Hundreds Demonstrate Against ICE in Denver, Including Jeanette Vizguerra

Hundreds of protesters showed up at the Colorado State Capitol on Friday, January 9, for a night-time demonstration against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and in honor of Renee Nicole Good, the Colorado native shot and killed in Minneapolis by an ICE agent.

“We’re here because we’re tired of the damage that the government is causing communities,” said Jeanette Vizguerra, the high-profile immigrant activist who was detained by ICE in Aurora for nine months until her release at the end of December. “Renee didn’t have to lose her life. She just wanted to help and support the undocumented community.”

Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7. Good was driving an SUV in a residential area when she approached ICE agents amid the large-scale operations and arrests in Minneapolis. She was reportedly trying to act as a legal observer.

Videos from an ICE agent and bystanders show Good driving in her red Honda Pilot. “I’m fine. I’m not mad at you,” she says, as agents tell her to get out of the car, then tug at her door handle. Instead, she backs up the car. Then, as soon as she starts moving forward, Ross fires three times, with one shot hitting Good in the head. The Honda Pilot then crashes into a parked car.

Hours after her death, it was reported that Good was the mother of three, and originally from the Colorado Springs area; members of her family still live in the state.

Good’s death has sparked outrage across the country, where Trump’s mass deportation plan and ICE operations were already unpopular. ICE arrests sparked violent protests in Los Angeles in June; thousands showed up for the ICE! Out protest in Denver this summer.

The January 9 protest was smaller, but a loud, angry crowd came out in the cold on short notice, some dressed as bears, frogs and berries in inflatable costumes.According to the Colorado State Patrol, which secures the Capitol grounds, about 350 people showed up for the demonstration, which started at 6 p.m.

“We must stop ICE. We must stop Trump,” Vizguerra told the crowd, calling on the country to “free them all,” in reference to every immigrant detained by ICE. Nearly 70,000 people are reportedly in ICE detention, a record high; that numberincludes upwards of 1,400 people held in the Aurora ICE detention center. ICE plans to open more detention facilities in Colorado.

After Vizguerra spoke, she led a march from the Capitol down 16th Street to Union Station and back up 17th Street, to shouts of “Fuck ICE,” “Renee Good, ICE bad” and “Fire Jonathan Ross.”

Back at the Capitol, protesters burned a handful of U.S. flags. The demonstration was mostly wrapped up by 9 p.m., although a couple dozen protesters continued a smaller march.

More action is planned throughout the weekend. ICE Out for Good protests are happening throughout Denver, including at the Highland Bridge, 1596 Central Street, on Saturday, January 10, from noon to 2 p.m. Another protest will take place in front of the ICE offices in Centennial, 12445 East Caley Avenue, on Sunday, January 11, at 9 a.m.

Vizguerra Speaks About Imprisonment, Standing Up to ICE

Vizguerra is best known for evading ICE arrest and deportation in 2017, during Donald Trump’s first term, by taking sanctuary in a Denver church. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people that year, and she’s had a national profile as an anti-ICE, anti-Trump immigrant activist since then.

She was arrested by ICE in March outside of the Target where she worked. She was released just before Christmas, but she’s now awaiting a deportation trial that could still see her removed from the United States.

That didn’t stop Vizguerra from protesting on January 9, or from sharing her thoughts with the media and fellow protesters. She told Westword (in her native Spanish) about her incarceration.

“The immigrant community dies little by little in those detention centers,” she said. “Because of the conditions and the lack of medical attention. These abuses of power have to stop. It’s important that every day the community opens its eyes more.”

She warned that “this president doesn’t have a plan for the country,” and said that Trump is trying to “distract with immigrants, with the bombing of Venezuela” from his domestic struggles.

“People have to be smart and start to see the direction of this country,” Vizguerra added. “We’re losing democracy. There’s an internal war in this country. He’s trying to clean up other countries. He needs to solve everything that’s happening here.”

Vizguerra said she had been held three times in the Aurora detention center, and once in El Paso. “All of the detention centers are in bad shape,” she continued. “The food makes us sick. We get sick from different things, because of the conditions there. The air conditioning is turned on all day, all night. The lights hurt our eyes.”

She said that when she was released last month, she knew of detainees with tuberculosis and one who had an undiagnosed disease. She, too, was sick when she left the detention center. “We don’t know if it’s COVID, if it’s the new strain of influenza,” Vizguerra said. “And they don’t do anything. The only thing they give us at times is Tylenol for the pain, and that’s not right.”

The Aurora detention facility is operated by the GEO Group, a multibillion-dollar private prison company. Protesters called out the GEO Group at the January 9 demonstration as well.

“For them, we’re a business,” Vizguerra said. “For us, we’re a life, and we’re human beings.”

She told Westword that people need to be ready to document “the abuses of power by this government,” and that includes “the undocumented who are detained or who have family on the outside.”

Immigrants detained by ICE have to document what happens inside detention facilities, “to see what kind of violations have happened and to later have class-action federal lawsuits,” Vizguerra urged. “It’s very important to document and take care of each other.”