As a possible immigration crackdown loomed over Denver, about 1,800 people crammed into Shorter Community AME Church on Monday night for a “know your rights” training.
“We are 14 days into the second Trump administration, and what a staggering two weeks it has been,” organizer Katie Leonard said from the dais as she opened the session.
The event, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, was meant to teach people how to resist federal law enforcement and protect undocumented immigrants from arrest. It was one of the largest events organized locally in response to President Donald Trump's new administration.
PSL gained traction in Denver in 2020, as President Trump’s first term waned and the city roiled in a wave of protests against racism and police violence. The group was behind large protests in Aurora over the death of Elijah McClain at the hands of Aurora police and paramedics.
Now, the party is attracting sizable crowds to events like this one.
“Trump and his billionaire friends have a coherent, aggressive and highly coordinated plan,” Leonard continued. “Part of their strategy is to launch attacks from so many different directions that we can't keep up. And the hope is that we will be so lost in confusion and fear and despair that we won't know what to do or even have the spirit to try. But we have not lost our spirit, have we?”
“No!” the crowd boomed back.
A week ago, about 400 people tried to fit into PSL's small office on Downing Street for an organizing meeting. The group moved its meeting to Shorter Community AME Church to accommodate an even larger crowd — showing there's an apparent appetite for political organizing.
Yes, there will be protests, Leonard told the crowd — including one coalescing for Wednesday afternoon at the Capitol and another planned by PSL for Saturday. But people should do more than protest, she added.
Her colleagues played a video for their guests. In it, Trump immigration czar Tom Homan told a CNN anchor that enforcement in Chicago has been stifled by resistance.
“They’ve been educated how to defy ICE, on how to hide from ICE,” Homan said onscreen as the crowd cheered. “They call it ‘Know Your Rights.’ I call it how to escape.”
Last week, reports emerged that the Trump administration was preparing immigration raids in Denver and elsewhere. Denver may be a target because of its liberal immigration policies and a national controversy about a Venezuelan gang.
The first major raid was reportedly delayed, and a planned detention center at Aurora’s Buckley Space Force base also appears to have fizzled, but organizers have continued to rally around the issue.
“This tactic is working, and that's why a big part of what we're going to be doing today is around knowing your rights and spreading that information,” Leonard said at the microphone. “We have to continue to signal to our immigrant community — to the country, to the world — that we stand with our immigrant neighbors.”
The group put out a call for printers, asking anyone with access to help them produce cards with basic information about when people must cooperate with law enforcement, and when they can resist. Organizers charged the crowd with taping those to lampposts and handing them out.
It was a practical call to action, something people like Ashley Shepherd were looking for after the inauguration. She grew up in Texas, where immigration issues always hit close to home and activist gatherings like this were usually much smaller.
“It's really incredible to see so many people mobilize,” she told us. “I am just reflecting and kind of taking it all in, and I think it’s really special to be able to see that. And I think that it’s — I don't know — healing in some kind of way.”
This article is part of a series about how Denver metro residents are responding to the new Trump administration and its plans for an immigration crackdown. Elsewhere, attorneys are helping immigrants apply for asylum, and immigrants are looking to escape notorious apartment buildings in Aurora.
