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

New Orleans. LA – The New Orleans LGBT Center, in collaboration with the Real Name Campaign, held a candlelight vigil on November 21. The vigil was organized after reports spread across the country of a mass-shooting that targeted Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.

Around 40 community members attended the intimate New Orleans vigil. Speakers from the LGBT Center emphasized the need for the community to defend LGBTQ community spaces as they face continuous attacks.

Serena Sojic-Borne, an organizer with Real Name Campaign, told the community, “This shooting came on the heels of Donald Trump announcing his re-election campaign. It came on the heels of Louisiana misrepresentatives introducing a Don’t Say Gay bill to the U.S. Congress. It came on the heels of SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade. Bigots in power give a green light to bigoted murderers. Our strongest weapon against them is organization.”

The vigil included an open mic portion where attendees expressed their grief collectively and shared grounding practices. At the end they blew all of their candles out together and held a minute of silence for the Q Club slain: Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump and Ashley Paugh.

#NewOrleansLA #ColoradoSprings

The unionization effort comes on a wave of such filings across the country. To date over 100 Starbucks stores have filed for unionization with Starbucks Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Flintridge & Academy is the second store to petition for unionization in Colorado Springs, and the fifth in the state.

Similar to other Starbucks across the country, the most common complaint amongst workers was the cutting of hours, with some workers being scheduled as little as four hours per week. “With a record profitable year, we’ve seen prices still going up and our hours being cut, and we think that’s unacceptable,” said Matthew Broussard, a barista from a nearby Starbucks that also filed for unionization last week. Starbucks also schedules workers for inconsistent shifts week to week, making many unable to even get a second job to make ends meet.

Over 70% of employees are supporting the union drive. The future looks bright for Colorado Springs Starbucks workers to win union recognition.

#ColoradoSprings #unionDrive #Starbucks #StarbucksWorkersUnited #FlintridgeAcademy