RMIAN and ACLU Colorado want a federal judge to order class-action status, which would protect hundreds of detainees from deportation without due process

The Ira C. Rothgerber Jr. Conference on Constitutional Law is an annual Byron R. White Center event that brings scholars, lawyers, and leaders from across the nation to the University of Colorado Law School to discuss current Constitutional law issue. Topics have included the future of national injunctions, listeners’ First Amendment rights and litigation strategies that promote Constitutional change.

RMIAN Founding Board Member and UCLA Law Professor, Hiroshi Motomura, will provide the keynote address at the conference.

Nine immigrants’ rights organizations, including RMIAN, filed a renewed Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to block the Trump administration’s termination of critical legal orientation programs for immigrants, including the Family Group Legal Orientation Program, Counsel for Children Initiative, Immigration Court Helpdesk, Legal Orientation Program, and Legal Orientation Program for Custodians. 

A 22-year-old Venezuelan man was transferred to El Salvador despite having no final order of removal from the United States, according to an attorney who appeared in immigration court on his behalf this week.

"I think it is really a miscarriage of justice when individuals are removed from the country when there has been no removal order in their case and the government won't even say where they are," said Monique Sherman, Managing Attorney of the Detention Program at RMIAN.

The closure of the 150-person office, which protected the civil rights of both immigrants and U.S. citizens, strips Homeland Security of its internal guardrails as the Trump administration turns DHS into a mass-deportation machine, analysts say.

“Who do I even go to when there are illegal things happening?” said Laura Lunn, RMIAN’s Director of Advocacy & Litigation.

Denver7: Trump administration cuts legal funding for unaccompanied immigrant children. Full video here.

The Trump administration notified aid organizations across the country on Friday that it would cancel a contract that funds the legal representation of more than 25,000 children who entered the United States alone, a decision that leaves them vulnerable to swift deportation.

The Trump administration has canceled a $200 million legal representation contract for 26,000 children who crossed the U.S. border as unaccompanied minors, potentially leaving the kids to face deportation judges alone.

The administration had briefly halted the program in February but formally canceled it Friday. The national Acacia Center for Justice administered the contract, working with more than 100 local providers, including the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center and the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. More here.

Today the federal government suddenly and without notice cancelled its contract to provide funding for legal representation to unaccompanied children. This order immediately stops all funding for legal representation of over 26,000 unaccompanied children across the country, including close to 200 children represented by RMIAN in Colorado.

AILA-Colorado, Colorado Bar Association CLE (CBA-CLE), Colorado Lawyers Committee (CLC), and Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) invite you to a half day CLE on April 9th, 2025, from 12:45 to 4:00PM (approved for 3 general credits). The CLE will be in person (bring your own lunch) at CBA-CLE with a virtual option.

Family Preparedness for Immigrant Families will cover the legal and practical aspects of preparing our clients for possible detention and/or deportation under the new administration. Our leading Colorado experts will present on the nuts and bolts of “family protection plans,” medical powers of attorney, financial powers of attorney, delegations of parental authority, testamentary appointment of guardian forms, the tools available within the Colorado courts to safeguard children, and how to navigate the current climate of fear and uncertainty with our clients.