAARPR

Colorado Springs, CO – On June 24, the family of Alex Martinez-Sarmiento filed a lawsuit against the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) for the murder of their loved one . They held a press conference, along with lawyers Mari Newman and Andy McNulty, at CSPD’s downtown headquarters to announce the lawsuit and demand justice. Alex Martinez-Sarmiento was a 26-year-old “father, son, brother and friend,” said the attorneys in a statement.

Members of the Colorado Springs Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (COSAARPR) and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) were in attendance to support the family. Over a dozen family members and activists stood in front of the press cameras holding banners and signs that read “Justice for Alex Martinez” and “CSPD stop killing La Raza.”

On July 5, 2025, CSPD officer Connor Jacob Wallick shot Martinez-Sarmiento in the back three times, killing him. Since then, members of his family, as well as COSAARPR, have been leading protests demanding that Wallick be fired and charged for murder. Members of COSAARPR view the lawsuit as one step in a protracted struggle.

At the press conference, Alex’s sister Saray Rocha spoke to the lack of accountability CSPD faces, “If an ordinary citizen cannot shoot someone in the back and walk away without consequences, then why should Connor Jacob Wallick? Why should he get to continue to wear a badge if he cannot follow the standards and responsibilities that come with it?”

McNulty’s stated, “We see violence from the police over and over and over again here in Colorado Springs. What we don’t see is accountability. What we don’t see is justice for these families. And today we file a federal lawsuit seeking accountability and justice not just for the Martinez family, but for all the families who have had their loved ones taken by the Colorado Springs Police Department.”

COSAARPR and the family are determined to keep fighting for Alex and accountability for violent police officers.

#ColoradoSpringsCO #CO #InJusticeSystem #KillerCops #COSAARPR #NAARPR #FRSO #Featured

Denver, CO – On Saturday, June 20, th