This weekend's snow didn't stop hundreds of protesters from demonstrating against the Trump administration's immigration policies.
The protesters met at Fletcher Plaza in Aurora on Saturday, then walked down Colfax Avenue to the Edge at Lowry, one of the apartment complexes caught up in a national controversy around a Venezuelan gang.
It was the largest local protest that we've seen during the new Trump administration. But overall, the resistance movement has been far smaller in 2025 compared to the early days of Trump's first term, when tens of thousands marched in downtown Denver.
Here's what we heard from a few participants on Saturday.
Mateos Alvarez:
Alvarez, of Somos Aurora, told the crowd that local organizing was the answer to threats of an immigration crackdown and to anti-immigrant rhetoric. He pointed to the way community members had responded to an influx of new immigrants.
"Instead (of the city), it was us, the community, the Good Samaritans who came together and responded, and brought (newcomers) into our households, into our buildings, and we found a way to integrate them into our community."
He added: "The fear and nervousness in our communities, it's palpable, and it is why we stand here collectively today to push back, to lift up our voices in unison and say, 'We are all Aurora.'"
Melinda Campbell:
Campbell, a 70-year-old Denverite, said that her church, the Washington Park United Church of Christ, had helped to get her involved.
"We've been writing letters, we've been talking to people, we've been working and we've also been working on self care and joy as resistance," she said. And she didn't mind the snow.
"It's important. These kids are scared. People are scared. Those are not all criminals," she said.
"I hardly speak Spanish, but I know a lot of workers who are Mexican, Colombian, Guatemalan. And they are hard workers who have been taking care of me my whole life in restaurants, housekeeping, in hotels, in the fields, bringing food in the packing plants. Without them I don't know what I do, so I'm gonna stand in solidarity with them when they are under attack. It only makes sense."
Moira Casados Cassidy:
Casados Cassidy, a teacher in Aurora, said she wanted to stand up for public schools.
"Trump and his billionaire friends would like us to think that American public schools are failing because immigrant kids are draining our resources. It's nonsense. They want us to think that woke curriculum or teachers' unions are the reason. But we know the truth. We know that the ultra-rich have been starving our public schools for resources, attacking public education for decades," she said in a speech.
Reporting by Kevin J. Beaty, edited and arranged by Alex Scoville and Andrew Kenney.
