Lumpkin, GA — It has been almost five months since Victor Puertas was arrested at the South River Music Festival in DeKalb County, GA on March 5, and even though no evidence has been levied against him, he has been behind bars ever since. Throughout…
Across Florida, protests are taking place to mark the beginning of an immigrant labor stoppage that is scheduled to last until at least July 3rd. Large crowds are being reported in Orlando, Tampa, and various areas in South Florida and as far away as Chicago…
Recent protests and boycotts in response to anti-immigrant legislation in Florida are having lasting impacts on communities upheld by undocumented immigrants. The June 1st labor strikes coordinated by Latino organizers on TikTok made a statement not just on the seriousness of the immigration debate but…
Southern Arizona – Starting Tuesday, along I-10 in Southern Arizona, observant commuters may have noticed a peculiar uptick in the interstate’s westbound traffic — dozens, maybe even hundreds, of empty shipping containers were hauled one-by-one down the highway.
From unincorporated land in Cochise County to…
Boulder, CO – After more than four years of claiming sanctuary at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, Ingrid Encalada Latorre was granted a one year stay of removal.
Although this is positive news for Encalada Latorre, and her family and friends, there is more…
Bloomington, MN – Dozens of people gathered outside the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention center at the Whipple Building in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on February 20 to demand an “end to the war on immigrants.”
After an opening ceremonial dance by Kalpulli Yaocenoxtli, Unicorn…
Aurora, CO – Nineteen new COVID-19 cases were reported on September 30 at the GEO Group’s privately-owned and operated Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) jail. Published in the most recent accountability report by the office of Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO6), this COVID-19 outbreak is the…
Aurora, CO – An encampment outside the GEO Group’s ICE detention facility in Colorado sprung up on Saturday evening, May 23, with the demand: free them all. The camp-out is in direct response to an announcement by the Tri-County Health Department on May 21 stating…
Aurora, CO – Since February 20, 2020, a total of 141 detainees remain quarantined due to outbreaks of the flu and mumps at the sole Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Colorado, privately owned and operated by GEO Group. This facility is currently…
Denver, CO – Like others who have claimed sanctuary from deportation, Jorge Araiza Ávila decided to skip his appointment with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official on December 10, 2019, and instead, took refuge at Park Hill United Methodist Church and Temple Micah. On…
Aurora, CO – Two days into the New Year, Jeanette Vizguerra received a distraught phone call from Dennis Hernández who is a detainee inside the GEO Group’s ICE detention facility in Aurora. Hernández told Vizguerra that he among other detainees had received rotten food two…
Boulder, CO – Colorado Governor Jared Polis, on Monday, pardoned undocumented mother Ingrid Encalada Latorre, among others. Encalada Latorre has been claiming sanctuary at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder for more than two years, and in September she gave birth to her third child…
Aurora, CO – On September 19, 2019, as the sun set over the suburban home of Johnny Choate, CEO and warden of the GEO Group’s local ICE detention facility, more than two hundred community members gathered with signs, banners, and musical instruments to condemn the…
St. Paul, MN – For over three hours, hundreds of ‘Never Again’ protesters blockaded traffic around Minnesota’s Federal Immigrant Customs Enforcement (ICE) building on Tuesday, July 30. The protest called for the closing of ICE border detention centers, which protesters deem as concentration camps. 27…
Aurora, CO – On Friday, July 12, 2019, more than 1,500 people participated in a protest outside the sole Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in the state, owned and operated by the private prison corporation GEO Group.
The protesters were expressing their opposition…
Aurora, CO – As part of an international call to action by multiple coalitions of social justice and human rights groups, a vigil and march is planned for Friday, June 12, outside the GEO Group’s ICE Detention facility in Aurora.
Watch our live coverage below:…
Denver, CO – Immigrant rights leader and undocumented mother and grandmother, Jeanette Vizguerra, has been living at the First Unitarian Society for three months, which is the second time she has claimed sanctuary from deportation. On June 20, 2019, she held a press conference at…
Aurora, CO – Friday marks the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year. Often the solstice is an especially dangerous day for those who are walking through the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border in search of relief in the United States. Community…
Mexico/U.S. Border – Unicorn Riot sent a team of two that spent five days from November 15 to 20, 2018 along the United States/Mexico border south of San Diego, California as caravans of asylum seekers arrived in Tijuana, Mexico. We witnessed coils of razor wire…
Aurora, CO – On Sunday evening, immigrant rights and social justice advocates began setting up tents and tarps outside one of the biggest privately-owned ICE Detention Facilities in the country. This detention facility in Aurora is operated by the prison company GEO Group and has…
Centennial, CO – On the morning of Thursday, August 2, 2018, after sustaining an #OccupyICE encampment vigil for almost four days, eight advocates blockaded the two main driveway entrances to the ICE Denver Field Office. Using PVC pipes to connect their arms, the eight participants,…
Centennial, CO – In the evening of Sunday, July 29, 2018, a coalition of many local immigrant rights and social justice groups gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Denver Field Office to hold an encampment vigil.
Watch our live coverage below from Monday…
Unicorn Riot obtained a series of Homeland Security Investigations policy manuals. Part 4 of the Icebreaker series of stories covers the 2008 version of the special agent training program, shedding light on the overall architecture of the Department of Homeland Security and how it instills…
Unicorn Riot obtained confidential Department of Homeland Security manuals showing how DHS’s largest investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations, advised its agents to conduct their operations. Part 3 of the Icebreaker series turns to the “Compliance Enforcement Investigations” and “Fugitives” handbooks, ICE/HSI manuals that lay out…
A confidential manual, which Unicorn Riot has obtained in full, guides the US Department of Homeland Security’s little-known investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations, in targeting and stripping citizenship from naturalized foreign-born Americans.
This is the first story in Unicorn Riot’s “Icebreaker” series, which aims to…
Aurora, CO – On February 5, 2018, poets, musicians, family members of detainees, and other community members will gather outside the for-profit GEO ICE Detention Center in Aurora, CO for the ninth year in a row.
Among the nearly 1500 detainees inside this detention center…
Aurora, CO – On November 6, 2017, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Coloradans for Immigrant Rights hosted their quarterly vigil at the GEO Group ICE Detention Center in Aurora, Colorado.
Unicorn Riot was live streaming the vigil, which can be watched below:
According…
Colorado – On Tuesday afternoon, October 17, 2017, Ingrid Encalada Latorre refused a court order to board a plane with her two children and be deported back to Peru; she instead returned to sanctuary.
Encalada Latorre was originally in sanctuary for six months from December…
Denver, CO – On May 20, 2017, Ingrid Encalada Latorre left sanctuary at Mountain View Friends Meeting and returned home to her children, nine-year-old Bryant and two-year-old Anibel, who are both U.S. citizens. She was granted a temporary stay of removal until August 7, 2017.…
UPDATE (5/24/17 6:55 PM MDT): Haris Simangunsong has been deported back to Indonesia; a country where he has not lived in for over 20 years and where he faces religious persecution. This breaking news was confirmed by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Coloradans For…