If you were anywhere near the capital yesterday, you could probably hear the low hum of incessant honks. That was the sound of advocates against ICE taking part in a car rally to protest migrant detention camps across the country. The rally was organized by several local groups in order to bring attention to the imminent threat that faces children and families stuck in camps amid the spreading Coronavirus.
Never Again Action, Abolish ICE Denver, Metro Denver Sanctuary Coalition, and Sanctuary4All Colorado worked together to tailor their demonstration to uphold the social distancing mandate. Participants drove around the capitol for over an hour with painted messages on their cars, waving signs and flags and honking their horns. While the protestors hoped to spur action from their surrounding community, they had one main target in mind, Governor Jared Polis.
Gov. Polis is the leader of Colorado’s response to the COVID-19 crisis and has the daunting task to make hard decisions during this pandemic. Despite the stay-at-home order being put into effect, there has been no immediate action to protect the mass amounts of people in shelters, detention centers, jails, or youth correction facilities. These centers have a high potential to become breeding grounds for coronavirus because it is next to impossible to maintain the recommended social distances.
There are currently around 7,000 migrant children, not even counting parents and adults, in detention camps across the country. Everyone in one of these camps are now at an elevated risk of catching and spreading COVID-19. Many protestors had signs calling for the abolition of ICE, but the more important note was a call to release migrants across Colorado. Four children have already tested positive in New York City, and that number is expected to increase exponentially if no measures are implemented.
A federal judge in Los Angeles has signed an order calling for the Trump administration to either release migrants in custody or provide sufficient justification as to why they must retain custody. The document also urges the Office of Refugee Resettlement (“ORR”) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) to implement procedures based on the recommendations set forth by the CDC. The order demands a response no later than April 6, but so far, the Justice Department has declined any comments.
Until action has been prompted by the federal government, many Coloradans are not willing to sit back and wait. The cosponsors involved in the capitol rally have started hashtags such as #FreeThemAll and #ReleaseThemNow in order to continue their efforts through social media. They are determined to do everything in their power as citizens to protect immigrants from exposure, sickness, and impending deaths.
According to the message on their official Facebook page, here’s what organizers had to say: “There’s no way to social distance in a cage. The only way to prevent disaster in our communities is to release detainees into the care of the community and provide adequate health care to those who need it.”
So far, there has been no response to the rally from Gov. Polis. Everyone involved in the rally, advocates across the state, and of course, all those held in the detention camps, await his cognizant statement.
