3 Arrested At ICE Protest Outside GEO Official's Home In Aurora
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- Three people were arrested at the ICE protest outside of the home of a GEO official on Thursday night. The target was the home of ICE processing center administration official Johnny Choate.
Dozens of "Abolish ICE Denver" protesters marched through the streets of the Aurora neighborhood where Choate lives, for a couple of hours.
"This is a public forum, we have First Amendment rights and its entirely appropriate," said one protester.
"I came here with my two children, one is 7, one is 5, if I was worried about safety at this protest we wouldn't be here with my kids," said another.
#YourSupportMatters We have received so many messages of thanks from residents of our @tgcmd_org neighborhood. We know this was very disruptive for your ordinarily quiet community. We also commend everyone for not getting baited into the agitators efforts to incite everyone. https://t.co/G9WP25iQGz
— Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD) September 20, 2019
To those who live there, safety of property and disruption were big concerns.
"I think it's a misuse of their time and their effort to come into his neighborhood trying to harass neighbors," said one resident.
This week, the ACLU released a report critical of conditions inside the detention facility but did not call for the protest outside of the official's home.
Those arrested at the protest were facing charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
#APDAlert Tonight during the protest three males were arrested. Two were adults, and the third we are working to get a positive identification on. They will be prosecuted by the @DA18th Among their charges are Obstruction, Disorderly Conduct and resisting arrest. pic.twitter.com/qEE4pVLwB7
— Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD) September 20, 2019
A GEO Group spokesman provided the following statement, "Tonight we breathe a sigh of relief that our employee's family and his neighbors are safe and their properties remain intact. Unfortunately, the spectacle has set a new low in our politics and public discourse.
"We hope the community support and pushback from brave leaders opposing this dangerous idea will serve as a deterrent for any future protests targeting people in their family's homes and neighborhoods. These misdirected attacks and intimidation of our employees must stop and we encourage our local leaders to stand against these hateful tactics and push for a return to civil discourse. Remember, our employees are also your neighbors, friends and colleagues, who share the same compassion and professionalism that many other Coloradans pursue in their trades.
"We continue to believe that these activists seeking open borders or other changes to our immigration laws should direct their thoughts and ideas to our elected leaders in their constituent offices. We can't solve the immigration crisis from our facilities but as we've done over the past 30 years in Aurora, we'll continue to provide the same high-quality, professional services we provided to both Democratic and Republican administrations."