Ray Manzari

photo credit: George Hudetz, Erie CO, No Kings Day Table of Contents hide Erie used to have 500 houses, 1,200 people, and dirt roads—not in 1890 but as recently as 1990. However, like so many Colorado Front Range towns, it’s seen rapid, relentless growth since then. Today, it’s home to 40,000 people and projected to hit 70,000. (Let’s just hope they don’t choose sprawl in the years ahead.) Back in 2000, Erie was the fastest-growing municipality in the state, posting a wild 300% growth rate.

In response to growing national uproar over the Trump administration’s increased deportations, Denver joined other cities such as New York and Los Angeles in localized protests calling for the release of those who have been detained by ICE. The emergency demonstration was co-organized by the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and the Party for Socialism & Liberation, with the Denver chapter calling out the Trump administration’s “militarized” immigration crackdown.

“When I saw his eyes, I knew right then, he was already gone.” Kilyn Lewis’s mother, LaRonda Jones, remembers seeing her son in the hospital for the first time after being shot by Aurora Police Officer Michael Dieck. In May of 2024, the Aurora Police Department obtained a warrant for Lewis’s arrest after connecting him to a non-fatal shooting that had taken place earlier in the month.