Pepper spray. Rubber bullets. The violence escalated quickly on Tuesday, October 28, at the ICE facility in Durango. Very quickly, the story of an ICE protest in Durango was catapulted into the National light. Photos of protestors with locked arms, faces in agony after being pepper sprayed were plastered across news sites such as CBS and the Colorado Sun, thrusting Durango into the national spotlight within days.
The incident first started on Monday, October 27th, when two children and their father were arrested while on their way to school and held in an ICE facility in Durango. Many community members waited outside the facility and created a human chain in order to prevent their transportation out of the ICE facility. On October 28th, ICE agents used rubber bullets and pepper spray on protesters in order to break apart the chain. According to The Denver Post, ICE mistakenly identified the man but still arrested the family.
To some people, they didn’t even realize that there was an ICE Detention Center in Durango, and to those people, this felt like an extreme invasion of what they thought was a safe bubble that shielded them from these kinds of acts. An anonymous voice said that this situation feels like a bubble being popped. However, they’re more proud that they see people “actually challenging ICE with a peaceful protest”. They felt safer when realizing “people want to stand up for the wrongful abduction of two children and their father”, and plead for their release. They feel it’s most powerful to recognize this situation in Durango specifically as “it’s important to recognize what’s happening here happens in plenty of other different spaces. Durango was a safe place, but clearly that’s not that case anymore”.
Interviewing people who could be at risk, we asked their thoughts on how they feel about the situation. A student said they were “angry that it was only based on their skin color”, and that it felt “unreal. Nobody deserves to go through that.” Another student said they were scared, and that it could “happen at any moment”. A few other students also shared the same thoughts, and they praised them for how they tried their best, even if it wasn’t the most effective at stopping them. Some of them even wanted to go to the protest that happened, but were too scared of violence.
Some even shared their worries for the mother, as she was practically all alone and had to hope that they all come back safely and unharmed, and they wish that there was more information presented in the situation to help better understand how everyone is truly feeling outside of the sphere.
Others remarked on the protest and the resilience seen from the community. One said that the violence that occurred could mean the community might be scared to protest due to violence, while another remarked that the protesters did what they could and tried their best. The “community of Durango is rising up, fighting, and uniting to stop these abductions from happening,” someone else said.
As for the widespread attention this event brought to Durango, someone said that it is “important to recognize what is happening here happens in different places.” The story of the protests, especially an ICE agent that threw a woman to the ground after filming the incident with her phone, appeared on news websites such as the New York Times, garnering national attention.
The events that occurred here in Durango were shocking to all and brought what has been happening all across the country to our town. Given the circumstances and sensitivity of this situation, El Diablo Media Network has given all sources anonymity.
