Aurora, CO – On February 8, around 50 community members gathered outside Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, to protest the base’s collaboration with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the detention of immigrants.

Organized by Aurora Unidos CSO and Denver Anti-War Action, the protest was part of a larger national week of action by the Legalization for All Network.

Protesters voiced their opposition to the role the base would play in the Trump administration's plans for mass deportations. Yoselin Corrales, an organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO, said, “Today, we are here to fight against recent discussions to potentially detain and imprison our neighbors on the Buckley Space Force Base.”

The protest comes in the wake of a controversial announcement in late January, wherein the U.S. Military’s Northern Command revealed plans to make facilities at Buckley Space Force Base available to ICE to set up processing and staging areas for detained immigrants at the request of the Department of Homeland Security.

Speakers at the rally emphasized the strength of the community coming together to fight, with Brandon Gehrke, another organizer with Aurora Unidos CSO, addressing the crowd, “We keep us safe – not ICE, not the military, not those who seek to use fear to control us. When we stand together, we are stronger than any force that tries to break us. Together, we will demand legalization for all. and put an end to these harmful and inhumane operations.”

Jason Crow, congressman for Colorado’s 6th District, recently reported that the base has agreed to only use the base for staging and logistics for now, but this is likely only temporary. The scale of deportation being discussed by the Trump administration’s “Operation Aurora” requires expansions of ICE’s detention capacity. Currently, Aurora has a processing center that holds around 1500 people, operated by GEO Group, a private for-profit prison corporation.

Aurora Unidos CSO pledges to stand opposed to the expansion of ICE’s capacity to detain people and calls on all people to actively hinder the ability of the Trump administration to carry out their racist and reactionary agenda.

As the protest ended, many of those who attended expressed their commitment to continuing the fight for immigrant rights. The rally at Buckley Space Force Base is proof to lawmakers and the military that the community will not stand by while the government targets immigrants, and that efforts for legalization and justice will continue.

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