{"id":13924,"date":"2026-01-16T22:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T05:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/immigrant-rights-advocates-advise-people-to-stay-calm-and-film-in-ice-encounters\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:32:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:32:25","slug":"immigrant-rights-advocates-advise-people-to-stay-calm-and-film-in-ice-encounters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/immigrant-rights-advocates-advise-people-to-stay-calm-and-film-in-ice-encounters\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrant rights advocates advise people to stay calm and film in ICE encounters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A woman covers her face from tear gas as federal immigration officers confront protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on Thursday in Minneapolis. (Adam Gray\/Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Tensions in U.S. cities, including in metro Denver, are steadily rising as President Donald Trump boosts immigration enforcement, sending agents across the country into neighborhoods and homes.<\/p>\n

The strain has erupted in violence.<\/p>\n

Last week, Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, was killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot into her vehicle during an encounter in Minneapolis. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agent was defending himself and other officers, while leaders in the city and the state disagreed.<\/p>\n

Immigrant rights advocates in Colorado say ICE\u2019s excessive force is documented locally.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust in Colorado, we\u2019ve seen ICE agents pepper-spray protesters in the face. We\u2019ve seen ICE drag elderly women on the ground,\u201d said Judith Marquez, a volunteer for the Colorado Rapid Response Network and a campaign manager for the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to wait for another Renee Nicole Good to be murdered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"U.S.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, including one wearing a 'NOT ICE' face covering, walk near their vehicles on Thursday in Richfield, Minn. (Adam Gray\/Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

ICE arrests have more than quadrupled since Trump took office, while average daily detention has doubled, according to the Migration Policy Institute. In Colorado, arrest rates quadrupled compared with the same period last year.<\/p>\n

Regardless of immigration status, people in the U.S. have rights. So what do you do if you encounter an ICE agent in a tense situation?<\/p>\n

ICE did not respond to our request for comment at the time of publication, but here\u2019s what immigrant rights activists say.<\/p>\n

\"A
A person is detained by federal agents near the scene where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week on Tuesday in Minneapolis. (Adam Gray\/Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Know your rights<\/div>\n

The coalition encourages people to familiarize themselves with their legal rights during encounters with ICE. Things like seeing a warrant, and invoking your right to a lawyer, as well as the right to remain silent and the right to record interactions \u2013 despite what agents might say \u2013 are all emphasized during the group\u2019s \u201cKnow Your Rights\u201d trainings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMagic words to remember, like, \u2018I do not consent to a search. I\u2019m going to remain silent. I want to speak to a lawyer. Am I free to leave? Have I done something wrong?\u2019\u201d said Nayda Benitez, the director of organizing for the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition.<\/p>\n

Protesting from observers during these encounters is well within people\u2019s rights, said Tim Macdonald, the legal director for the ACLU of Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are a hundred percent within their rights to express their views peacefully without obstructing law enforcement. That is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment to our Constitution,\u201d he said. \u201cThat includes filming officers and speaking to them and sharing their speech, letting the officers know what they think of what the officers are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said observers and protesters need to be cautious about what could be construed as obstructing. He also advised against being in that close of proximity for safety reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen, however, is more often than not, people are not doing anything that could remotely be called obstruction. And yet agents may claim they\u2019re engaging in obstruction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"A
A protester is sprayed with pepper spray by a Federal agent on Tuesday in Minneapolis. (Adam Gray\/Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Record at a safe distance<\/div>\n

The Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition advises people to record interactions at a safe distance and to pull out their phones before the encounter so it\u2019s not mistaken for a weapon.<\/p>\n

Macdonald with the ACLU said those videos keep the record straight.<\/p>\n

\u201cFilming law enforcement \u2026 is so important because that documents what actually happened,\u201d Macdonald said. \u201cWe saw that in spades with the murder of Renee Good in Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also added that it may be safer for observers to exit their cars so they can\u2019t be accused of presenting a danger to ICE.<\/p>\n

\"Federal
Federal agents get ready to disperse tear gas into a crowd at a protest on Jan. 12 in Minneapolis (Adam Gray\/Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
De-escalate<\/div>\n

In addition to a hotline for reporting ICE presence, the coalition documents stories of people who\u2019ve been detained. Both Benitez and Marquez said many protesters and detainees have been met with violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we can do is be calm and de-escalate, but I think that what we already know is that law enforcement, including ICE, can still harm us and use lethal force,\u201d Marquez said. \u201cThis should not, and it will not, stop us from exerting our right to peacefully protest and our right to stand up and protect our neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

If an officer is issuing an order, Macdonald said the ACLU of Colorado recommends people comply for their personal safety. If there are conflicting orders from officers, he said, people should verbally seek clarification on which orders to follow.<\/p>\n

\"Protesters
Protesters try to avoid tear gas dispersed by federal agents on Jan. 12 in Minneapolis. (Adam Gray\/Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Understand the risk<\/div>\n

Despite all these precautionary measures, there\u2019s still risk involved, said Whitney Leeds, a former criminal defense attorney who practiced in Colorado and gave guidance to people interacting with ICE during Trump\u2019s first administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no advice that anybody could give that\u2019s going to be like, \u2018Yep, just do this, and you\u2019re going to be safe.\u2019 The safest that we can be in light of that is knowing what our rights are, calmly asserting those rights, not giving an inch,\u201d Leeds said.<\/p>\n

Leeds said this time around, the administration is targeting people of color more. The ACLU in Minnesota has filed a lawsuit against the federal government for racially profiling Minnesotans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere used to be a general understanding of, OK, ICE agents, when they go out, they\u2019re going to have a specific person that they\u2019re looking for. They might have a mugshot of that person. If they had ever had any interaction with authorities previously, they\u2019ll have their name, they might have their date of birth,\u201d Leeds said. \u201cAt this point, this strategy is less tied to specific persons of interest and is much more tied to \u2018Well, just go and find somebody.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Those people, and observers attempting to occupy agents\u2019 time, are facing risks unlike those she\u2019s seen before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the questions around the use of force that we\u2019re seeing with the recent shootings of community members by ICE agents and this overuse and abuse of force, those are, I think, pretty candidly illegal and no amount of knowing your rights is necessarily going to be able to address that larger challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Federal
Federal agents stand outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis on Jan. 10. (Adam Gray\/Associated Press)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tensions run hot between protesters and agents<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1409,28,904,994],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-demonstration","tag-headlines","tag-immigration","tag-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13924"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19232,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13924\/revisions\/19232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13924"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}