Overview:
After a citywide strike and days of rallies, Denver protesters filled the streets demanding “ICE Out” following two recent fatal shootings.
By the end of last week, Denver had seen a vigil, a citywide strike, student walkouts, bridge takeovers and multiple marches, all centered on one demand: “ICE Out.”
Will Barrid, a Colorado educator who works with incarcerated youth, said lawmakers should “abolish ICE and get them out of our state.”
“They’re stealing kids,” Barrid said. “They’re taking kids out of school, and they’re terrorizing people.”
The surge in protest followed the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis during recent federal immigration operations. Both had ties to Colorado, and their deaths galvanized a new wave of resistance that had been simmering since early 2025.
On Thursday, Jan. 29, hundreds gathered outside the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora for a candlelight vigil honoring Pretti, a VA nurse. The mood was somber, with flowers placed by his photo and veterans and nurses sharing stories.
The next day, a general strike rippled across Denver. Restaurants and bars closed their doors with signs reading, “No Work. No School. No Shopping,” and “ICE Out Everywhere.” High school students from Northfield, East, South and North led marches through the Golden Triangle after walking out of class, chanting “ice on our wrists, not on our streets.”
By Saturday night, Jan. 31, thousands filled the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol, spilling into Lincoln Street as a drum-led march looped to Union Station and back. Projected onto the Colorado Supreme Court building were the words “Abolish ICE” and “Stop ICE Murders.”
Police officers and swat tanks guided traffic and issued warnings to protestors on dirt bikes while they spun their tires into large clouds of smoke. Many Denverites said they were shaken by the recent killings and by what they see as an escalation in federal immigration enforcement.
Jacquelin Alvarado, a second-generation Mexican-American, said she attended out of fear for her family.
“That’s my motivation for being out here today,” Alvarado said. “For the family that couldn’t be here.”
Alvarado is a Commerce City resident, amongst a predominantly Hispanic community, and she claims to have lost members of her community to deportations. She pointed to the widely circulated detainment ofLiam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who was taken by federal agents and to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.
“Just seeing that — I have a five-year-old myself,” Alvarado said. “There’s a lot of people that are not from here, and [ICE agents] go to these schools to try and take their chance to take people, because people have to go [to school].”
Alvarado said many in her community feel vulnerable regardless of citizenship status.
“See all the US citizens that are getting hurt as well?” Alvarado asked. “They don’t care about anybody, basically. They don’t care if you’re an immigrant or not. They’re going to come back and hurt you as well.”
Tyler Crazy Bear, a member of the Native activist group Rise and Represent, said Native communities have also felt targeted.
“We’re brown-skinned. We’re always being profiled,” Crazy Bear said, referencing concerns about federal agents operating near tribal lands. He emphasized tribal sovereignty and treaty rights that require coordination with tribal authorities.
“They’re trying to take our Native people in Minnesota,” Crazy Bear said. “They’re coming onto our lands — our tribal lands in South Dakota.”
Crazy Bear explained that there is nowhere to deport the tribal members to and that there are treaties that limit the authority and operations of federal agencies like ICE within their borders.
“[We have] our treaty rights; we’re a sovereign nation,” said Crazy Bear. The treaty rights given to the reservations that make up the domestic dependent nations within the US require coordination with tribal authorities.
Crazy Bear, who was present at the Friday demonstrations, stated that Rise and Represent has been faithfully attending every Denver protest against ICE for the past year carrying the distinctive American Indian Movement flag. Amongst the AIM banners, 16-year-old Sophia Reedy marched with a Mexican flag alongside an American one.
“I am the daughter of an immigrant so this hits very close to home,” Reedy said. She is the second generation of Mexican immigrants from Veracruz along the eastern Gulf Coast of Mexico. “I’m watching it happen and it’s destroying me — all the families getting broken apart.”
Reedy said the size of the protests has grown noticeably. “The last time I came to one of these [marches], it wasn’t this big,” Reedy said. “I’m gaining hope.”
The protests were not limited to the Capitol. On Saturday morning, activists marched in Cherry Creek to protest Palantir, a tech company that contracts with ICE. Later that day, the Colorado Bridge Trolls hung banners reading “ICE OUT” over Interstate 25 while blasting protest music in costume.
Protesters also expressed concern about expanded federal detention capacity in Colorado, including a new facility planned in Hudson. Organizers say another round of nationwide protests is planned for March 28, and Denver activists expect the city’s movement to keep growing.
“This affects me and my family because we are US citizens, and now it is free rein for everybody. They will take one look at me and probably try to stop me,” Reedy said. “And [now] it’s not just me. It could be you; it could be anybody else if they have an accent or if they look non-white.”
