Immigration rally draws hundreds to Old Town Square

Saja Hindi
The Coloradoan
Oscar Harris, 6, holds his sign reading "I Need My Mama" while sitting on his father Alex Harris' shoulders during the Families Belong Together interfaith vigil on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at Old Town Square in Fort Collins, Colo.

The message was clear: You may be angry, you may be upset, but unless you turn that emotion into action, it does no one any good.

Hundreds gathered at Old Town Square in Fort Collins on the day of the primaries, but  they were gathered to protest immigrant family separations and detentions.

It was a preview of what's to come in Denver and other cities around the nation on Saturday, part of the national Families Belong Together events. The event was sponsored by Fort Collins for Progress, Fuerza Latina, The Family Center/La Familia, the Community Equity Consortium, the Fort Collins Jewish Action Network, ISAAC of Northern Colorado and the Foothills Unitarian Church.

Advocates credit much of the work on organizing the event to Johanna Ulloa, who serves on the board of directors at La Familia, La Cocina and the Poudre River Public Library District.

Fort Collins resident Sally Harris and her family attended the rally on Tuesday, her 6-year-old son Oscar holding up a sign proudly that read, "I need my Mama." 

"I believe what's going on is horrifying and there has to be something we can do," Harris said.

Her family donated to a group supporting immigrants and they plan to haul themselves, with a newborn, to Denver. She hopes people left Old Town on Tuesday with three things: a sense of purpose and where to go from there, a shared sense of anger and hope, and a understanding that "Fort Collins will not stand for this."  

That's a message the speakers from immigrant advocacy groups and religious groups shared as they stood on stage, addressing the crowd.

"I was so angry," Ximena Ramirez said of the last time she was writing slogans on a poster for a protest and pressed so hard that the tip of her Sharpie went through the poster.

"Now, some will say that's not a good emotion to hold on to. But I say if there is ever a time to be angry, this is it," she said.

Ramirez said as people lay in their own beds comfortably, there are mothers who are lying awake wondering if they will ever see their children again. She talked about children representing themselves in court because they are unable to afford lawyers who speak a language they don't. She talked about undocumented parents, such as her own, who have to talk to their children about what to do if ICE agents show up to their house.

"... we should be annoyed that we are debating whether or not we should be ripping families apart. We should be displeased at the lack of progress for immigration reform. And we should definitely feel hostile to those who justify putting kids in cages for the sake of our national security," she said.

Among a lineup of numerous speakers, Rabbi Hillel Katzir and Islamic Center of Fort Collins spokesman Shakir Muhammed spoke about how their faith traditions teach them to stand up against injustice and to take action whether through their votes, talking to elected representatives or other ways of making their voices heard. Foothills Unitarian Church's Rev. Gretchen Haley led the group in prayer, referencing the trauma and grief everyone at the event shares with those in immigration detention centers.

Local residents Suzanne Brown, left, and Carla Parker hold hands during a prayer at the Families Belong Together interfaith vigil on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at Old Town Square in Fort Collins, Colo.

Stephanie Torres from Fuerza Latina shared her own story of being separated from her own family at age 10 and again at age 13 when her brother and father were deported.

The current administration, she said, is making legal immigration "impossible."

"Family separation has been happening for a really long time, and ... even if family separation ends at the border, it's not the end of the problem, and it shouldn't be the end of our outrage or activism, either," she said.

Executive Director of The Family Center/La Familia Deirdre Sullivan encouraged attendees to donate to the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network other groups in the area supporting immigrants as one way to fight back against the family separations.

Pastor David Williams implored the crowd to take action.

"Bad times demand good people. Bad times demand resilient people. Bad times demand fearless people. Bad times demand men and women that are fearless enough to say, 'No more, no more, no more,'..." he said.

That's what brought Deb James, the president of the local chapter of NOCONOW, to the event. "It doesn't end today, please," she said.

"No matter how you felt, walking away today, feeling it doesn't matter unless you do something."

For 16-year-old Emma Larson, seeing a photo of a young girl crying for her mother before being detained that has made the social media rounds was the reason she attended.

"As someone who has little siblings, that was super upsetting to me," she said.

She told her mother, Jessica Vyvial-Larson, they should attend the event. Her mother had already planned to go "to do the right thing and stand up on the right side of history."

Reporter Saja Hindi covers public safety, courts and accountability. Follow her on Twitter @BySajaHindi or email her at shindi@coloradoan.com.