DENVER — A deadly shooting at a Dallas ICE facility on Wednesday prompted ICE facilities across the country to go into "higher alert", according to ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons.
The shooting resulted in the death of one detainee and critically wounded at least two other detainees, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Wednesday's announcement regarding the alert status for all ICE facilities prompted some concern from immigration advocates who've spent months demonstrating outside of Colorado facilities.
"I think what's going through my mind is, like, a lot of confusion about what is happening right now with the amount of violence," said Brandon Gehrke Quintanilla, with Aurora Unidos CSO.
Gehrke Quintanilla is one of many organizers and demonstrators who've spent several months outside of the Denver ICE field office and several other facilities throughout Colorado.
He spoke with Denver7 on Wednesday about some of the conversations volunteers and organizers are starting to have following the deadly Dallas ICE facility shooting.
"Some of the conversations we were having are, you know, trying to figure out, like, what's next, and figuring out how we can continue to support our community," he said.
For Jennifer Piper, the program director of the Colorado office of the American Friends Service Committee, the commitment to demonstrating and advocating for those at ICE facilities throughout the state remains.
"We believe in the dignity and the security of every single person's life, but this attack really impacted immigrants and wounded them," Piper told Denver7. "So, where we can, we will continue to have a presence, will continue to update our security protocols, but we feel pretty confident about the way in which we keep each other safe."
Denver7 reached out to a Denver ICE spokesperson with questions surrounding security protocols, but declined to discuss the matter.
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