Protesters replaced an American flag with a Mexican flag during a demonstration at a Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Aurora, Colorado on Friday.
The anti-ICE protesters also ripped down a “Blue Lives Matter” banner that signifies support for police officers and vandalized it by spray-painting “Abolish ICE” on the flag. They then put the defaced emblem below the Mexican flag and upside down, Fox Denver-affiliate KDVR reported.
Hundreds of immigrant rights advocates and others participate in rally and and demonstration at the Federal Building in lower Manhattan against the Trump administration’s policy that enables federal agents to take migrant children away from their parents at the border on June 1, 2018 in New York, United States. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
KDVR reported on-scene as the events unfolded with its reporter tweeting that the “group by the doors is growing. Though most protestors are still on the street.”
Protestors on @ICEgov property just pulled down the American flag and replaced it with the Mexican flag. The group by the doors is growing. Though most protestors are still on the street. pic.twitter.com/X2waaFMEOW
— Matt Mauro (@mattmauronews) July 13, 2019
The hundreds of demonstrators were at an ICE facility in Aurora to protest the detention of illegal immigrants and the anticipated ICE raids that will reportedly begin on Sunday in Denver and other U.S. cities.
The protest was apparently just one event in a national strategy by anti-ICE groups that goes by the hashtags #LightsForLiberty, Fox News reported. They are also calling their campaign the “March to Close Concentration Camps,” aiming to shut down all border detention facilities while granting immediate entry to the United States for all detained illegal immigrants, according to the event’s Facebook page.
This weekend’s ICE raids were scheduled to occur two weeks ago but President Donald Trump agreed to suspend the operations after an appeal from Democratic leaders for further negotiation. (RELATED: ICE ‘Ready’ To Apprehend And Deport One Million Illegal Immigrants)
Left-wing Democrats like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who are consistently bucking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s party leadership, have claimed that ICE agents are abusing migrants in the detention centers. (RELATED: Hispanic Pastors Say They Didn’t See Any Horrible Conditions At Border Detention Center They Visited)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
ICE raids are expected in Denver, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco.
At the Aurora protest, ICE agents managed to restore order and the American flag.
Just in – armed guards are now outside the doors of the @ICEgov detention center in Aurora. They’re taking down the Mexican and other flags and replacing them with the American and state flags. pic.twitter.com/8U3tiHq5RW
— Matt Mauro (@mattmauronews) July 13, 2019