DENVER – Hundreds of college and high school students demonstrated in downtown Denver, Boulder and elsewhere in Colorado on Tuesday to protest President Donald Trump’s decision to repeal a program protecting young immigrants from deportation.
Protesters converged on the Auraria campus of Metropolitan State University in Denver to hear speakers denounce the decision and demand that Congress act. Many held posters reading, “Accept my resistance and expect my resistance” and “No borders, no nations, no racists, no deportations.”
Trump’s administration will “wind down” a program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children, Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared Tuesday, calling the Obama administration’s program “an unconstitutional exercise of authority.”
The government will stop processing new applications under President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which has provided nearly 800,000 young immigrants – including 17,000 in Colorado – a reprieve from deportation and the ability to work legally in the U.S.
But the administration is giving Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix before the government stops renewing permits for people already covered by the program.
“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to act. I’m just going to show up to work until I can’t anymore,” said Paul Yumblo, 25, a teacher who was brought to the U.S. from Ecuador at age 4.
Dozens of high school students in Boulder marched to the University of Colorado campus. Activists called for rallies in Longmont, Glenwood Springs and elsewhere.
Demonstrations were held nationwide, including outside Trump Tower in Manhattan, near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Phoenix, and in Los Angeles and Miami.
University and community college leaders across Colorado condemned the decision and vowed not to cooperate with federal immigration authorities without court orders.
“My heart goes out to all those impacted,” said University of Denver chancellor Rebecca Chopp.
Others vowing to protect their students included leaders at Colorado College, Regis University, Colorado State University and the University of Colorado.
Democratic and some Republican politicians condemned Trump’s decision, while GOP U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of suburban Aurora said he would push legislation to extend DACA’s protections for three years to give lawmakers time to find a permanent solution.
Others, including Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, said it was time for Congress to act – although Congress has repeatedly failed to adopt immigration overhaul legislation.
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper urged the state’s congressional delegation to try by pursuing passage of the “Dream Act,” which would provide a path to legal U.S. citizenship for DACA beneficiaries.
“We will not turn our back on these young people and neither should our country,” Hickenlooper said.
