From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement
Students from more than 200 Colorado schools streamed out of classrooms
Friday afternoon with angry pleas for federal immigration agents to halt
raids targeting their classmates, neighbors, coworkers and community
members.
The walkout, organized by student-led organizations including the
Colorado Youth Coalition, sent hundreds of students from the Denver
metro area to the cityAs La Alma-Lincoln Park. They carried signs with
one short, sharp message for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials: oStop tearing families apart. #IceOuto
oItAs honestly so sickening to come home from school, open my phone and
see just terrible, terrible stories online of families getting separated
and children getting deported and kidnapped by ICE,o Bre Kennedy, a
junior at Grandview High School in Aurora and a cofounder of the
Colorado Youth Coalition, told The Colorado Sun. oWe are living on
stolen land and borders are imaginary lines, and to see such horrible
people do such horrible things is just so sickening.o
The protest is the latest outcry in Colorado as communities across the
state have railed against federal agents detaining immigrants, most of
whom have never been convicted of a crime.
In August, Glenwood Springs residents backed city council members in
taking legal action to try to close a detention center in a local
shopping center. Meanwhile, Gunnison County Sheriff Adam Murdie publicly declared that he will stop working with ICE agents. And residents of
Hudson turned out to a July town council meeting in droves to stop what
some called a oconcentration campo from opening in a former private
prison.
The majority of the afternoonAs protest at La Alma-Lincoln Park played
out peacefully, but the atmosphere took a tense turn when an adult counterprotester walked toward the park, holding a sign that read oI
heart ICE.o A surge of students pounced on the man, following him and
chanting, oNazi scum off our streets!o
A student eventually destroyed his sign. When he returned about two
hours after the walkout started, a crowd of students bolted after him,
throwing water bottles at him. One student struck him in the back of the
head with a metal water bottle and he darted off, still trailed by
students.
Organizers of the walkout urged students to ignore the man, saying he
was simply trying to agitate them.
Denver police officers showed up to the scene shortly after the assault, prompting student protesters to begin marching throughout the streets.
oStay in unison,o one protest leader shouted. oThere are cops
everywhere.o
As students were about to start their march down the street, a police
officer notified them they were breaking the law and would be arrested
if they did not leave the street. Students shifted to the sidewalk,
matching and chanting, oNo hate, no fear. Immigrants are welcome here!o
Students marched for more than a half hour as the temperature surged
past 90 degrees. They continued chanting for most of their walk, at
times shouting profanities against ICE and President Donald Trump.
Emotions remained high throughout the demonstration. Despite flashes of
anger from students, the crowd participated in the protest with the
spirit of a pep rally as a DJ blared music, food trucks posted up nearby
and kids danced the Cupid Shuffle and the Cha Cha Slide.
Organizers hoped that a mass of students opting to condemn federal
immigration authorities rather than attending class would send a strong
message to adults, especially those in office.
oI hope adults in power can see this and see so many kids standing up
and say, aReally this is an issue that maybe I should start caring more
about and fighting for more,o Bre, cofounder of the Colorado Youth
Coalition, said. oWe canAt vote. We donAt have a way to get our voice
heard in politics. And walking out of class, (we are) showing our
teachers, showing our fellow classmates, showing those who are here
today we are here to do whatAs right.o
Students also heard from democratic socialist Melat Kiros, a candidate
in the 1st Congressional District race who urged the crowd to continue
finding ways to stand up for immigrants and to elect people who reflect
their values when they get their chance to cast a ballot.
oStudents have always been on the front line of change,o Kiros told demonstrators from a stage in the park. oYou have always been at the
front line of progress and on the right side of history. Please do not
let this action be your one and only action. There is so much work to do
to protect our immigrant neighbors, and young people are going to be the
reason things change. I know a lot of yAall might not be allowed to vote
just yet, but your time is coming.o
Zariah Whitfield, a senior at Denver North High School, arrived at the
park waving a sign that read, oNo human is illegal. They blame
immigrants so you wonAt blame billionaires. We are students not
criminals. Melt ICE!o
Zariah, 17, has experienced a mix of heartache and anger as ICE has
separated families, describing their actions as inhumane and their
ideologies as racist.
oI want people to understand that this isnAt normal,o Zariah said. oThis
is not OK and that these are human beings who live lives that theyAre disrupting and completely destroying.o
When asked what message they would give ICE agents, Zariah said, oI see
humans, but I donAt see humanity.o
Max Mankoff, a student at the University of Denver, took part in the
walkout as an act of solidarity with immigrants. Mankoff is Jewish and
belongs to the Jews Against ICE Coalition, a new group engaging in
rallies and protests.
oI feel like itAs absolutely our duty as Jewish people to stand up for
the people in our communities who are at risk right now,o Mankoff, 26,
said. oWe know what this looks like and we know what this leads to and
itAs really our sacred obligation to fight against it.o
Mankoff dubbed ICE a terrorist group and said they worry about how
little the public understands about conditions in detention centers.
Among the latest questions that operators of an Aurora detention center
refused to answer was whether a case of tuberculosis led to a spread of
the potentially fatal infectious disease throughout the crowded
facility.
oThe things that we are hearing are terrible,o Mankoff said, obut I
canAt stop thinking about what we donAt know and whatAs going on behind
closed doors.o
https://coloradosun.com/2026/09/04/colorado-ice-protests-students-denver- immigration/
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