About 100 people gathered outside a federal immigration center in Aurora on Saturday evening to protest President Donald Trump’s plans to ramp up deportation enforcement.
The rally, held outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Oakland Street, was a “peaceful protest to show that Coloradans and Americans stand in solidarity with our immigrant population,” according to organizer Holly Smith.
“We will not stand idly by and let this administration’s racist and bigoted policies rip families apart,” she said in a statement.
The Trump administration last week announced an expansive revision of immigration enforcement policies. Federal memos call for the deportation of immigrants living here illegally who are charged or convicted with a crime, including shoplifting, traffic violations or illegally crossing the border. Under the Obama administration, immigrants who crossed the border without permission or overstayed their visas were generally not targeted for deportation.