A grassroots organization fighting for Chicano justice and legalization for all celebrated its one-year birthday on the evening of Feb. 28th, Aurora Unidos hosted the Care Not Cages silent art auction, a night fueled by the love and positivity of community joining together to support immigrant communities targeted by mass deportation orders and racialized violence. Denver’s St. Thomas Episcopal Church’s 16th century-inspired architecture welcomed approximately seventy guests into the nave, which was occupied with dinner, auction, vendor and turntables to nourish the crowd in caring for and engaging with their community. 

The silent auction featured work donated by local painters, photographers, sculptors and mixed media artists lined alongside one wall. After an enticing spread of tamales, tacos, queso, guacamole, horchata and hibiscus jamaica was served buffet-style, the crowd played bilingual lotería (Mexican equivalent of bingo) with prizes for those who would holler ‘lotería’ loud enough, to the announcer’s and crowd’s amusement.  

Local vendors tabled the event, allotting ten percent of their sales to Care Not Cage’s cause. Audience members browsed an assortment of animal amigurumi by Peachtastic; social justice tees and beaded jewelry from the Tiger Bead Company (an “Indigenous collective of creators from Turtle Island and beyond” according to their Instagram, @tigerbeadco); and stickers and art prints from Scissors & String (@scissorsandstring on Instagram). 

Aurora Unidos co-founder Yoselin Corrales introduced the community service organization and its demands: legalization for all, no border militarization, stop the exploitation of undocumented workers, stop the deportations and separations of families among others aligned with Chicano liberation—also referred to as “El Movimiento” of the 1960s and 70s.  

“We don’t want to just free one, we fight to free them all,” Corrales stated, “and we are going to continue fighting against this oppressive regime.”  

In its first year of existence, Aurora Unidos has organized protests and community patrols which allow Aurorans to be proactive in protecting targeted communities. On February 21st, for example, members picketed at Centennial Airport to call attention to Key Lime Air’s collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by supplementing deportation flights of detainees.  

The $20 entry ticket and all donations were split evenly between Care Not Cages’ beneficiaries, Henderson Chavez and Hossein (no last name given). Both Chavez and Hossein’s family were given uninterrupted time to speak in front of the audience, sharing their journeys, pains and hopes.  

Before seeking asylum in America, Henderson Chavez’s relief fund reported he was “a member of the Venezuelan National Guard [and after refusing] to harm his fellow citizens, was beaten and tortured by Venezuelan authorities.” A week before the event, Chavez was released from a three-month imprisonment in Aurora’s GEO Detention Center after sponsors from the nondenominational Mountain View Friends Meeting—participants amiably known as Quakers—paid a $20,000 bond.  

During his time in detention, Chavez lost over thirty pounds due to stress, dismal meals and lack of exercise. The detention center’s capacity was approximately 1,200 as of September 2025, but Chavez attested that there is almost certainly double that population occupying the center—reflecting rising concerns over the transparency of the conditions within detention centers. He is excited now that he’s here in Denver and is grateful for the love and care that Denver continues to share with immigrants. 

Hossein could not be present for the event due to his ongoing detention, but his brother and cousin spoke in front of the crowd in his stead. According to Hossein’s brother, ICE agents rushed inside their home at 5 AM on June 22, 2025, backed by an additional five cars and 12 agents outside to make the arrest. 

“They handcuffed him so hard his wrists and hands were [immediately] bruised,” his brother described. 

Hossein’s brother also claimed that an additional ten FBI agents showed up to the scene, saying they were there to “help immigration [enforcement].” 

The outsourcing of arrests and labor was not unique to Hossein’s case: Chavez’s Quaker sponsor attested to “sheriffs in Wyoming engaging in a bounty hunter system” after Chavez was detained in Wyoming “despite having a legal process that wasn’t fulfilled.” Additionally, Houssein’s family claimed he was detained based on a “mistake made by immigration” later discovered by his lawyer.  

The biggest testament to the bounty system claim was the agreement between the statewide Wyoming Highway Patrol and ICE to their 287(g) Program in 2025. Wyoming Public Radio reported on this further and its authorization to allow “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to delegate state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight.”  

Additionally, Hossein was transported “without notice, … to a different detention center in Wyoming” that housed convicted U.S. criminals, according to Hossein’s GoFundMe. 

His brother revealed Hossein’s abduction occurred just two weeks after being discharged from the hospital for heart surgery. His family attested that he had been restricted access to his heart medication five times, as well as being denied the strict diet prescribed to aid his recovery. The detention physician also reportedly prescribed Hossein a heart monitor, but no attempts had been made to fulfill that prescription.

“It is by the grace of God,” his brother stated, “that the blood clot has not reached his heart” in the nine months he has spent locked in the GEO Detention Center. His family and lawyer are reportedly recounting 25 years of records of Hossein’s legal residency with a valid work visa, according to his brother.  

“Over there, they are not even getting treated as animals,” said Hossein’s brother. “In the prison, the food they give them is not even as good as dog food. Everything comes out of a can that’s heated up and given to them. Over there [it’s] some other country: no rules, no love, no democracy—nothing is inside those walls.”  

Months preceding the Care Not Cages event, Hossein’s cellmate woke up one night screaming. When, “after half an hour, no one came to check on [the detainee] … everyone started screaming and after two hours, nobody came.” Only after a “shift change” of the agents in charge of the detainees did the screaming detainee get taken to the prison’s doctor, who revealed he had had a stroke, and “was paralyzed for life” in his right arm, according to Hossein’s brother. 

Hossein’s family shared being overwhelmed with legal fees on top of additional fees like filing a habeas corpus motion in the court. According to Hossein’s cousin—who commends Hossein’s brother for speaking out in front of the crowd, before choking back tears—the motion is “the price to keep a human body here, and have ICE not disappear them” and cost them $40,000 alone. 

One volunteer with Aurora Unidos who coordinated closely with Chavez and Hossein’s family, Alejandra, described her evolving participation with the organization: “The work that we do comes from a place of love, and that love is returned ten-fold.” She joined after Jeanette Vizguerra, a longtime Denver activist, was detained and Aurora Unidos organized weekly vigils outside the detention center. After being detained by ICE for 9 months, Vizguerra was described as “not the same” after her release.   

“There’s too much need,” Alejandra stated in regards to communities being targeted and brought to detention centers. She recommends joining and participating in a local organization like Aurora Unidos’ future fundraising events or Casa de Paz’s letter-writing meetings. These handwritten letters from the community are sent to those imprisoned at various detention centers and provide incalculable benefits to detainees, according to Alejandra and those recently released. The grassroots organization was proudly described with positivity and an awe for its community support and found family.