Dozens of protestors joined a “die in” at the Centennial field office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement days after a contractor for the federal agency shot a protestor outside one of its detention facilities.
The Monday morning protest sought to highlight “demands for freedom, for humane conditions and to end all contracts with GEO Group, Inc.,” .
State Rep. Kenny Nguyen, a Broomfield Democrat at the event, said there were up to 100 people there, and they were “just exercising their First Amendment rights on a public street.” Protestors carried signs reading “bring them home,” “we keep each other safe” and “ICE out.”
He left when several men in tactical gear, apparently law enforcement, showed up on the outskirts of the protest.
The Arapahoe Sheriff’s Office reported that four people were detained, cited and released for misdemeanor obstruction charges.
“Those who were not impeding with operations of a public building were able to continue their civil demonstrations,” Anders Nelson, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said in a statement. “We support citizens right to peaceful demonstrations.”
The protest was in response to the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on undocumented immigrants. In Colorado, Adams County health officials have accused ICE of slowing an investigation of tuberculosis at its Aurora facility and advocates have reported that detained immigrants are no longer receiving their original mail and experiencing months-long delays in sent mail.
On Friday, an employee of the Geo Group, which contracts with ICE, shot a protestor outside the Aurora immigration detention center. The contractor, Brandon Booth, 42, is facing an attempted murder charge.
