Colorado Springs rallies at sheriff’s office to decry DEA raid detaining 114 community members

Colorado Springs, CO – On Tuesday, April 29, a crowd of about 100 community members gathered in front of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to demand local law enforcement stop cooperating with federal immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump’s administration.

The demonstration, organized by the Colorado Springs People’s Coalition, came in response to a Sunday raid in which more than 300 officers from local and federal agencies – including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Colorado Springs Police Department, and El Paso County Sheriff’s Office – surrounded a nightclub with weapons drawn. Authorities ordered occupants to exit with their hands up, detaining and transferring 114 people to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Protesters gathered near the sheriff’s office entrance, holding signs reading “We say no to deportations,” “Free political prisoners” and “End El Paso County Sheriff’s Office cooperation with ICE.” Chants of “¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” “The people united will never be defeated!” and “Say it once, say it twice, we will not put up with ICE!” echoed as a coalition of groups, including Aurora Unidos CSO, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, the Colorado Rapid Response Network and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, joined the rally.

Nayda Benitez of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition stated, “The community, especially immigrants in this community, already don’t feel like they can call local law enforcement to report crimes.”

Khalid Hamu of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization connected the immigration crackdown to economic issues, stating, “Trump is dehumanizing immigrants to distract us from this broken system designed by billionaires for billionaires.”

Yoselin Corrales of Aurora Unidos recalled false narratives about “violent gangs taking over Aurora” in 2024. CSPC founder Brandon Rincon called the raids “terror attacks targeting Black and brown people.” Rincon called for community control of the police as a solution to make the community safer, stating, “These are police crimes, and how do we stop police crimes? Well, we stop police crimes with community control — an all-elected, all-civilian board that has the power to write policy, hire and fire police officers, investigate misconduct and harassment, and get these officers off the force.”

As sheriff’s office employees watched from windows, the crowd continued chanting for over an hour, at one point joining in a chorus as Rincon sang a Black Panthers’ resistance song Power to the People, Free Our People.

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