DENVER (KDVR) — Chants rang out through Fletcher Park in Aurora Saturday afternoon, people rallying the community to fight back against Trump’s deportation efforts. While they want to see deportations scaled back, a former ICE agent thinks the country is heading in the right direction.
“I always say that justice is not charity. It’s important for us to show up and show out for our people,” said protester Lucy Molina.
That’s what brought Molina over from Commerce City to join the march. The Metro Denver Sanctuary Coalition hosted the event, with many saying the immigrant community fears the threat of ICE raids.
“It’s scary. Sometimes I listen, no go into a job or no send their kids into school,” said another protester.
The march, they said is a chance to make their voices heard.
“Denver, Aurora, around Colorado, send a message,” said the protester. “Donald Trump, the people here are ready for a fight.”
Former ICE agent John Fabbricatore, however, feels the demonstration is more of an attack directly on the president than his policies.
“Where were they protesting when President Biden was deporting people?” he said. “He prosecuted thousands of people and deported thousands of people and they were not protesting.”
He said he backs Trump’s immigration stances and thinks they are the best path forward to promote legal immigration.
“I believe in what we are doing,” said Fabbricatore. “I believe that by cleaning up the immigration system that we have now, we’re going to make our immigration system better. We’re going to make it better for people to come into this country lawfully.”
Republican Congressman Gabe Evans provided this statement when FOX31 reached out about the march:
“As the grandson of Mexican immigrants, I know we need to secure our border so that the sacred process of American citizenship is not degraded. If we prioritize securing the border, then we won’t have massive illegal immigrant caravans exploiting birthright citizenship.”