When a Latte Becomes a Protest
For every latte sold with the “Fuck ICE” message, Good Bones donates $1 to Casa de Paz, a nonprofit that supports immigrants and asylum seekers released from the ICE detention center in Aurora.
Story by Amor Flores and Giles Clasen, Photos by Giles Clasen
When Carson and Melody Allen decided to stencil “Fuck ICE” onto the foam of a latte, they understood it might draw attention. They did not expect their East Colfax coffee shop to draw threats.
“Yesterday we got a message saying, ‘people get killed for this stuff,’” Melody said.
Still, she said the intensity of the response reflects how divided the issue has become. Melody said recent ICE operations, including masked raids and the shooting of U.S. citizens in Minnesota, mark what she sees as an unnecessary and illegal escalation.
“It’s not normal. It’s not,” Carson said. “We shouldn’t pretend like it’s normal. We shouldn’t behave like it’s normal. We shouldn’t fall into apathy and just kind of throw our hands up and go, ‘voting doesn’t matter.’”
The Allens began receiving threats after a prominent right-wing TikTok account featured the message and the shop. They took the threats in stride but decided to keep their six-year-old son away from the shop for a while.
Good Bones Is About Community
Good Bones opened in November 2025 to be a communal hub. The Allens built it as a gathering place with live events, markets, and community meetups.
Carson and Melody Allen say they opened Good Bones to be a gathering place for the neighborhood.
The decor leans nostalgic, with guitars for sale on one wall, racks of vintage clothing and shoes lining another, and cassettes mounted edge-to-edge like wallpaper near the entrance.
In early 2026, immigration enforcement became part of their business.
The couple felt they had to do something after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
The idea for a “Fuck ICE” stencil wasn’t a calculated plan to go viral.
“When we made the stencil, we were just kind of playing around with content based upon our beliefs for social media, and then the first day it really popped off, and people were actually asking for it. We realized we could donate through it,” Melody said.
For every latte sold with the “Fuck ICE” message, Good Bones donates $1 to Casa de Paz, a nonprofit that supports immigrants and asylum seekers released from the ICE detention center in Aurora.
Good Bones sold 3,000 stenciled lattes in two weeks.
“It’s not about the coffee, it’s not about the donation, it’s about the message and coming together,” Carson said. “And we've seen lines around the block of people willing to wait an hour and a half for a coffee with a little cinnamon on top.”
Carson said he believes the majority of Americans are opposed to ICE and their aggressive tactics, which is why the“Fuck ICE” latte has generated so much attention.
“It is very black and white,” Melody said. “You're either for what they're doing, or you are absolutely horrified by it and think it's wrong and inhumane.”
For the Allens, the issue is tied to personal experience. Melody is second-generation Mexican American. And both were devastated when a close friend was deported.
Last year, Melody and Carson accompanied a longtime friend from Venezuela to an immigration check-in.
When Carson and Melody Allen decided to stencil “Fuck ICE” onto the foam of a latte, they understood it might draw attention. They did not expect their East Colfax coffee shop to draw threats.
Check-ins are a normal part of the asylum or green card process as a case moves through the courts. The Trump administration has expanded ICE’s use of these meetings to detain individuals before a final judicial ruling on the case.
“[Our friend] had been here since he was 11 years old,” Carson said. “And he didn’t come out of the [detention center]. We watched a massive line of people that were there just for their yearly check-ins, but were taken. None of them came out. But we saw van after van leaving the back gated area.”
Their friend’s wife, an American citizen, was left alone without any way to find, contact, or track him.
“It was absolutely heartbreaking watching the look on his wife’s face when she walked out without her husband. It was horrible,” Carson said.
The Allens said that their friend was transferred between facilities and denied access to important medications. Their friend’s family had lost contact with him and were unaware of his whereabouts when his parents saw him getting off a plane in Venezuela as part of mass deportations.
The experience shaped the Allens’ decision to speak publicly.
“It’s easy to feel like there’s a shit ton of bad people out there,” Carson said. “But I think there’s far more good people who are like-minded, care about one another, and really want to see change within the country.”
Carson said their goal is to support the newcomer community, love their neighbors, and encourage people to speak out against the new deportation and immigration policies.
“It’s not about money,” Carson said. “It’s about getting the word out and doing something.”
Good Bones has expanded its role beyond fundraising. The shop has hosted after-hours events focused on civic engagement.
Dylan Sanders makes a latte with a “Fuck Ice” message stenciled on top.
“Our coffee shop is a second home, and we want people to fill that home with like-minded values and who come from different walks of life and can connect over this issue a little bit,” Melody said.
The vision has shaped how they operate the shop, and they said being neutral isn’t an option because neutrality is an act of support for ICE’s actions.
“I think right now it’s the time to be the loudest with your beliefs,” Carson said. “We personally think this is inhumane and wrong and horrifying. And if you do too, we can all gather here.”
Good Bones
1201 East Colfax Avenue, Denver
Hours:
8 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday; 9 am to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday