Thousands of people protested at the Colorado Capitol in Denver on Feb. 5, 2025 against Republican President Donald Trump and his administration’s ongoing effort to deport immigrants. (Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline)
Thousands of Coloradans gathered at the state Capitol in Denver on Wednesday to protest Republican President Donald Trump and his administration’s actions on immigration and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as the weakening of various federal government institutions.
Protestors filled the building’s steps, front lawn and the block of Lincoln Street between 14th Avenue and Colfax Avenue. They yelled “The people, united, will never be divided” and “F*** Donald Trump,” waved Mexican and Venezuelan flags, and held up homemade signs. Some marched around the building, but most stood and listened to speakers address the crowd.
The demonstration was part of a nationwide day of action against Trump and Project 2025, a far-right policy playbook for Trump’s second term.
“I want you to know that in my community, whether you’re Arab or Muslim or Mexican or European, you have basic human rights. I will not allow this administration to ethnically cleanse brown people in the United States of America,” said Sen. Iman Jodeh, an Aurora Democrat.
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Early Wednesday morning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies carried out immigration raids at multiple Denver metro apartment complexes, according to multiple news reports and social media posts from official government accounts. It is not clear how many people were taken into custody or if anyone was charged with crimes.
Trump has said he intends to undertake mass deportations of people who have entered the country without legal permission, and he has singled out Aurora as a particular focus of those plans.
“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” Trump said at a campaign rally in September. “And we’re going to start with Springfield (Ohio) and Aurora.”
“The Constitution protects us all. You have the constitutional right to remain silent. You have the constitutional right to ask ICE officials for a real warrant, not a wannabe warrant,” Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat, said at the rally. “Donald Trump doesn’t care about the Constitution, but we do.”
Salina Sanchez brought her three children with her to the Capitol on Wednesday to show them the importance of protesting against xenophobia, she said. The family lives in Westwood, a majority Hispanic neighborhood in southwest Denver, and Sanchez said she has taught her children to be proud of who they are and their Mexican heritage in the face of racism.
“It’s important to teach them that hate won’t make America great,” she said. “We need to continue doing traditions and teaching them about their roots, and not to hide it because it might make someone else uncomfortable.”
Other demonstrators held signs that singled out Elon Musk, the billionaire advisor for Trump who is leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which Trump established within the White House and is not a Cabinet agency. Since Trump’s inauguration, Musk has led a potentially unlawful assault on federal agencies including the Treasury Department, Department of Education and the United States Agency for International Development, in the name of reducing government bloat and cutting unnecessary spending.
Trump has also ordered the end to diversity programming in the federal government. That was one of the main reasons Kurt and Susan Reisser came to the Capitol on Wednesday. Their son worked in the State Department on LGBTQ+ rights issues under the first Trump administration and they fear he will be targeted in this current term.
“We are absolutely incensed about what is going on,” Kurt Reisser said. “My biggest concern is the destruction of civil agencies and the civil services. If we wreck the government, it will take a generation or more to replace it.”
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