Denver Post: More Denver immigrants could face deportation without a lawyer due to shortfall in city legal aid fund

Catalino Alvarado had lived in Denver for more than 20 years when he was detained by immigration enforcement officers and locked up in the Aurora detention facility.

He spent 41 days there, leaving his wife, a Denver native, and their two young children without any income. He couldn’t afford an attorney. Assuming he would be deported, Alvarado started to plan to move the entire family back to his native Guatemala.

“I was hopeless,” said Alvarado. “It’s the case of so many people in there. I didn’t know how to defend myself or who to go to.”

After reading a poster at the detention center, he was able to get free legal help from Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network because of funding through the Denver Immigrant Legal Services Fund. The attorney helped free him on bond and is working to craft a defense against deportation. It changed everything for him, he said.

Read more about Catalino’s case and the Denver Immigrant Legal Services Fund here.