Demonstrators rally at Colorado Capitol in second day of anti-ICE protests

Yahoo

2 days ago

Demonstrators rally at the Colorado Capitol against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies, on June 10, 2025. (Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
For the second day in a row, Coloradans protested against the mass deportation campaign being carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the country and an escalating military crackdown by President Donald Trump's administration on anti-ICE demonstrators in Los Angeles.
A crowd of more than 1,000 people Tuesday evening gathered on the lawn of the Colorado Capitol and along Lincoln Street near Civic Center Park in Denver for an emergency 'ICE Out' rally organized by the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
'We are here right now because our neighbors are being attacked left and right,' Nayda Benitez, an advocate with CIRC, told the crowd. 'I'm a proud immigrant. I could not be here without my mom, without my family.'
Shortly after 6 p.m., an overflow crowd chanting and bearing signs with anti-ICE slogans blocked an intersection at Lincoln and 14th streets. Denver police appeared to shut down several streets near the Capitol.
Much of the crowd then marched south from the Capitol, largely shutting down traffic at Lincoln Street and Broadway. Denver police continued to shut down multiple intersections near the demonstrators but did not engage protesters or order them to disperse.
'No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,' the crowd chanted.
'Come back for music afterward, people,' a proprietor at a bar and lounge on Broadway shouted to the crowd as it passed.
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'This is more than a protest. It's a call to defend our future,' Raquel Lane-Arellano, communications manager for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, said in a press release. 'The Trump administration is trying to turn our government into a weapon—unleashing the military on immigrants, workers, and anyone who won't bow to their agenda.'
The demonstration followed a march on Monday to the gates of the ICE detention center in Aurora, where a daily average of more than 1,100 people are detained as they await deportation or other immigration proceedings.
Trump has ordered a detachment of 700 U.S. Marines and thousands of federalized National Guard troops to deploy to L.A. over the objections of state and local leaders, the first such move by a U.S. president since 1965. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sued to block the deployments, which he said 'crossed a red line.' Trump on Monday suggested Newsom, whom he did not accuse of any crime, should be arrested.
Tensions have risen in Denver, L.A. and other cities around the country in recent weeks following a series of moves by the Trump administration to expand its mass deportation efforts. In his second term, Trump has vowed to deport all of the estimated 12.2 million people living in the country without permanent legal status.
ICE agents have begun arresting individuals and families outside federal immigration courts, reversing a longstanding policy that avoided such arrests so as not to deter immigrants from going through lawful court proceedings. A series of high-profile raids at restaurants and other workplaces have followed in the wake of Trump adviser Stephen Miller reportedly pressuring the agency to broaden the scope of its enforcement operations.
'Why aren't you at Home Depot? Why aren't you at 7-Eleven?' Miller asked ICE leaders on May 20, according to the Washington Examiner.
The Trump administration on Saturday spuriously described recent ICE operations in L.A. as targeting 'the worst of the worst,' a claim belied by the agency's raids of a downtown clothing wholesaler and a Home Depot in an L.A. suburb, both of which drew protests and led to the initial clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement this weekend. Federal agents in tactical gear shot tear gas and flash-bang grenades and arrested dozens of protesters they accused of obstructing the operations, including union leader David Huerta, who was charged by federal prosecutors Monday with a felony count of conspiracy to impede an officer.
The share of people in ICE detention with no criminal record had risen to nearly 25% as of June 1, a sharp uptick from 6% in January, according to the American Immigration Council.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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