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Commenter says proposed anti-ICE policy needs real-time enforcement, not after-the-fact citations
Summary
An attendee praised council members for drafting anti-ICE language but argued that post-hoc citations will not protect people from violent federal actors and urged the Denver Police Department to be authorized to intervene in real time to protect protesters and civilians.
Eric Gross told the council he supported the effort to draft anti-ICE policies but said the proposed language would be ineffective if it only allowed citations after an incident. "It needs to be enforced in real time, which means DPD needs to be authorized to show up and get between the people trying to kill our civilians and the protesters who show up to try to protect immigrants," Gross said.
Gross criticized the idea that masking restrictions and after-the-fact citations will prevent violence by federal agents and said identifying agents retroactively or relying on federal cooperation is not realistic. He referenced social-media attention around the killing of Renee Goode and raised concerns about the presence and tactics of federal agents when they return to Denver.
Gross urged council members to push for operational tools that would allow local police to act immediately to protect civilians rather than relying solely on written policies and later enforcement. His comments were framed as public comment and did not trigger a council response during the session.
