A Denver photojournalist who has endorsed and collaborated with the socialist candidate widely expected to win Colorado's First Congressional District was arrested for allegedly kicking a counterprotester to the ground during a violent anti-ICE student walkout.
Armando Geneyro, a military veteran turned self-described "conscientious observer" who until recently worked in Denver Public Schools' student equity office, was handcuffed at the scene of a September 4 rally in Denver after a counterprotester handed police video footage of the alleged assault. A Denver Police Department spokesperson confirmed Geneyro was cited for simple assault and released. The police report states he took a counterprotester's sign and kicked the victim "in the right leg making the victim fall on the ground."
The rally, a student walkout organized against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, drew not just teenagers but a cadre of adult activists with histories of left-wing disruption. By the time it was over, at least three people had been hospitalized, two others had been arrested for graffiti, an independent journalist had been knocked down and had his camera stolen, and a Republican congressman had asked the Justice Department to investigate the violence.
Geneyro's arrest matters beyond the misdemeanor charge because of who he runs with. The Washington Free Beacon reported that Geneyro attended the election-night party of Melat Kiros, the democratic socialist who defeated 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in June's Democratic primary. At that party, Geneyro was granted close access to Kiros alongside Hasan Piker, an influential far-left figure who has said that "America deserved 9/11." Geneyro and Kiros have co-published several Instagram posts, including one in which he endorses her and praises her anti-Israel positions. Kiros replied that she "couldn't be more honored to have this endorsement." She follows at least three Instagram accounts associated with Geneyro.
Neither Geneyro nor Kiros responded to requests for comment.
Kiros attended the September 4 rally herself. She was not accused of violence, but the words she chose tell their own story. She called the students who had walked out of school "brave" and accused "this fascist administration and this rogue agency" of "kidnapping our neighbors and throwing them into concentration camps." That language, equating federal immigration enforcement with Nazi atrocities, is not a slip. It is the rhetorical baseline of a candidate who ousted a 15-term incumbent by running to the hard left.
Kiros is widely expected to succeed DeGette in a safely blue district, which means voters in Denver's congressional seat are about to send someone to Washington who stood at a rally that turned violent and praised the teenagers who skipped school to be there.
Geneyro was not the only adult whose conduct at the rally drew scrutiny. Video captured by a producer for the Wayne's Word Podcast showed several adults encouraging students to confront and attack counterprotesters. Laura Gonzalez, who earlier this year faced harassment charges in Boulder for using a bullhorn to repeatedly call the leader of a Jewish group a vulgar slur and for allegedly pushing a city councilman's wife, was filmed telling counterprotesters, "Don't complain when the kids come at you." She shouted at students:
"Another Nazi's trying to come into your camp, kids!"
After several dozen agitators pushed counterprotesters and independent journalists out of the park, Gonzalez declared, "You get what you deserve, Nazis." She and others chanted "F*** ICE" alongside the students.
Flanking Gonzalez was Jeanette Vizguerra-Ramirez, an illegal immigrant and activist who gained international attention during the first Trump administration when she spent months hiding in a Denver church to avoid deportation. ICE detained her in 2025, and she was released after nine months. She did not respond to a request for comment.
Emma Landis, another activist present at the rally, walked into the street and beckoned students who then followed, charged counterprotesters, and brawled with at least one. Landis has her own history of protest-related violence, though as a victim. Earlier this year, an off-duty detention center employee shot her in the foot during a demonstration at an ICE facility in Aurora, Colorado. The employee said protesters had threatened his children and called him and his colleagues "Nazis" and "race traitors."
Landis later told reporters she wants "to see happiness and health and peace and calmness with everybody's lives." Her conduct at the September 4 rally, leading teenagers into a physical confrontation, sits uneasily beside that claim. She did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Gonzalez.
Geneyro is not a fringe figure in Denver media. His photography has appeared in the Colorado Sun and the Denver Post. He has been profiled by Westword and Denverite. His work has been featured by Denver's city government, Denver International Airport, and History Colorado, a state-run museum. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a city councilman commissioned him to photograph Denver scenes for use as Zoom backgrounds.
He has described his protest attendance as his way to "voice how I feel about certain issues and certain topics and how I want to lend my support when it comes to advocating for those issues." That framing, the camera as activism, blurs the line between documenting events and participating in them. Video posted by Peak News placed Geneyro near two violent incidents at the September 4 rally: encroaching on a counterprotester who was being swarmed by students, and standing in a group that surrounded the independent journalist who was knocked to the ground and had his camera stolen.
No news outlet credited Geneyro with photos from the September 4 rally or from Kiros's election-night party. None of the outlets that publish his work responded to requests for comment.
The broader pattern Geneyro fits into, a socialist movement that calls for abolishing deportations and then physically confronts anyone who disagrees, is not confined to Denver. Across the country, democratic socialist candidates have gained ground inside the Democratic Party, and establishment figures have struggled to respond. Some veteran Democrats have warned openly that the socialist wing will destroy the party unless leaders draw a firm line.
Rep. Jeff Crank, a Colorado Republican, has asked the Justice Department to investigate the violence at the September 4 rally. The letter, sent this month, seeks a federal inquiry into what happened when adults allegedly directed minors to assault people exercising their right to counterprotest.
Denver police confirmed the video evidence that led to Geneyro's arrest is part of an open court case and cannot be released publicly. The department did not provide further detail on the status of the prosecution.
Congress itself has grappled with the socialist surge reshaping the Democratic caucus. The House voted to condemn socialism earlier in this session, with eight Democrats crossing party lines to support the resolution. Republican leaders, including Sen. Ted Cruz, have argued that the movement's growing influence has frozen bipartisan dealmaking on Capitol Hill.
Several open questions remain. The Justice Department has not publicly responded to Crank's request. The identities of the three hospitalized individuals have not been released. The status of Gonzalez's harassment charges in Boulder is unclear. And it remains unknown whether any of the adult agitators beyond Geneyro will face charges for their roles in directing minors toward violence.
When a congressional candidate praises students for walking out of school, stands at a rally that leaves three people in the hospital, and maintains a cozy public relationship with a man arrested for assault at that same event, and then declines to comment, voters deserve to know exactly what kind of representation they are about to get.
