About 2,000 protesters — disturbed about possible federal immigration roundups this weekend in Denver, where an estimated 50,000 people live in the country illegally — rallied Friday night at an ICE detention facility in Aurora, calling for the closure of all such facilities in the country.

Billed as “Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Concentration Camps,” organizers of the nationwide protest aimed to bring a stop to possible roundups in Denver and other major cities across the country and to “shine a light on the horrific abuses of the Trump administration in human detention camps,” organizers said on Facebook.

Patty Lampman, of Lights for Liberty, speaking over a public address system while standing in the back of a pickup, told the masses Friday in Aurora that the protest “is a movement” that won’t be stopped “until all these camps (detention facilities) are closed and every child is free.” The crowd roared in approval.

The Friday crowd was a diverse mix of people, including families with children and folks who brought pets. They carried flags and signs; they chanted protests. Demonstration messages included: “Show me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like,” “Keep families together,” “Shut down ICE,” “Close the camps.”

Jason Hayman and his wife, Kari, of Monument, brought their four children, ages 4 to 9, to the protest, which took on the air of a boisterous rally at times.

“We feel every person has the right to dignity. We also feel that immigrants are not being given the dignity that they deserve, like everyone else,” Hayman said.

The Hayman children, as their parents did, brought signs to the protest.

Lights for Liberty, on its website, describes the organization as “a coalition of people, many of whom are mothers, dedicated to human rights, and the fundamental principle behind democracy that all human beings have a right to life, liberty and dignity.”

At the start of the protest, about 7 p.m., a splinter group of about 50 people broke off from the main group, crossing a chain-link gate and entering the ICE property. Organizers tried calling the group back, off the property and back into the public right of way, to no avail.

Bryce Downer, an immigration attorney and partner with Novo Legal, told that crowd that immigration detainees wait up to three months, sometimes longer, for a bail hearing, typically on matters that are civil, not criminal.

“This is outrageous!” Downer bellowed. The crowd agreed.

Danielle Jefferis, a clinical fellow with the civil rights clinic of the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, told the crowd that the Aurora facility holds more than 1,500 people.

Jefferis described the facility as a “prison, a concentration camp, a cage” where people are “treated as criminals — animals.” She told the crowd that families are separated here in Aurora, not just at facilities along the Mexican border.

Describing the federal detention of undocumented immigrants as big business, Jefferis said the system made “over $2 billion in profits in 2017.” The crowd chanted: “Shame! Shame! Shame … ”

Large crowd in Aurora, in the thousands , chants “Free Them All” at Aurora ICE facility. pic.twitter.com/GcxV9EimuS — kieran nicholson (@kierannicholson) July 13, 2019

On Friday in Denver, Mayor Michael Hancock was part of conference call with immigration advocates. Hancock said President Donald Trump is using the prospect of a nationwide immigration roundup as a political tool.

“President Trump has made a practice, and quite frankly, you all in the media have helped him to be very adept at distracting the American public and the media whenever his back is against the wall with something. Whether its an investigation around Russian interference, Mr. Mueller’s pending testimony before Congress, to distract by doing these very bold and blatant acts,” Hancock said. “Once again he has done it here in this situation. He has used our vulnerable immigrants and refugees who are fearing for their very livelihoods and their families to distract and make us again scurry to the other side on this issue.”

Hancock talked about how immigrants are afraid to go to courthouses to testify in criminal court or to report crimes in the first place because they fear arrest. “That makes every American unsafe, every Denverite unsafe.”

At a Denver news conference Friday afternoon, city leaders wearing immigrant support buttons condemned the planned raids. Hancock said the threat of raids has set the city back years in its efforts to build trust between government and the immigrant community.

“As my Grandma Delores would say, this ass-backward policy of the White House has taken us backward,” Hancock said. “It has the immigrant community fearful.”

Hancock called for better oversight of immigration detention facilities, including the privately run facility in Aurora. The conditions there are not up to standard, he said.

Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said again that his officers will not aid in the raids. Denver Public Safety Director Troy Riggs said that in the past, immigration enforcement officers would give city dispatch notice of a planned action about 10 minutes before to avoid any accidental conflict between local officers and ICE.

Jamie Torres, director of the city’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, said about 50,000 people live in Denver illegally. She said that the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition was organizing immigration attorneys who are volunteering services for those affected by raids.

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democratic presidential candidate, called on Trump on Friday to “stop the raids” in a letter to the president.

“These raids serve no purpose other than to cause fear and confusion among immigrant communities across the country,” Bennet wrote. “Instead of prioritizing enforcement against individuals who have committed violent crimes, your administration has decided to use scarce resources to penalize families and individuals who are contributing to their communities in my home state of Colorado and across the nation.”

This week Bennet cosponsored legislation to block immigration enforcement at sensitive locations, such as schools, hospitals and religious institutions, according to a news release.

On Wednesday, the Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, archbishop of Denver, wrote about immigration in the Denver Catholic.

“Recent news stories present us with immigrants and refugees whose God-given dignity is being disregarded or subject to a system of laws that fails to adequately take that dignity into account,” Aquila wrote. “As Catholics, we should urge our elected leaders to treat these people in ways that respect their God-given dignity.”

Immigration laws must be overhauled in a comprehensive manner, Aquila said, by politicians on both side of the aisle.