Write out ICE! Letter writing event held at Auraria campus

Denver, CO – On October 15, Denver Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) hosted multiple letter-writing events, encouraging students to write letters to demand that Auraria Higher Education Center (AHEC) protect students from the ongoing threat of ICE on their campus.

This event came after previous calls from students and staff to protect immigrant students and keep ICE off campus went completely unacknowledged. After months of ignoring emails and requests for a meeting, the students marched to the AHEC offices inside the Tivoli Student Union to personally deliver demands. The protest was met with a request not to protest inside buildings, and no steps towards meeting any of the demands.

To this, Brandon Koenig of Denver SDS said, “If you don’t want us to protest inside your buildings, then you need to keep ICE out of them.” After the march, MSU Center for Student Multicultural Engagement and Inclusion asked to meet with SDS. The meeting consisted of conducting liaisons, refusing to acknowledge the demands, and stating that protesting inside of buildings scares them.

“You know what’s scarier than students protesting inside a building? It’s the fact that ICE can come onto this campus at any time,” says Kacey Hicks, a social work major and member of SDS.

Lee Wise, an engineering student at the University of Colorado Denver, adds, “Whenever we need something from the university administration, whether it’s to keep our students safe or just asking for simple support and funding for our organization, we are met with no response and slow, bare bones support. When we protest and become a thorn in their side, they respond right away but still refuse to act. Over the course of multiple campaigns, we’ve learned that the only time administration ever acknowledges the felt needs and demands of our campus is when we pressure them to the point that they have no other option than to act in the interest of their students.”

Students for a Democratic Society and the CU Denver Ethics Club brought together a host of students to write letters to their administration, many of which detailed their personal experience as immigrant students on the Auraria campus and reiterated their demand to keep ICE off Auraria property. Students poured their anger at the admin’s refusal to protect students and showed determination to keep their campus safe. The letters are to be delivered personally to AHEC and university administration.

Theodore Jones, a sociology student, says, “When ICE comes into a community, it isn’t just dangerous for immigrants and undocumented people, across the country we’ve seen ICE detention of Black and brown people who aren’t even immigrants, and the chaos and fear caused by ICE presence is a safety threat to all students regardless of immigration status.”

SDS says they are willing to do whatever it takes to get the Auraria campus to openly defy Trump’s ignorant, and racist administration and protect immigrant students and other students of color.

#DenverCO #CO #ImmigrantRights #ICE #SDS #StudentMovement