Four Colorado residents — Yoselin Corrales, Arnie Carter, Mateo Henry, and Terry Burnsed — are being prosecuted for standing up for their neighbors. On July 20, they joined more than 100 people outside an ICE field office in Centennial to protest immigration detention and enforcement in Colorado, according to Carter's attorney, Andy McNulty. Arapahoe County prosecutors have since charged all four with obstructing a passageway, and charged Corrales and Henry with obstructing a peace officer as well.

Dozens of supporters packed the courtroom this week as the four appeared for arraignment — a visible sign that this community does not accept turning protest into a crime. "Our communities are being destroyed, and free speech is not a crime," organizer Brandon Gehrke told the crowd gathered outside the courthouse, according to The Denver Post.

Obstruction charges like these rarely get enforced against anyone else standing on a sidewalk, but they show up again and again against protesters. "We were standing up using our First Amendment rights to stand up against the kidnapping of our neighbors and illegal detentions," Carter said, according to The Denver Post.

The 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office, led by DA Amy Padden, has the power to drop these charges. Prosecuting people for peacefully speaking out sends the wrong message about who gets to exercise their constitutional rights in Colorado.

Sign the petition to demand DA Amy Padden drop the charges against these four protesters — before peaceful dissent becomes something people are too afraid to do.