Denver Jews Hold Passover Vigil Outside Aurora GEO Detention Facility

Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

4/9/26

Media Contact: Devin Seligsohn | 720.429.9074 | [email protected]

Denver Jews Hold Passover Vigil Outside Aurora GEO Detention Facility

Denver/Boulder Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and allies, including many local immigrant justice groups, call to free the immigrants detained inside, while also linking ICE violence with Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.

Aurora, CO (April 8, 2026) —Last night, April 8, 2026, on the final night of Passover, local members of Denver/Boulder JVP led a Yizkor (grief) vigil outside of the Aurora GEO Detention Facility, calling for the freedom of those detained inside and linking ICE violence with Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. The event included Jewish Rabbis, local human rights advocates, local musicians, and dozens of community members of all ages and different faiths who showed up in support.

Quoting from the Torah, Rabbi Michael Kengmana of Denver/Boulder Jewish Voice for Peace said, “‘Be kind to the stranger for you too were a stranger’ goes beyond just being kind to others. The deeper point is that we are all strangers in some way. The Jewish story is one of migration; we all come from somewhere else and are trying to make a home here, same as the majority of people on this land. It will take all of us to come together against rising fascism, division, and oppression to carry out our exodus – our vision for true liberation and a just peace for all, whether they be immigrants detained behind these walls or Palestinians being bombed and starved in Gaza.”

Yizkor is a memorial prayer honoring the deceased that is traditionally recited four times a year, including on the final night of Passover. “Passover” or “Pesach” is a holiday commemorating Jewish people’s historic and ongoing struggles against oppression. While Yizkor is often recited in a synagogue, JVP held the prayer service publicly outside the detention facility to express support for those detained inside, and all local immigrant communities experiencing state violence and displacement – similar to the state-sanctioned violence and antisemitism Jewish communities have faced throughout history. JVP was joined by allies including American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Aurora Unidos, Colorado Rapid Response Network (CORNN), Jews Against ICE, Shutdown GEO, the Denver Metro Niggun Collective, and U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN).

During the vigil, community members hung handmade red poppies on the fence to show their solidarity and support for the detainees. Red poppies are a symbol of Palestinian liberation and are therefore a symbol of liberation for all oppressed people from Minneapolis to Denver to Palestine to Iran. Throughout the program, acoustic musicians and singers led the community in song, and at one point, the people inside the detention facility could be seen through the windows. People outside could see the shadows of their heads bouncing around and arms waving to the crowd. It was both heartbreaking and beautiful to see the community outside waving to the people detained inside, and those detained waving back.

Abdullah Elagha, a member of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the Colorado Palestine Coalition, said in a speech: “Right there. There’s a little flimsy fence, and a wall, is that wall not even a foot thick, between me and them? And there’s nothing that I can do for them. And it burns me that they’re in there. I know that it’s wrong. I know that it’s evil. It might not be personal for me, but it burns me, and I want to do everything that I can.”

Rae Jones, a member of Denver/Boulder Jewish Voice for Peace, rewrote “Dayenu,” a traditional Passover seder song for the current times. Together, the crowd sang:

No one is illegal on stolen land

Side by side, we demand

End Detention, End Deportation

Dayenu

Come for one, face us all

Everyone must heed the call

No more borders, free them all

Dayenu

“Trump and Netanyahu are the Pharaohs of our time. We refuse to bend the knee! Instead, we forge solidarity with all people committed to collective liberation and fight for a future of freedom & safety for all. THIS is how we choose to honor Passover.” The Passover story teaches about having faith and that even in the darkest moments, freedom is still on the horizon. This community remains steadfast in the fight for freedom and safety for Palestinians and all people.

The Jewish Voice for Peace family of organizations organizes a grassroots, multiracial, cross-class, intergenerational movement of U.S. Jews into solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle, guided by a vision of justice, equality, and dignity for all people. Jewish Voice for Peace Action (JVP Action), our 501(c)(4) organization, is now doing business as Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), while our 501(c)(3) work continues through JVP Leadership and Culture Lab (JVP Lab). JVP is the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world.

###