Community rallies around 4 charged in Colorado protests against ICE

Lauren Penington, The Denver Post on Sep 9, 2026

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DENVER — Dozens of community members filed into Arapahoe County District Court on Wednesday morning, slowly filling the fourth-floor courtroom in support of a group of protesters arrested during a July anti-ICE demonstration.

Supporters moved from one courtroom to the next shortly before 9 a.m., as the four protesters stood before judges for arraignment in different court divisions. Less than an hour earlier, the group had gathered outside the courthouse, chanting and waving signs that read “Drop the charges now!” and “Protesting is not a crime!”

“Our communities are being destroyed, and free speech is not a crime,” organizer Brandon Gehrke said to the small crowd gathered outside the courthouse. “That’s why we’re standing here today: to be able to defend our movement and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who have been arrested.”

Yoselin Corrales, Arnie Carter, Mateo Henry and Terry Burnsed were all charged with obstructing a passageway, according to Arapahoe County court records. Corrales and Henry also face charges of obstructing a peace officer.

The charges stem from a July 20 demonstration outside an ICE field office in Centennial, 12445 E. Caley Ave., according to the protesters’ court summons. More than 100 people showed up that day to protest ICE violence and detention-center neglect, said Andy McNulty, Carter’s attorney.

Copies of the summons and complaints provided by the court appeared similar to traffic tickets and did not provide additional information about the incident or the arrests.

National immigration arrests began to increase in May and surged in July, according to the Deportation Data Project. Legal documents from Colorado attorneys filed at the end of August allege immigration agents acted illegally and violently during many of those arrests, including one incident where an 18-year-old’s face was repeatedly slammed into the pavement in a convenience store parking lot.

ICE agents arrested 495 people in Colorado in July, a 93% spike from March, according to a Denver Post data analysis.

Adams County health officials also publicly confirmed an active tuberculosis investigation at the Aurora immigration detention center in early July, less than a week before the Centennial protest. The Adams County Health Department began investigating reports of the disease in late June.

Detention center officials were slow to cooperate with the investigation and allegedly ignored deadlines to turn over records, prompting the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to file a federal lawsuit in August.

“We were standing up using our First Amendment rights to stand up against the kidnapping of our neighbors and illegal detentions,” Carter said. Still, he said, the arrest wasn’t a surprise because he’s seen retaliation against protesters before.

Obstructing passageways is a “classic crime” used to charge protesters, McNulty said. “No one else gets charged for standing on the sidewalk,” he said.

Crimes like obstruction and jaywalking are rarely prosecuted, but often appear in cases against protesters, McNulty said.

“These individuals were protesting ICE and the horrific abuses of the Trump administration,” said Victoria Dorn, Corrales’ attorney. “They are being prosecuted for exercising their First Amendment rights, and that’s simply it. These are trumped-up charges.”

Dorn said these charges are intended to scare people into not speaking out about the constitutional rights violations happening every day.

“It’s incredibly disappointing that Amy Padden, who ran as a progressive prosecutor, is choosing to file charges against individuals who are trying to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our community instead of going after ICE agents who day after day violate state and federal laws, not just here in Denver but across the country,” Dorn said.

The 18th District Attorney’s Office fully supports “the public’s right to peacefully protest and to express their views in accordance with the law,” spokesperson Eric Ross said in an email to The Denver Post. But “circumstances can arise when conduct during a protest potentially violates other applicable laws,” he said.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for body-worn-camera video or officer reports from the arrests.

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