Protestors speak out at Pueblo City Council meeting against ICE’s potential use of city airport
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PUEBLO, Colo. — More than 30 protesters attended last night’s city council meeting in Pueblo to show their opposition to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s potential use of Pueblo Memorial Airport.
“What ICE is doing is against the American way, and it’s against Pueblo’s way,” said Roxana Mack, president of the local NAACP Pueblo branch.
Mack was part of a coalition of local nonprofit and activist groups — including Air Without ICE, Pueblo’s local NAACP chapter, El Movimiento Sigue, Center for Health Progress, Together Colorado and Pueblo Indivisible — that organized members of the public to attend the city council meeting. Members of the group wore orange. The group spoke out against the possibility of ICE using Pueblo Memorial Airport to service deportation flights.
These groups organized after Colorado Newsline obtained and published part of an email from the aviation director of Pueblo Memorial Airport, Greg Pedroza, that asked Walsenburg city administration to connect him with CoreCivic to have Pueblo’s airport considered as a location to service ICE deportation flights.
Pedroza denied allegations that there are plans or agreements to service ICE deportation flights at Pueblo Memorial Airport.
Last night's protest is part of a wave of similar demonstrations across Colorado. In Walsenburg, the public has rallied against a proposed ICE facility by protesting every Friday at the dormant Huerfano County Correction Facilities for the past three months.
Susan Jagd, a protestor dressed in orange, was selected in a lottery system for public comment, and read an open letter written by the coalition of nonprofit and activist groups.
“And me personally, ICE is not — it’s hateful, it’s unconstitutional, and it’s deplorable,” said Jagd. “So if you people are sitting here thinking that this is a good idea for us to make a little dough, then no.”
People in the crowd applauded after Jagd’s comments, then chanted “No ICE” for 30 seconds.
The public hearing session began with a woman who voiced support for ICE’s use of the airport.
“Some people in this room want more due process for illegals going out than we got when they came in, and I don’t think that’s fair,” said Laura Hall, a Pueblo resident who spoke at the public hearing — mostly to voice her concerns with the city’s police department after she was charged with a felony for allegedly reaching for her gun at October “No Kings” rally, where she participated as a counter-protestor.
Dennis Flores, a Pueblo City Council member, is opposed to ICE using the airport.
“If they use our airport, which we all know has limitations as to what we can do as a state or city, the federal government can do whatever they want to the airport, because they provide funds to us,” Flores said.
During the meeting, Flores said he will work to pass a resolution indicating that the city of Pueblo will not be a party in the transportation of deporting undocumented people.
Type of story: News
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Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.