ICE protesters setting up camp by office
People protesting United States immigration policies have set up an encampment outside the ICE field office in Centennial and participants said they plan to camp at least a week.
“We’re here to end family separation and keep them together and to stop deportations,” said Dillon Williams, a Colorado Springs resident who spent Sunday night sleeping on a patch of grass outside the field office.
About 25 people were walking along the sidewalk or sitting in camp chairs Monday afternoon as cars passed by and a Federal Protective Services patrol SUV circled the area. The protest was organized by Jeanette Vizguerra, a Colorado mother of four who spent 86 days in sanctuary in 2017 to avoid deportation and who was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people that year.
Similar encampments have been raised in other major American cities as people protested President Trump’s policy to separate children from parents if they were caught illegally crossing the border. In Philadelphia and Portland, Ore., police removed encampments and made arrests.
Protesters outside the Denver field office said there had not been any conflicts with ICE officers. Ground rules had been established as to where they could pitch tents, sit in chairs and cook food. A nearby office building had given the protesters permission to use the restrooms, and volunteers were bringing food and water.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fully respects the Constitutional rights of all people to peacefully express their opinions. ICE remains committed to performing its immigration enforcement mission consistent with federal law and agency policy,” Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for the ICE office in Dallas, said in an emailed statement.
Mecie Delffs, a Fort Collins volunteer with Food Not Bombs, traveled with another volunteer to set up a camp stove and bring food for the encampment. She supports the protest because she is opposed to family separation and the imprisonment of children.
“Not only are they away from their parents, but they’re locked up like prisoners,” Delffs said. “It’s scary.”
Williams identified himself as a former Tea Party activist turned anarchist. He said he supports a true freemarket economy, and that means allowing anyone willing to work to have a job even it means crossing a border.
America always has been a land of opportunity and open to immi grants, he said.
“If we’re afraid to embrace that, then what are we trying to change when we say, ‘Make America Great Again?’ ” Williams said. “It’s just an excuse to be racist.”