Denver Artist Designs “Fuck ICE” and “No Kings” Hoodies, Shirts

Turning out by the thousands at protests this year, Denver residents have shown their anger with President Donald Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency responsible for raids and deportations. So that those protesters can wear their hearts on their sleeves, artist Lena Dechamps has created a line of hoodies and T-shirts with the message “Fuck ICE” and “No Kings.”

Locals have written the same message in riskier spots, like on electronic traffic signs. Dechamps designed her hoodies and tees with sleek logos reading “No Kings” and “Fuck ICE” so that people can deliver the message daily, she says. She unveiled the line on October 18 and sold out only a couple of weeks later; she plans to release a new line of hoodies and tees with the same message on December 1 and sell them through the website for her studio, BoneBLACK, where she creates the designs.

“It was important not to be subtle about it. We live in an era in which I think we have a government that’s putting the fear in us to not speak up,” she says. “I wanted the messaging to be pretty direct: Fuck ICE, no kings in our country.”

According to Latino advocacy groups, some of the largest ICE raids this year have been in Colorado. Dozens were arrested during raids at apartments in early February, notable activist Jeanette Vizguerra was arrested in March, and more than 200 people were arrested in July during operations in Aurora and Denver. Now ICE plans to add more immigrant detention centers in the state, since the Aurora facility maxes out at 1,400 people.

Dechamps’s newest apparel was inspired by her anger with the raids and arrests and a desire to continuously say “Fuck ICE.” The hoodies have a dark green camouflage design with “Fuck ICE” drawn on the back and “No Kings” as a smaller seal on the front. The T-shirt is a dim-white tone with “Fuck ICE” on the front, along with a drawing of a flaming match reading a newspaper and “Abolish Detention/Abolish Deportation” written in red below that. The part that reads “Fuck ICE” is a black-and-white design that depicts a shadowy puppeteer’s hands gesturing around the lettering. It represents “deception” in politics, she explains.

Protests like the Fifty State in February, ICE! Out in June and No Kings 2 on October 18 have seen thousands turn out in Denver to decry Trump and ICE, but other rallies during the summer saw a sharp decline in attendance. Dechamps has been out protesting, too, and hopes her clothing can help energize the fatigued if they’re too tired to demonstrate.

“Something that helps them feel like they are contributing without having to raise a fist every day at the front line,” she says. “I would be happy to see [my apparel] in everyday life, out in the grocery store, and out and about at night. I don’t want to take the protest piece out of it, but the idea is that we can take a stand in our everyday life without the rally.”

Dechamps is a first-generation U.S. citizen. Her parents and twin sister immigrated from Germany in the 1990s for work, so news of ICE raids “felt a little close to home to me,” she says, while noting that Germans aren’t targeted as much as other immigrants because Trump only wants ICE to deport non-Whites. But she’s not comfortable with the differentiation.

“My family being more European-based is not judged as heavily as some other nationalities,” she says. “That also brings out the rage in me, this delineation, this designating better or worse immigrants.”

Dechamps has been in Denver for eleven years. Much of her artwork has been murals and branding for hotels, bars and restaurants like Cart-Driver, Yacht Club, Brasserie Brixton, and the Reynard Social Club at the Hyatt. Her work with Denver’s food and hospitality industry has increased her concerns regarding how local ICE raids will impact those employees and businesses, she says.

Dechamps revealed the “Fuck ICE” line the day before the No Kings 2 protest. The T-shirts sell for $25 and the sweaters for $60, and all the proceeds from the initial sweater sales went to the Colorado Rapid Response Network, which manages a hotline to report ICE activity and raids. Dechamps says she sold about 85 hoodies and about fifty T-shirts during that period.

On December 1, she’ll be selling her “Fuck ICE” apparel at Run for the Roses, at 1801 Blake Street; she plans to have about fifty sweaters and fifty shirts available. The merchandise will be the same price as it is online, but Dechamps will also accept canned goods for the Food Bank of the Rockies or warm outerwear for Coats for Colorado in exchange for her line.