National boycott taps Denver's surging anti-ICE sentiment
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Protesters in Denver are joining a nationwide demonstration on Friday, calling for no work, school or shopping to denounce ICE.
Why it matters: The movement underscores how outrage over federal immigration enforcement is intensifying in Denver, with organizers applying economic pressure in a city where immigration policy is a frequent flashpoint.
Driving the news: Organizers are calling for an economic boycott and defunding of ICE after a Border Patrol agent fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last week.
Zoom in: Local events connected to the broader demonstration effort include a rally at La Alma-Lincoln Park backed by leftist advocacy groups, while at least a dozen restaurants and coffee shops in the metro area plan to close on Friday, per The Denver Post.
- Events outside the Frontier Airlines headquarters and a residence in the city's Cheesman Park neighborhood are also listed on the "National Shutdown" website.
Between the lines: Friday's protest coincides with a potential government shutdown hinging on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.
- Colorado's U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper this week said they would oppose the spending package, with Bennet calling it "a moment of reckoning," during a press conference.
State of play: While Denver hasn't witnessed increased federal law enforcement on the scale of Minneapolis, anti-ICE sentiment is surging locally.
- The city on Wednesday joined an amicus brief for a lawsuit filed by officials in Minnesota to stop immigration enforcement operations, with Mayor Mike Johnston calling ICE "the bad guys" in a statement.
- Even Denver's pro athletes are speaking out, with Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz calling for the abolition of ICE, and Nuggets forward Cam Johnson describing the Minneapolis shootings as "an utterly senseless act of violence."
- Others are showing discontent in more creative ways, as Good Bones, a coffee shop on Colfax Avenue, sells lattes with an anti-ICE message scrawled in the foam, with proceeds benefiting a local nonprofit helping immigrants.
Organizers behind Friday's "National Shutdown" list four people killed by federal law enforcement agents over the past five months on their site: Pretti, Renee Good, Keith Porter Jr., and Silverio Villegas González.
- Pretti and Good have Colorado ties: Pretti's parents live in Arvada, while Good grew up in Colorado Springs.