Confrontation escalates between protesters, federal agents in Durango

Immigration arrests of parent, two children spark demonstrations

More than 24 hours of peaceful protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Durango culminated Tuesday with pepper spray and rubber bullets being used against protesters.

Protesters gathered at the site Monday morning after a man and his two middle school children were arrested that morning on their way to school. Protesters formed a human chain in front of the field office gates Monday night to block federal agents from removing the family from the facility.

The chain held through midday Tuesday until masked ICE agents in military-style desert camouflage attacked protesters after ordering them to disperse. The agents flanked protesters from east Sheppard Drive and broke through the ranks to reach the facility gates, deploying mace, firing rubber bullets and dragging away protesters who were seated on the pavement in front of field office entrance.

After protesters were cleared from one entrance gate, a black van – reportedly transporting the family – appeared from beyond the barbed wire surrounding the field office and left the facility.

Protesters, soaked in pepper spray, wailed as others rushed to their aid with milk, water and saline solutions.

“They beat the (expletive) out of us,” said Autumn, a protester who declined to share her last name. “They came here and in under three minutes they’re spraying us. They’re hitting us point-blank in the back of the head with rubber bullets, which is a human rights violation.”

She said ICE agents are “illegally doing the bidding of the state” and are complicit in disappearing people and “atrocities against American citizens.”

Facilitated release ‘no longer an option’

ICE agents told the Durango Police Department that they attempted to release the children to another parent but were unsuccessful, according to a city news release on Tuesday. Durango officers then offered on multiple occasions to help facilitate the release back to the children, “but were informed that it was no longer an option,” according to the city.

On Tuesday, police received a report that one of the children may have been in distress and potentially experiencing abuse, the city said. Officers attempted to conduct a welfare check and to bring food to the family.

“Unfortunately, federal agents denied officers entry to the facility,” the city wrote in its release.

At the request of Durango Fire Protection District, Durango police helped ensure emergency vehicles could safely come and go from Station No. 1 in Bodo Industrial Park, according to the city. Protesters were double-parked on both sides of the road near the ICE field office.

Early morning flash point

Organizers said they planned to remain peaceful while delaying ICE efforts to separate the family. Around 1 a.m. Tuesday, Durango police officers arrived to monitor the situation but left a few hours later.

Just before 6 a.m. Tuesday, a vehicle without license plates arrived to deliver food to the family, according to the vehicle’s driver. Federal agents then emerged from the building, and a confrontation ensured. Agents threw protesters’ belongings across the road.

Protester Francy Stagi said an agent took the phone out of her hand as she recorded, then grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground in a choke hold. She was afraid the agent would kick her to death.

Other agents attempted to restrain the officer before they all retreated back into the building. Demonstrators called 911, but Stagi said she was uninjured.

Stagi, laughing lightly, said she received a parking ticket from DPD. When she reported her assault by ICE agents to local police, officers told her there was nothing they could do about it.

“This is (expletive) Nazi Germany. This is Pinochet in Chile,” she said.

She said protesters outside the ICE field office had no way of knowing how the children arrested Monday morning were being treated by agents inside.

“Maybe they’re yelling at her. Maybe they’re pulling her fingernails out one by one. We don’t know,” she said.

Gov. Polis: Lack of transparency ‘extremely maddening’

The city said a video taken about 6 a.m. Tuesday showed “an elderly” woman being shoved to the ground by a federal agent. The city said it asked the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for assistance investigating the incident, but as of 5:15 p.m. CBI had not formally decided to investigate the case.

“Because the event occurred on federal property, the FBI is also looking into the incident,” the city said.

Durango City Councilor Shirley Gonzales attended the protest Tuesday morning. Trembling, she said she had never witnessed anything like the confrontation that unfolded that afternoon.

She said the family whose arrest sparked the protest was going through the legal channels to seek asylum, and she’s disappointed to see them being targeted.

The city said it is committed to transparency, compassion and the safety of all residents.

“We support every individual’s right to peacefully protest and assemble,” Mayor Gilda Yazzie said in a release. “This is a deeply challenging moment for our community.”

An ICE spokesman in Denver declined to respond to questions by phone Tuesday afternoon. He said he would only respond to questions by email, but he provided no response to emailed questions as of 8 p.m. Tuesday.

In a statement to The Denver Post, Gov. Jared Polis said he was “deeply concerned” about the family’s detention.

“The federal government’s lack of transparency about its immigration actions in Durango and the free state of Colorado remains extremely maddening,” he wrote. “The federal government should prioritize apprehending and prosecuting dangerous criminals, no matter where they come from, and keep our communities safe instead of snatching up children and breaking up families.”

All night protest

Throughout the evening Monday, demonstrators vowed to practice nonviolent resistance against the federal agents.

“These community members are willing to put their bodies and their criminal records on the line, and the human chain is the hardest thing for them to get through because in order to get through us, they have to escalate to violence,” said Jay, an organizer who declined to give his last name. “We don’t want to do that, and we will sit here and let them escalate if that’s what they choose to do.”

Federal agents were attempting to separate a father and two children despite a pending asylum case, according to an employee with Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center, who declined to be identified.

“The official stated they will proceed with processing the family, despite having an open and pending asylum case,” the Compañeros employee said. “I also spoke with the mother, who received a call from one of her children. The children were told they are being moved to Texas, and it appears they will be separated from their father.”

The employee also said the family had no pending criminal charges or violations.

Demonstrators brought food, coffee, blankets and cardboard signs. They set up a tear gas station stocked with milk, bottled water and saline solution.

“We’re saying we stand with our community members, and we’re willing to risk whatever it is that we have to in order to get them back,” Jay said.

By 10:30 p.m., some 70 people remained, seated in front of the two entrances to the facility with linked arms. That number dwindled to roughly 50 through the night, but the protesters wrapped themselves in blankets and waited for a sign from either the agents or the family.

At 12:47 a.m., several Durango Police Department vehicles arrived on scene to monitor the situation. According to Sgt. Padraic Ingle, they were there to ensure the rights of all parties involved were upheld and that violence did not break out.

“We’re just here to make sure that everybody’s safe,” Ingle said. “We love that they are here to exercise their First Amendment right, and so that’s why we’re here. We uphold the Constitution and we uphold the ordinances of our community. So that’s ultimately what we’re doing.”

Because tensions were running high, Ingle said, emotions can get carried away and lead to conflict.

“We want to make sure that if that does happen, people are still doing it in a way that benefits society, versus tears it down totally,” Ingle said.

He said DPD is not involved with ICE operations, and that the department has made no plans with the agency. If violence did break out on either side, he said officers would step in to stop it.

City spokesman Tom Sluis said DPD was asked by the Durango Fire Protection District to help ensure emergency vehicles had access to the fire station. At that time, a smaller number of protesters were receptive to the requests of a code enforcement officer, he said.

By 5:30 a.m., DPD officers had left the scene. And by 5:50 a.m., an unmarked police vehicle without license plates arrived. ICE agents emerged from the facility and began trying to clear a way for the vehicle to enter. Demonstrators in the human chain remained seated and did not obey the agents’ demands.

One agent was throwing chairs and signs across the road and tipped over a propane fire pit demonstrators had set up to keep warm. He also shoved a teenage demonstrator.

As he was doing so, demonstrator Anne Stagi began taking video of the agent with her phone.

“What would Jesus do?” she repeatedly asked.

The agent then took her phone out of her hands and threw it across the road.

“I was asking him, ‘what would Jesus do?’ Because they say they’re all good Christian nationalists,” Stagi said.

Through tears, Stagi said her grandparents lived in Nazi Germany and that the behavior of the Trump administration and ICE reminded her of some of their stories.

Brian Rogers, a protester blocking the gate Tuesday, was shot with rubber bullets – once in the neck and again in the back. He lifted his shirt and showed a large welt on his back.

He said he was overwhelmed and angry, and ICE didn’t need to take the children in their custody anywhere.

“Children being abducted in our community is something I can’t stand,” he said. “I want to try to do what I can to prevent that.”

Jay said protesters remained peaceful, despite ICE’s actions.

“ICE rolled out of their facility and immediately escalated,” Jay said. “We were sitting here peacefully, blocking their way, and they came out swinging, pushing people around. (They) attacked a person who was exercising their right to film in a public space.”

cburney@durangoherald.com

sedmondson@durangoherald.com

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