What Trump’s second term means for Colorado immigrants, public lands, abortion access and Space Command

As national Republicans celebrated the election of Donald Trump as president last week, the progressives and Democrats who lead Colorado and shape its policies wondered — and began planning for — what a second Trump administration would mean for the steady-blue Centennial State.

In the days since Trump won, Colorado officials have cautioned that a sea of unknowns remain. It’s unclear whom he will choose for his cabinet or how closely he’ll follow the Republican-drafted Project 2025, a guide for a second Trump administration from which the president-elect sought to distance himself during the campaign.

Still, state legislators and policy advocates have raised concerns about how potential swings on key national issues, like new abortion restrictions or the mass deportations Trump said he would start in Aurora, might wash over a Democratic state that’s positioned itself as fundamentally opposed to many of Trump’s positions. On multiple fronts, they said, they expect Trump to act more quickly and aggressively to impose his agenda in a second term.

“Obviously, this (new administration) is going to be more challenging,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said. “It’s something we’re prepared for, something we’ve done before — and we’ll do it again.”

Uniquely Colorado concerns — like keeping the previously contested headquarters of the U.S. Space Command and protecting the state’s extensive public lands — suddenly feel imperiled. Democratic state lawmakers, who last week maintained their large majorities amid a national political shift to the right, braced to act as a bulwark against federal deregulation and conservative U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Here’s how the second Trump term, set to begin Jan. 20, could impact Colorado’s immigrants, public lands, abortion access, statehouse agenda and the location of Space Command.

The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard

Immigration actions likely

In October, Trump traveled to Colorado and announced his plans to launch “Operation Aurora,” which would use a nearly 230-year-old law to deport undocumented immigrants with gang ties. He’s pledged to undertake a broader mass deportation operation to expel the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country — starting with Aurora.

Colorado is home to roughly 156,000 undocumented immigrants, according to a July study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston told The Denver Post last week that his city would “not participate” in Trump’s mass deportation plans.

State law prohibits local law enforcement from holding someone in jail beyond their release date solely on a “detainer” request, which is used by federal authorities to ensure they’re notified before an undocumented immigrant is let out.

Doug Friednash, who was chief of staff to then-Gov. John Hickenlooper until late 2017, predicted that immigration enforcement and deportations would be among the first legal fights that Colorado has with the new Trump administration.

Colorado could become “ground zero” for battles over Trump’s plans, he said.

“What happens when Trump decides on Operation Aurora, or that we’re going to start deportation, and he looks to the state? Not just with (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), but he looks to the National Guard to enforce that. What does Gov. (Jared) Polis do, and what does the state do?” said Friednash, a lawyer who’s now at the law and lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

Through a spokeswoman, Polis, who made frequent national TV appearances during the campaign in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, declined requests for interviews about Trump’s potential impact on immigration and other issues in the state.

About 2,000 protesters, concerned over rumors of federal immigration roundups in Denver, rallied outside an ICE detention facility in Aurora on July 12, 2019. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat who represents Aurora in Congress, was defiant.

“If (Trump) wants to carry out mass deportations and break up families and devastate our economy,” Crow said Thursday, “then we will of course resist that with all of our force.”

Trump’s win brought disbelief and uncertainty to Colorado’s immigrant community, said Mekela Goehring, the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. It also underscored the need for the group’s mission of providing free legal and social services to immigrant children and to adults in immigration detention, she said.

She expects new actions in line with immigration policies implemented by Trump during his first term.

“Now, the most critical component is ensuring there are lawyers in the system so there is some accountability and a check of due process,” Goehring said. “Separating children from their parents (or) forcing people to be in a prison-like setting while navigating immigration proceedings is incredibly harmful to community members.”

Pivot on public lands policies

“Drill, baby, drill” has served as one of Trump’s clearest and most consistent policy messages — and it’s a policy that will play out across some of the 24 million acres of federally managed public lands that cover nearly a third of Colorado.

Trump’s victory is a boon to oil and gas producers in the West, said Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance, a Denver-based trade group.

“We’ll be working with the new administration to reassess some of the rules, some of which Western Energy Alliance is suing on,” said Sgamma, who helped write the section on energy policy in Project 2025’s plan for the Department of the Interior. “We’ll be looking to move forward on leasing, which the Biden-Harris administration has all but stopped” on federal land.

Sgamma hoped the new administration would reassess National Environmental Policy Act review processes that she said had slowed oil and gas development.

She also expressed hope that the administration would roll back the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule, which made conservation an equally important use of BLM land as grazing, recreation, energy development and other uses. The administration should also reverse a Biden administration change that increased BLM land-leasing costs for energy development, she said.

Clouds hover over the Ute Mountains behind Bureau of Land Management land near Cortez, Colorado, on Oct. 1, 2021. More than 8.3 million acres of public land in Colorado is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. (Photo by Rebecca Slezak/The Denver Post)

The BLM manages 8.3 million acres of land in Colorado, primarily on the Western Slope. Presidential appointees in Trump’s first administration moved the BLM headquarters to Grand Junction, a move that Biden later reversed.

A second Trump administration will likely act faster and be better prepared to roll back environmental regulations than its previous iteration, said Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, a Denver-based conservation and advocacy organization.

“I think you have to consider every conservation effort over the last three decades to be at risk, because they do not see any value in seeing public lands protected for recreation, fishing or hunting,” he said. “They look at public lands as sources of income.”

Weiss expects the Trump administration will open up more U.S. Forest Service land — which covers 11.3 million acres in Colorado — to logging under the guise of wildfire mitigation.

“That just means: If we chop down all the trees, they can’t burn,” he said.

National monuments, too, could come under scrutiny by Trump’s administration — especially those created by Biden, Weiss said. In his last administration, Trump slashed the size of Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments.

Biden created one new monument in Colorado: the 53,804-acre Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument north of Leadville. In western Colorado, a coalition of rafters and environmentalists for months have urged Biden to create a new monument along the Dolores River — an effort that would face a much steeper uphill climb under Trump.

Colorado depends on millions of dollars in federal funding for environmental protection work, so cuts to regulatory agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency could have downstream ripple effects here, said Phaedra Pezzullo. She is a professor and co-director of the graduate certificate of environmental justice at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Trump pledged during his campaign to stop any spending from the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden’s administration called “the largest investment in clean energy and climate action ever.” But Trump may find that hampering the law — which has poured more than $1.7 billion into Colorado projects — is politically unpopular, Pezzullo said.

“I think a lot of things were said bombastically on the campaign trail, so we’ll see when the rubber hits the road,” she said.

Also unclear is the mark Trump might make on spending and grants under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which local transportation leaders have begun tapping for the Front Range Passenger Rail initiative. Federal officials have designated it as a priority transit corridor.

Colorado leaders and lawmakers’ strong bipartisan support of environmental protection for air, water and land gave Pezzullo hope that state policy could serve as a buffer to potential federal deregulation.

“I would feel much more worried if I lived in a state that didn’t have the leadership we had on the environment,” she said.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., left, shakes hands with Gen. John W. Raymond, the commander of the U.S. Space Command, Sept. 9, 2019, during a ceremony to recognize the establishment of the United States Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP)

Space Command’s future

In the waning days of the first Trump administration in January 2021, the Pentagon announced that U.S. Space Command would move from its interim home in Colorado Springs to a permanent headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama.

Then, in summer 2023, the Biden administration reversed that decision and kept the headquarters in Colorado, where it achieved operational readiness late last year.

Now, Space Command may be set to move again. Politico reported Wednesday that Trump is “expected” to move Space Command back to Huntsville.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican and the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, told Politico that Trump would enforce what two U.S. Air Force secretaries had determined: “That is, Huntsville won the competition … and that’s where it should be and that’s where he’s going to build it.”

Should that happen, it would be the latest turn in a series of ping-ponging decisions affecting the newly reestablished military command. Such a move would also jeopardize more than 1,000 jobs and $1 billion in annual economic benefits in Colorado, according to 2023 estimates from the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Any renewed effort to move Space Command from Colorado would spark a united and bipartisan fight from Colorado’s congressional delegation. U.S. Rep.-elect Jeff Crank, a Republican who will represent Colorado Springs in Congress, told The Post he hadn’t yet dug into Trump’s potential impact on Space Command. But he said he would defend its presence in his new district.

“Obviously, I believe that if it’s down to military value, (then) Colorado is the place for it to be,” Crank said Wednesday. “And I think that continuous studies have shown that. If it’s based on political decisions, it could move somewhere else. But I think it makes eminent sense to keep it here.”

Crow said he would “resist any attempt” to move the command’s headquarters, though he said it wasn’t yet clear if that could happen.

“With Donald Trump, you never know,” he said. “He changes his positions and his stance on issues by the day, and sometimes by the hour. If he wants to build out the Space Force and Space Command and have it meet the national security moment and our threats, then he will keep it here.”

Derek Torstenson makes a pro-abortion rights statement with the use of a bullhorn as Edgar Mares and Susan Gills pray, joining others rallying against Amendment 79 at the Colorado Capitol on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

Defending abortion access

Trump’s victory dampened celebrations by abortion-rights advocates in Colorado who, in the same election, ran a successful ballot initiative to place the right to abortion in the state constitution.

“Even though people thought we couldn’t do it — that we were being too bold — we stuck to our position because we know it’s the right thing to do,” said Dusti Gurule, CEO of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. “Now it’s even more critical that we did what we did.”

Although Trump’s stance on abortion has repeatedly shifted, he said in the final stages of his campaign that he would favor allowing states to decide whether abortion should be legal.

If he and Congress abide by that position, Colorado will have some of the strongest abortion protections in the country thanks to the success of Amendment 79, said Karen Middleton, the president of Cobalt Advocates, an abortion-rights group. But abortion providers and advocates are still preparing for regulatory changes that could impact access and options here.

“Yes, we’re worried, but we’re also prepared,” Gurule said. “We’re not going to stop fighting.”

Middleton said advocates in Colorado planned to pursue state legislation to protect against further challenges to a federal law that requires emergency rooms to provide care to stabilize patients, including emergency abortions.

The passage of Amendment 79 also could allow more Coloradans to receive insurance coverage for abortion, including state employees and people who use Medicaid. That will free up capacity for outside providers to care for people coming to Colorado for services from states where abortion is banned, said Nicole Hensel, executive director of New Era Colorado.

Other challenges to abortion rights and access could come through the revival of a century-old federal law, the Comstock Act, that, if enforced, would make it illegal to mail or receive medical equipment used in abortion procedures, said Jack Teter, regional director of government affairs for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

Weiser, the state’s attorney general, speculated about possible Trump administrative action to limit access to the abortion drug mifepristone. Any such effort, Weiser said, would lead to legal challenges from his office. Medication abortion using drugs like mifepristone accounted for 63% of all abortions in 2023, making it an increasingly common abortion method.

Despite the potential challenges in coming years, Planned Parenthood’s providers will keep working to care for Coloradans and people from all over the country, Teter said.

“We’ve been here for 100 years,” he said, “and we’re not going anywhere.”

Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie addresses supporters during a Democratic watch party at Number 38 in Denver on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

How will the statehouse react?

In the days after Trump’s victory, Colorado legislators were still sifting through what a second Trump administration could mean for the state — and how that would affect their work and the very posture of state government.

House Speaker Julie McCluskie, whose Democratic caucus defended nearly all of its large majority in last week’s election, cautioned that it was too early to determine how the legislature may respond to a Trump administration. Affordability remains a top concern for voters, she said, and that will be the focus for legislators in 2025.

Still, she said, “there’s some issues that I think are clearly on the horizon for us. I would point to immigration (and) the statements that Trump made when he visited Colorado — that (his) mass deportation effort would start here. That is something where I think we will respond and react.”

Other Democratic legislators said Trump’s victory would change their agenda in 2025 and beyond, even if the exact contours of a second Trump term remain unclear.

“It will impact the legislative agenda. It will,” said Denver Democratic Rep. Jennifer Bacon. “I don’t know to what extent. But if it did (in recent years), when we were dealing with the residuals of his (first) term — imagine that we’re in it.”

She noted the likelihood that Trump will fill another Supreme Court seat, after his earlier appointees joined court majorities that “undid administrative law, they undid reproductive rights, and I do believe they’re going to come for civil rights, when it comes to law enforcement.”

Federal action has sparked state legislative changes in the past, among them the “residuals” Bacon referred to: Legislators enshrined Miranda rights for arrestees in state law after a Supreme Court decision undercut them. The legislature passed sweeping abortion protections ahead of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. And concerns about the future of marriage equality spurred the legislature to refer a successful ballot measure removing defunct language banning same-sex marriage from the state constitution.

Related Articles

• Editorial: Here’s how savvy Colorado voters navigated the monstrous 2024 ballot

• How did Colorado counties vote in the presidential election?

• 4 ways in which Donald Trump’s election was historic

• 5 takeaways from Colorado’s 2024 election — including reactions as a new Trump era looms

Bacon listed Medicaid and Pell Grant funding as specific concerns for potential funding cuts. She and other Democrats also pointed to air quality and the future of the EPA, which will likely have different priorities under Trump. State lawmakers last session created state regulations protecting certain waterways after a U.S. Supreme Court decision undid federal protections.

If Trump rolls back regulations, Bacon said, the state may need to reconsider its role in oversight.

State Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat who has championed immigrants’ rights bills in the legislature, said Colorado officials will continue their work to protect marginalized communities, including immigrants and people who are transgender.

She called Colorado “a state that lives its values of treating people with dignity and respect” and said state-level results — showing Democrats retaining strong majorities in the Capitol — reinforced those values. Gonzales expects more work on that front in the coming months, though it’s too early to say exactly what those policies might look like.

“Immigrant communities, particularly, have been down this road before,” Gonzales said. “We’ve seen the pain, division and fear-mongering that the first Trump administration wrought on our communities. This time we know what to expect. And it’s why, over the past several years, at the local and state level, we’ve worked to enact policies to protect all Coloradans’ safety and well-being.”

Staff writers Joe Rubino, Nick Coltrain and Elizabeth Hernandez contributed to this story.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

Originally Published: November 10, 2024 at 6:00 AM MST

In response to the election results, RMIAN issues the following statement:

RMIAN knows that immigrants are integral to our communities. They are our neighbors, friends, partners, and colleagues. They are us. Together, we share more joy, we support each other in times of sorrow, and we brighten each other's daily lives.

Immigrant rights are human rights. RMIAN is here to uphold those rights. We remain firmly against the dehumanization of immigrant communities, and we are more committed than ever to fighting for equal justice for all.

For almost 25 years, RMIAN has tirelessly advocated for people in immigration proceedings who don't have the right to court-appointed counsel. RMIAN has appeared side-by-side with children who would otherwise be forced to represent themselves in complicated legal proceedings, the outcome of which dictates the direction of the rest of their lives. RMIAN represents individuals unfairly imprisoned in civil immigration detention centers.

RMIAN has provided hope to parents forcibly separated from their children and helped unify families so that they could be together and safe from further harm.

RMIAN provides critical legal support to families in expedited proceedings being propelled through the system without due process. Without RMIAN's work, individuals would not have access to legal information or any understanding of the process ahead of them.

RMIAN proves time and again that our clients' civil detention is unconstitutional. We have secured the release of countless detained clients so that they could regain their liberty and return to their loved ones.  

RMIAN accompanies people through some of the most challenging times in their lives. Our team helps to make sure people have access to the resources they need to thrive in our community.

In the wake of this election result, RMIAN will continue to be more resolute than ever to protect immigrants' rights in Colorado and beyond. We will continue to be a stalwart defender of due process and equal access to justice. We will work harder than ever to shine a light on the hidden and harmful world of immigration enforcement and detention, and the profound harm it causes communities.

You are the community that helps RMIAN carry out our mission, and your support is more critical than ever in the face of an uncertain future. Thank you for believing in our work. Thank you for your unwavering support.

En respuesta a los resultados de las elecciones, RMIAN emite la siguiente declaración:

RMIAN sabe que los inmigrantes son parte integral de nuestras comunidades. Son nuestros vecinos, amigos, socios y colegas. Son nosotros. Juntos, compartimos más alegría, nos apoyamos mutuamente en tiempos de dolor y alegramos la vida diaria de los demás.

Los derechos de los inmigrantes son derechos humanos. RMIAN está aquí para defender esos derechos. Nos oponemos a la deshumanización de las comunidades inmigrantes y estamos más comprometidos que nunca con la lucha por la justicia igualitaria para todos.

Durante casi 25 años, RMIAN ha defendido incansablemente a las personas en procedimientos de inmigración que no tienen derecho a un abogado designado por el tribunal. RMIAN ha comparecido codo a codo con niños que de otro modo se verían obligados a representarse a sí mismos en procedimientos legales complicados, cuyo resultado dicta la dirección del resto de sus vidas. RMIAN representa a personas encarceladas injustamente en centros de detención de inmigrantes civiles.

RMIAN ha brindado esperanza a los padres separados a la fuerza de sus hijos y ha ayudado a unificar a las familias para que pudieran estar juntas y a salvo de más daños.

RMIAN brinda apoyo legal fundamental a las familias en procedimientos acelerados que se llevan a cabo en el sistema sin el debido proceso. Sin el trabajo de RMIAN, las personas no tendrían acceso a información legal ni conocimiento del proceso que tienen por delante.

RMIAN demuestra una y otra vez que la detención civil de nuestros clientes es inconstitucional. Hemos logrado la liberación de innumerables clientes detenidos para que pudieran recuperar su libertad y regresar con sus seres queridos.

RMIAN acompaña a las personas en algunos de los momentos más difíciles de sus vidas. Nuestro equipo ayuda a garantizar que las personas tengan acceso a los recursos que necesitan para prosperar en nuestra comunidad.

A raíz de este resultado electoral, RMIAN se mantiene más decidido que nunca a proteger los derechos de los inmigrantes en Colorado y más allá. Seguiremos siendo un firme defensor del debido proceso y la igualdad de acceso a la justicia. Trabajaremos más duro que nunca para arrojar luz sobre el mundo oculto y dañino de la aplicación de la ley y la detención de inmigrantes, y el profundo daño que causa a las comunidades.

Ustedes son la comunidad que ayuda a RMIAN a llevar a cabo su misión, y su apoyo es más importante que nunca ante un futuro incierto. Gracias por creer en nuestro trabajo. Gracias por su apoyo inquebrantable.

Colorado has 78,000 immigration cases pending — and the worst rate of attorney representation in the nation

A family from Venezuela is gathered around a security guard on the eighth-floor hallway of the federal courthouse, bombarding him with questions in Spanish. 

They are fighting to stay in the United States and just emerged from Courtroom F — one of six immigration courtrooms at the federal building in downtown Denver — where they faced the judge who will eventually decide whether to grant them legal status in this country or order their deportation.

It is a process that will take years. 

“Nos vemos en 2026, marzo,” the security guard, Officer Derek Fields, tells the family after explaining in the best Spanish he can that their next court date is in March 2026, that it’s normal to wait that long, and that they are free to go until then.

Fields taught himself Spanish, mostly from YouTube, so he could help the hundreds of native speakers who show up each week at the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, nervous and confused. 

He helps them figure out which of the nine immigration judges they are assigned and how to find the change-of-venue forms if their future proceedings are scheduled in Miami or Chicago or Los Angeles instead of Denver. He also answers a barrage of questions entirely unrelated to court, including “Is my kid allowed to go to school?”

“Gracias a Dios! Ud. habla español!” a man exclaims to Fields in the chaotic hallway outside the courtrooms. Around them, people are asking pro-bono attorneys at a nonprofit organization’s help desk what they should do after walking into their hearings. Others are lined up at a help window to file asylum applications. Every weekday morning and afternoon, a line of new immigrants winds through the courthouse’s sunlit lobby and through the security entrance.

In the past three years, the backlog at federal immigration court in Denver — which serves the entire state — has more than quadrupled, now at more than 77,500 pending cases for immigrants who have filed for asylum or are otherwise fighting “removal proceedings” to deport them to their home countries. That’s up from 18,000 pending cases in 2021. 

A Flourish chart

Nearly 31,000 of the currently pending cases are for Venezuelans, who have fled their country in record numbers, arriving in Denver by the busload throughout 2022 and 2023 after traveling months on foot and via train through Colombia, Central America and to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. 

A Flourish chart

The U.S. Department of Justice now has nine immigration judges assigned to the courthouse in Denver and three at the detention center in Aurora, up from only a handful a decade ago. 

Colorado, meanwhile, ranks last in the nation in the percentage of people who have attorneys as they face a complex immigration court system that will determine the outcome of the rest of their lives. About 85% of immigrants in Colorado go through the system “pro se,” meaning they are representing themselves. 

A Flourish chart

Not having lawyers present in the courtroom contributes to the backlog as judges go out of their way to make sure people understand their rights and extend cases for years so people have enough time to submit evidence, argue immigration experts. At the same time, immigration is such a polarizing issue nationally, and one in which the rules can change overnight depending on who is president and who is U.S. attorney general, that cases are disrupted midway through the process. 

“The reason we have so much backlog is because people are confused as hell,” said Violeta Chapin, an associate dean and head of an immigration law clinic at the University of Colorado. “If you had lawyers there, they would streamline and make it more efficient — someone to tell them honestly, ‘You have no way to stay, or you potentially do.’ 

“Right now, immigration is stuck in this space with this unmanageable number of cases. For the judges, you have this ridiculous docket and you are a pawn of the attorney general. We need defenders for these immigrants because it is a shitshow without.”

A family approaches the doors Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, at the Byron Rogers Federal Building in the downtown Denver Federal District. The building houses eleven federal agencies, including the Denver Immigration Court. (Claudia A. Garcia, Special to The Colorado Sun)

“It’s a long time from now”

Eduardo and Crisbelys Lugo, dressed neatly and shaking with nerves, sit at a table facing immigration Judge Ivan Gardzelewski. They are the third consecutive family to appear in his courtroom without an attorney on a summer morning. Their 2-year-old girl, a pink bow in her hair, sits on her mother’s lap. 

Under questioning, the Venezuelan family admits they crossed the border into the United States in April at Nogales, Arizona, where they presented themselves to border agents, were allowed to pass through and were told they must appear at removal proceedings. They have applied for temporary protected status, a form of relief allowed only for people from countries that are especially dangerous because of political or environmental reasons. For Venezuelans, only those who crossed into the United States before July 31, 2023, are eligible for this protection under a federal order.

The couple told the judge they were applying for asylum and work permits. 

This adds to the confusion. Work authorization applications are a separate process, filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, while asylum requests are handled in the courtroom. For an immigrant to get a work permit, their asylum case must have been pending for 180 days, without any delays caused by the applicant — meaning that if a person asked for more time to find an attorney, the clock stops on their wait for a work permit. 

“Are you afraid to return to Venezuela?” the judge asked, a question translated by an interpreter and into their headsets. 

“Sí,” the Lugos both responded, nodding their heads. 

The hearing was short. The judge urged them to complete their asylum application, then told them to come back — in a year and eight months. 

“It’s a long time from now,” Judge Gardzelewski said. 

The Lugos were not the only family to come with their children, everyone dressed up, little girls with their hair in bows. One mother sat next to her husband at the courtroom table, her daughter on one leg and her son on the other. 

“You don’t have to bring your children back to court,” Gardzelewski said, adding that he understood “you may not have anyone to watch them.” 

Some immigrants mistakenly assume that they must bring their entire family, and that they must impress the judge who could decide on the spot to allow them to stay in the country. Instead, they are told to fill out pages of documents and come back in two years. 

“They are clearly taking it very seriously. They are presenting themselves,” Chapin said. She feels like thanking those families “for bringing some dignity to this because we are undignified. We don’t have any counsel to help them.”

We need defenders for these immigrants because it is a shitshow without.

— Violeta Chapin, An associate dean and head of an immigration law clinic at the University of Colorado

For those who are in immigration court for their initial appearance, the hearings are handled in bulk as a “master calendar.” On some days, immigrants who speak Haitian Creole or French are assigned to one courtroom, while a handful of courtrooms function in Spanish. 

The judges speak in English, all of it repeated by an interpreter seated in the courtroom. Everyone filling the rows of wooden benches stands and raises their right hands, swearing to tell the truth as a group. 

As one hearing is about to begin, court staff realize that two people assigned to a Spanish-language courtroom speak Portuguese. The Brazilian couple is told their initial hearing has been rescheduled since there is no Portuguese interpreter available that day. They are told to return in one year and four months.

After the Brazilian couple leaves, looking bewildered, Judge Tyler Wood explains to the packed room that this is the beginning of their removal proceedings. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sent them a notice to appear because they came to the United States illegally, or presented themselves to border patrol agents and were allowed to pass, but triggered the federal government to begin a court case to remove them from the country. 

First, he explains, the court will determine whether the allegations are true, and then, whether they are allowed to stay in the United States. Court staff pass out a list of lawyers who can represent them for “little to no cost,” the judge says. There are not nearly enough lawyers in Colorado to handle the workload, however. 

Beware of “notarios” selling citizenship documents for hundreds or thousands of dollars, Judge Wood says. That’s not real, he warns. 

The people in the courtroom have the right to bring forth evidence, to submit documents and question witnesses. If the judge orders them deported, they have 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals in Virginia. 

They are allowed to remain in the United States while their case is pending, as long as they commit no crimes and show up for their immigration court dates. 

“Many people who come to court fear returning to their home county,” the judge says, explaining that they can apply for asylum and have to turn those applications in at a window on the third floor. 

All of them are told to make sure to show up at their next court appearance in September 2025. 

“That’s going to give you plenty of time to find an attorney to represent you or for you to decide to represent yourself,” Judge Wood said. Eventually, he will decide whether they can stay in the United States. It’s not his job, he told them, to decide who gets work permits, sign them up for driver’s licenses or enroll their children in school. 

“I wish you and your families the very best,” he said, and the crowd filtered back into the noisy hallway.

“Here we are, thanks to God”

Linda Torres crossed the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, with her husband and three children, so exhausted she could hardly stand up. They passed through notorious Gate 36, where migrants frequently breach coiled razor wire, to a sandy bank on the edge of the river in the dead of winter. 

When Torres and her family presented themselves to border agents last winter, they told them that they planned to make it to Chicago and apply for asylum and that they were fleeing oppression and poverty in their native Venezuela. They were allowed to pass, and given an immigration court date in Chicago in August 2026. 

But the bus to Chicago wasn’t leaving that day. Weary and shocked by the death and violence they had witnessed during a four-month journey of walking through the jungle, hopping off moving trains and sleeping on the streets, they boarded the bus that was there. It took them to Denver. 

“I couldn’t stand on my feet anymore,” Torres said in Spanish. 

Linda Torres shown at her home in Aurora on June 4. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

After spending the winter in a city-funded hotel room, they moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Aurora, which her family of five shared with Torres’ nephew, as well as a woman and her daughter whom they met in the hotel shelter. 

Four months after arriving in Colorado, Torres’ 3-year-old son was still waking up scared. “He tells me, ‘Mom!’ and starts crying. ‘The train is coming, run, run!’ It’s hard,” she said. “It’s a trauma.” 

After fleeing Venezuela, the family spent several years in Colombia, where they struggled to earn enough money to pay rent no matter how much they worked and Torres’ now 12-year-old daughter was twice denied entrance to school, she said. It took them two months to reach Mexico, crossing through the 60-mile stretch of jungle called the Darién Gap with a toddler and a baby, and another two months, sometimes sleeping on the streets, in Mexico before making it to the United States. 

Torres saw “too many dead,” she said. “We walked over the dead. We walked over them because the mud covered them.” The worst was discovering a family of migrants who died together in their tent in Mexico. “I approached the tent and opened it, and there was the dad, the mom and the baby,” Torres said, on the verge of tears. “A small baby, very tiny. I saw many things. 

“It cost me a lot. I cried a lot. I suffered a lot. I had horrible nights. We endured a lot of cold, rain. We went hungry, but here we are, thanks to God.”

The apartment complex of Linda Torres, June 4, 2024, in Aurora. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

While she and her husband wait for work authorization, Torres has been selling roses, chocolates and lollipops outside an Aurora grocery store, sometimes bringing her son and 1-year-old daughter with her. She makes anywhere from $20 to $70 per day. She enrolled in the city of Denver’s six-month asylum program, where she signed up for English classes and attended a mental health session about dealing with trauma. A local nonprofit, ViVe Wellness, helped her family find the apartment in Aurora, after they lost $500 in fees applying to multiple apartments. And the city program is helping them pay the first few months of their rent. Her oldest daughter is enrolled in school.

The court date, and knowing they could face deportation years after building their new lives, hangs over them. 

With help from a pro-bono attorney at a nonprofit, Torres filed the required paperwork to get their court appearance changed to Denver from Chicago. Torres is hoping the same attorney will help them prepare their applications for asylum, gathering enough evidence to prove that it would be dangerous for them to return to Venezuela.

In Venezuela, Torres and her mother worked at a government-operated oil company, but after Torres had been there five years, employees were abruptly laid off and weren’t paid for hours they had already worked. Her mother never got her pension. In the neighborhoods around them, murder was common, she said. 

In Colorado, she has faced xenophobia and racism like nowhere else, she said. “Whatever they put me through, I’ll face it,” she said. “I came here to work. That’s why I go out every day. I endure humiliations, people shout insults at me, throw cups of water at me. There are good people, and there are bad people.”

But, if they are allowed, Torres thinks her family will stay. She still longs for home, but said her family “deserves better.”

“I would like them to have a life, to study, not to work, but to study because it’s my job to work. I want them to study and be something in life so they don’t have to go through what I’ve gone through.”

Immigrants without lawyers are 10x more likely to face deportation

Immigrants without an attorney are far more likely to lose their case. 

Those who have attorneys are 10 times more likely to avoid deportation compared to those without, and immigrants with attorneys are 3.5 times more likely to be granted bond and be released from detention, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, which advocates for justice system reform. 

Editor’s picks

• Scheme to cast votes on stolen mail ballots thwarted by Colorado election officials

• What is the “Cyclopean Cave” — and why are these guys hauling buckets of Colorado mud to find it?

• National Park Service rewards Colorado with … city parks?

Of the 136,000 immigrants ordered to be removed from this country in the first half of this year, about 110,000 did not have attorneys, according to research from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Denver immigration judges, on average, ordered deportation for 60% of people whose cases were decided from 2018-2023, according to the university’s research. 

“Preparing the documents, filling out the forms, understanding what you need to assemble a case, putting it all together in the format that makes sense — that is the job of a lawyer,” said Regina Bateson, a political science professor at CU Boulder who has taken students to Denver immigration court. “Most clients are going to struggle to do that effectively.

“Trying to teach yourself to be an immigration lawyer DIY-style is very difficult, especially when you might not be very literate even in your own language.”

Applications for asylum are 12 pages, but can stretch to hundreds of pages with added documents. If an asylum-seeker messes up the paperwork, such as forgetting to list a child in the correct space, it can cause delays and extra proceedings to correct it. 

“There are tons of questions about your history and it needs to be in English — it’s the entire basis of your asylum claim,” said Christina Brown, an immigration attorney and executive director of the Colorado Asylum Center, which holds clinics for migrants enrolled in the city’s asylum-seeker program. “If one of your addresses is wrong, the Department of Homeland Security attorney is going to tear you apart on cross examination. Everything about it is a life or death thing.”

Christina Brown, immigration attorney and founder of the Colorado Asylum Center, helps families work through their asylum paperwork Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, at the People’s Presbyterian Church in Denver. About 150 people seeking help with their asylum applications attended the two-day workshop. (Claudia A. Garcia, Special to The Colorado Sun)

To make a case for asylum, people need to prove a “well-founded fear of persecution” because of race, religion, political opinion or social group. Poverty on its own is not a qualifier. Nor is generalized violence — people have to prove that they were specifically persecuted. 

People without a lawyer might write two sentences in the small space that invites them to describe why they fear returning to their home country. Those with a lawyer, meanwhile, might write “see attached document” that would detail, over multiple pages, the reasons that returning home is dangerous to their lives. 

Bateson lived in Guatemala, where she worked for the U.S. Foreign Service, and now provides “country conditions” expert witness testimony, pro bono, for Guatemalan immigrants who are seeking asylum. Attorneys for immigrants seek out Bateson’s testimony about local vigilante groups in Guatemala that capture and torture people who are suspected of crimes, for having opposing political views or who are not “socially tolerable.” 

She writes declarations that explain conditions in Guatemala that back up an asylum-seeker’s story about persecution and safety. Her work becomes part of a case file, which might also include police reports, medical records and psychological evaluations sought by the immigrant’s attorney proving post-traumatic stress disorder. Since the applicant is now in the United States, this requires getting declarations from relatives, friends and neighbors back home who might be difficult to track down, as well as translating all the documents to English.

Those who don’t have an attorney are unlikely to provide any of this on their own behalf. 

In Bateson’s view, Denver’s immigration court judges and staff are friendlier, more patient and approachable than she has witnessed in courtrooms across the country. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t still confused.

“Even if the immigration court is trying to do a good job explaining the process, it’s very hard to understand, even if the interpretation is perfect,” she said. “It is just hard for a lay person to understand. When do you show up? How to keep the court updated with your address? If the court is telling you not to come back until 2027, a reasonable person might be skeptical of that. This is really how it works?” 

Recent immigrants enrolled in the City of Denver’s asylum-seeker program learn cooking skills from Dr. Chef Jay Lee, who demonstrates how to clean and prepare mussels Oct. 24, 2024, at the Metro State University Hospitality Learning Center on the Auraria Campus. He gave instructions in English, as Daniel Gilden with El Centro de los Trabajadores provided translations in Spanish. (Claudia A. Garcia, Special to The Colorado Sun)

Immigrants are often also confused about how to change their court location if they ended up living in Denver instead of the city they mentioned when they crossed the border. They mistakenly think a change-of-address form is all that is required, not realizing they also have to file a motion with the court to change the location. By the time some realize it, it’s too late, and they lose their case.

“People think they are going to change my court to Denver from New York and their hearing is in five days,” said Brown, with the Asylum Center. “You have to be in New York in five days. There is no way around it.” 

Immigration courts are overwhelmed nationwide, with the number of pending cases now at 3.7 million — about the population of Los Angeles. Syracuse University researchers pointed out the acceleration at the end of 2021, saying that while the backlog grew during the Obama and Trump administrations, it had grown “breakneck pace” under President Biden.

To deal with it, immigration courts have tried to streamline operations by encouraging more pre-hearing conferences “to resolve matters that do not require valuable court docket time” and scheduling hearings in more efficient ways, said Kathryn Mattingly, press secretary at the Executive Office for Immigration Review, within the U.S. Department of Justice. The system resolved more than 500,000 cases across the country last year, she said, “far exceeding production of previous years.”  

She pointed out that the Immigration Review office “does not control the number of such filings” because although the federal agency hears the cases, it’s the Department of Homeland Security that is filing them —1.2 million new cases in immigration court last year, up from 228,000 in 2016. 

A federal regulation allows attorneys to help immigrants with proceedings without requiring them to commit to taking on the full case, which has helped thousands of people obtain legal advice, Mattingly said. She would not say how long, on average, an immigration case will now take to reach resolution.

“It is important to note that each asylum case is unique, with its own set of facts and circumstances which all factor into adjudication times,” she said, in an email.

Immigration proceedings are civil, not criminal

The United States justifies not providing lawyers for people in immigration court because these are civil, not criminal, proceedings, said Chapin, who worked for the public defender in Washington, D.C., before coming to CU. Unlike indigent defendants in criminal cases, people in immigration court — even if they are detained — do not get public defenders.  

The system is such a labyrinth of complex law, that it’s difficult even for attorneys to navigate unless they do nothing but immigration cases. On top of that, law can change based on politics and who is the president. 

When former President Obama was in office, Chapin had a client whose claim for asylum centered on domestic violence. The hearing was a month out, but was canceled and reset for two years later. By then, Donald Trump was president, and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, removed domestic violence as a legitimate claim. Under President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland restored it. 

“The immigration courts answer to whoever the attorney general is, which means the executive branch is deciding what happens in the judicial branch,” Chapin said. “The immigration courts are not independent.” 

The problems with the system are not due to the influx of South Americans over the past couple of years — they go back decades, Chapin said.

“That’s how absurd our immigration system is,” she said. 

Interactive content by Flourish

Immigration attorneys in Colorado estimated there are 50 or fewer of them working on cases, and it’s difficult for them to take on the cases pro bono because they drag on for years. The longer a case takes, the more likely the law changes before it’s complete.

“When these cases take so long it’s not just, ‘I don’t know what is going to happen in my case.’ It’s that I don’t know what is going to happen in the law,” said Monique Sherman, detention program managing attorney at the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, which represents families and children and immigration proceedings.

The rules could change again, depending on who is elected president. Trump, who has repeated false claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets and Venezuelan gangs have “conquered” Aurora, has promised massive deportations beginning in those two cities. 

Colorado created a first step toward providing public defenders in immigration court under legislation passed in 2021. The Immigrant Legal Defense Fund, with $350,000 in state money through the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, goes to nonprofits providing legal help to people fighting removal proceedings. Most of the fund, 70%, is for detainees in Aurora. As the largest immigrant advocacy group in the state, RMIAN gets the bulk of the funding, while some is shared with Mountain Dreamers, based in Frisco, the Denver branch of the International Rescue Committee and Alianza NORCO in Fort Collins. 

It has helped 184 immigrants with legal defense since 2022. This year, the state legislature allocated an extra, one-time boost of $350,000, for a total of $700,000.

Recent immigrants wait in the hallway outside federal immigration courtrooms in downtown Denver on May 28, 2024. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

For those who are on their own without attorneys, RMIAN staff put on “know your rights” presentations and set up a help desk most days of the week at the federal courthouse in Denver. The number of people who attended these presentations three years ago was in the hundreds. It surpassed 3,500 in the past year. 

And for people in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora, the nonprofit makes a list each day of those whose hearings are up next, then asks a guard who works for the private company that runs the center to go to the dorms and ask people whether they want to meet with the advocacy network. The facility has about 1,200 detainees, and RMIAN has a legal staff of 44. 

“As a small nonprofit organization, we can’t possibly represent that many people,” Sherman said, noting that the consequences for detainees are huge. 

“In Aurora, if somebody hasn’t filed out an application because they don’t speak the language, the judge will just order them deported because they didn’t file the application in time.”

“Being in limbo is all some of us know” 

People waiting years for a resolution to their court case feel some sense of relief knowing that as long as they follow the rules, including showing up for court hearings, the government will not deport them, said Gladis Casas Ibarra, co-director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Still, they are living in limbo. 

“It gives folks a sense of safety, at least for the next few years. They don’t have to worry about being separated from their family,” said Ibarra, who moved to the United States from Mexico at age 8 and is a DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, recipient. “But being in limbo is all some of us know. It adds a level of stress that I feel is unnecessary. For people who are applying for asylum and made this incredible life-changing journey and then to be placed on hold, it is something hard to explain.”

Interactive content by Flourish

Yenny Andreu Vivas, who immigrated to the United States from Colombia two decades ago and, last year, married her husband, who is Cuban, works as a navigator with the immigrant rights group Alianza NORCO in Fort Collins. She spends much of her time emphasizing to people how important it is that they show up for court. 

For many, the journey to the federal courthouse in Denver — the only immigration court in Colorado besides the one for detainees held at the ICE detention center in Aurora — is a burden because they don’t have their own vehicle. If they can’t get a ride from a friend or someone at their church, they have to spend hours on public buses. 

She tells them, “Try your best not to miss it! Because if they do, it will be deportation. Even if they don’t have an attorney, the important thing is that they show up.”

Many are confused, too, Vivas said, about how to apply for a work permit and how the waiting period is tangled up with their asylum case. 

“For them to find out the process is actually not that simple, that worries them a lot,” Vivas said. “The majority are coming already with trauma, so finding out they have to wait, six months, seven months, a year, depending on when they file the asylum application, to apply for work authorization — it’s a very long time when you have bills to pay and need to buy food.”

Corrections:

This story was updated Oct. 25 at 12:12 p.m. to correct the year Venezuelans were granted TPS under President Joe Biden. It was 2021.

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Tagged:Aurora, Denver, immigration, immigration court, migrants, The Long Road to Asylum, Venezuela

Jennifer BrownReporter

jennifer@coloradosun.com

Jennifer Brown writes about mental health, the child welfare system, the disability community and homelessness for The Colorado Sun. As a former Montana 4-H kid, she also loves writing about agriculture and ranching. Brown previously worked... More by Jennifer Brown

Family of immigrant who died at Aurora Contract Detention files wrongful death suit against GEO Group

The minor children of Melvin Ariel Calero Mendoza — a 39-year-old Nicaraguan asylum seeker — has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a detention center in Aurora and its medical director in connection with his 2022 death.

In addition to The Geo Group, the lawsuit also named Dr. Cary Walker, the facility’s medical director, who was the sole physician working when Mendoza died.

The lawsuit alleges that Mendoza died because Geo and Walker “failed to diagnose and treat a blood clot in his leg.”

“Melvin’s death was entirely preventable,” the family’s attorneys said in the complaint.

Attorneys for Novo Legal Group, which brought the lawsuit, allege that in the weeks leading up to Mendoza’s death, he had sought care on at least three occasions for “unbearable pain” in his right leg.

Mendoza also asked staff to relocate to a bottom bunk, which was denied, said Aaron Slade, lead counsel, at a press conference Tuesday.

“Each time, defendants failed to triage him appropriately, refer him to an appropriate medical provider for care, or correctly diagnose his medical concerns,” the complaint said. “Instead, defendants tasked entry-level nurses to diagnose and treat Melvin without supervision, and outside the scope of their nursing licenses.”

The medical treatment provided Mendoza, the complaint alleges, consisted of “over-the-counter pain medications and ice packs for his leg.”

Mendoza and his family, according to the complaint, had fled the gang violence, political turmoil and economic instability of Nicaragua.

He turned himself at the southern border with Mexico. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) transferred Mendoza, who could not make bond, to the Aurora facility, Slade said.

“There is no rhyme or reason why one person might be released into the community and another one detained,” said Laura Lunn, director of Advocacy and Litigation for Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network.

Formed in 2000, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network provides free legal and social services to immigrants in detention.

ICE has the discretion whether and where to detain immigrants anywhere in the country, Lunn said.

Lunn called Mendoza’s death a “miscarriage of justice.”

“People who are seeking asylum are running for their lives,” Lunn said.

The suit was filed on Friday in Adams County District Court.

GEO Group is a private, for-profit prison operator that owns and runs the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, an immigration detention center with a capacity of 1,532.

As of Oct. 4, the facility held 1,245 immigrants, according to a bi-monthly accountability report.

Mendoza died on October 13, 2022.

His was not the first death at the Aurora detention center.

In 2017, Kamyar Samimi, an Iranian, died at the ICE detention center after the facility’s doctor removed him from his prescribed methadone.

And in 2012, detention staffers waited more than an hour to call 911 after Evalin-Ali Mandza — a 46-year-old immigrant from Gabon with no known heart issues — suffered a heart attack.

An investigation by the ACLU of Colorado in 2019 alleged multiple incidents that lacked care or competence.

Examples include:

• A detainee once suffered broken fingers when a guard slammed a door on his hand.

• Another had his leg amputated, necessitated after staffers ignored complaints about bedsores.

• A man died of a heart attack in 2012 after an untrained staff member was unable to properly operate the EKG machine.

• A man was brutally beaten in 2017 by other detainees because of his sexual orientation. Reported fears for safety before the attack went unheeded. Despite blurry vision and a ringing in his ears, suggesting a concussion, the staffer's only treatment was Tylenol.

Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the GEO Group operates private prisons and mental health facilities in the U.S. Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom. In addition to the Aurora detention center, the Geo Group also operates more than a dozen other facilities in at least seven states including California, Texas and Pennsylvania.

The federal government awarded GEO the contract for the Aurora ICE Processing Center in 1986 to detain about 150 immigrants, according to the company’s website.

“The announcement of Melvin’s death previously gained national media attention and now the family’s lawsuit furthers the ongoing national dialog about widespread problems of inadequate medical care and dangerous conditions in immigration detention facilities across the United States—an issue advocacy groups like the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network and Professor (Elizabeth) Jordan have been working to address for years,” Novo Legal Group attorneys said in a news release.

Jordan is the director of the Immigration Law & Policy Clinic at the University of Denver. 

GEO did not respond to an email seeking comment on the case.

Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network Stands with Our Community to Condemn Calls for Mass Deportation and Expose Harms of Immigration Detention and Deportation

Westminster, Colorado, October 10, 2024—Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) strongly condemns the hateful and dishonest political rhetoric calling for mass deportations in our community. For the last twenty-five years, RMIAN has been a stalwart and trusted provider of legal services at the immigration detention center in Aurora, while simultaneously representing children and families in immigration proceedings in Colorado.

“Immigration detention and deportation operate in a hidden world. Every day, RMIAN’s attorneys, social workers, and advocates work alongside our clients, and see the deep pain of family separation, the dire and sometimes deadly consequences of medical neglect for people in immigration detention, and the egregious lack of due process for everyone in deportation proceedings. Expanding these harmful systems would devastate our community and our country,” says Mekela Goehring, Executive Director at RMIAN.

With a deep understanding of how immigration detention and deportation operate in our community, RMIAN knows that mass deportation would exponentially compound harm and create disastrous impacts for Colorado and beyond. According to a recent report by the American Immigration Council, a one time operation to deport undocumented immigrants would cost at least $315 billion, require the U.S. to expand immigration detention capacity by 24 times, and result in the deportation of 1 in 25 individuals in the United States. Projections estimate that mass deportation would lead to a loss of 4.2 percent to 6.8 percent of annual U.S. GDP, or $1.1 trillion to $1.7 trillion in 2022 dollars.

“We all agree that our immigration system needs to change. We need order at the border and a system of legal immigration that better reflects our collective needs and values,” says RMIAN Board Member Jorge Loweree, who is also the Managing Director of Programs at the American Immigration Council. “Mass deportation would come at an extreme cost to the government, devastate our economy, wreak havoc on communities, and terrorize immigrants and families that have been in the U.S. for more than a decade, on average.” 

“Policymakers should instead focus on increasing resources for our adjudication systems, reforming our system of legal immigration, and pursuing a path to permanent status for people who have been here for years,” said Loweree.  

RMIAN recognizes the tremendous contributions, strength and resilience of our immigrant community members, loved ones, colleagues, and clients.

RMIAN Board Member Doug Friesema, the pastor of Aurora First Presbyterian Church, reflects, “I have seen firsthand the power of immigration to bolster our communities. By inviting immigrants and all the gifts that they bring into our congregation we have found new life, new purpose, and new hope that our world might heal together. Because of the bonds we have formed with our neighbors from around the world we are able to feel the presence of God amongst us. Just this last Sunday, we celebrated World Communion Sunday in a combined service with two immigrant congregations who share the building with us. I have never seen our community so alive and full of commitment to serve our neighbors in love as when they are at our side.”

RMIAN Board Member, Dr. Janet Lopez, Senior Director of Policy, Partnerships & Learning at The Denver Foundation says, “Working within the Denver community, I see the incredible strength of our immigrant communities and the assets they bring to our state. I also see the kindness and generosity of my fellow Coloradans. We must invest in programs that make us stronger collectively, and bridge across lines of difference. RMIAN’s work to increase access and opportunity for communities of color is more important than ever, strengthening marginalized communities and creating a better Colorado for us all.”

Colorado is centered in the middle of our country and Aurora is in the heart of Colorado. The Aurora that RMIAN works in every day is a vibrant city enhanced by its incredible diversity, and an important contributor to our state’s prosperity and economy. It is also a dynamic example of the American dream, attracting new Americans who bring faith in a better future to our country. But within its boundaries is one of the nation’s largest immigration prisons, where 6-inch-thick doors boom as they slam and the sound of guards’ keys clink as they walk through the windowless halls.

RMIAN’s Director of Advocacy & Litigation, Laura Lunn, explains, “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) steals away longtime residents–students, caregivers, and breadwinners–leaving their loved ones stranded without their support systems. People who survived atrocities and fled for their lives, from places like Ukraine, South Sudan, Venezuela, and Palestine, are imprisoned. Right now, over a thousand people sit and wait for a judge to listen to their case and most of them will appear in court alone. At RMIAN, we strive to fill gaps that exist in our immigration system to ensure that people have access to due process, fairness, and justice. But more than that, we provide a sense of care and community for people held within the detention center because those are traits that Coloradans value no matter where you are within our state.”

RMIAN Founding Board Member Hiroshi Motomura and UCLA law professor explains, “Any call for mass deportations is profoundly troubling. Three reasons deserve special mention. First, mass deportations will cause lasting damage to communities in Colorado and throughout the United States, tearing apart families and targeting the workers who make sure we have food, take care of our children, and provide essential health care. Second, calling for mass deportations sends the corrosive message that US citizens who are the family members, neighbors, and employers of noncitizens don’t count, that it’s ok to marginalize them. Third and most fundamentally, calling for mass deportations is not a serious proposal to fix a broken system. Instead, it’s a simple-minded fix for political gain and an attempt to sow divisions in this country by scapegoating.”

For almost three decades, RMIAN’s clients have been the heroes in all of our work. RMIAN’s clients have elevated the mistreatment and dangers they have faced in immigration detention and through deportation proceedings in order to shed light on these injustices and hopefully prevent them from happening to others in the future. We now call on our community members to stand up against hatred and stand with our community. 

Colorado Pro Bono Leaders Collaboration National Pro Bono Week

In celebration of National Pro Bono Week (October 20-26), we are thrilled to announce a series of daily Lunch & Learn sessions from 12-1 p.m. These live CLE accredited sessions will be held in-person at various locations and offer virtual participation options for all members of the legal community.

Event Schedule:

Monday, 10/21: Metro Volunteer Lawyers - Hosted at Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell

Tuesday, 10/22: Colorado Access to Justice Commission / Virtual Pro Se Clinic - Hosted at Brownstein

Wednesday, 10/23: Colorado Lawyers Committee - Hosted at Cooley LLP

Thursday, 10/24: Faculty of Federal Advocates - Hosted at Sherman & Howard

Friday, 10/25: Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network - Hosted at Faegre Drinker

These sessions are designed to introduce participants to the specific goals and needs of each organization and to present available pro bono opportunities.This initiative marks the first public effort of a collaborative group of pro bono leaders from local Denver law firms.

We invite all legal professionals to join us for these insightful sessions. Click below to secure your spot and receive any additional information on virtual participation options.

We look forward to seeing you during this impactful week of learning and community engagement!

RSVP HERE

CBA CLE Immigration Law 2024

Please join the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network and the Colorado Bar Association Continuing Legal Education for our annual Immigration Law CLE training!

The need for legal representation in immigration proceedings is greater than ever. Build your skills for defending and advancing the rights of non-citizens during this day-long training offered both in-person and virtually. This training is great for immigration and non-immigration attorneys who have one or fewer years of immigration law experience, and for attorneys who have experience in one area of immigration law and are interested in learning about a new case type.

In the morning, we will focus on zealous immigration advocacy and practice before the immigration courts, working with survivors of trauma, and incorporating JEDI into client practices. The afternoon sessions will start with a mock client meeting and immigration court hearing, followed by asylum law and protections available for children and survivors of crime.

Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided, as well as a reception following the program. There will also be opportunities to sign up for a case that day, if you are inspired and ready to get started!

This training is only $75 for attorneys who agree to take a pro bono case through RMIAN.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

There Is No Line for Many Immigrants Who Want to Come Here Legally. We’ve Got to Fix Our System.

By Jorge Loweree

Mr. Loweree is the managing director of programs and strategy at the American Immigration Council.

During the Republican National Convention, speakers repeatedly tried to draw a contrast between asylum seekers who’ve crossed the southern border in recent years and immigrants who’ve entered the country through other channels. As Vivek Ramaswamy put it, legal immigrants like his parents “deserve the opportunity to secure a better life for your children in America.” Others deserve deportation, “because you broke the law.”

Elected leaders like to invoke this narrative that there’s an easy, “right” and a hard, “wrong” way to immigrate to the United States, because it makes the solution for fixing our broken immigration system seem simple. We just need more law-abiding people to get in the right line.

But the reality that is all too clear to immigrants navigating our byzantine system, and the lawyers and advocates who try to help them, is that there is no line to get into for a vast majority of people who wish to come to the United States. If the government is serious about securing the border, we have to make it easier for people to come through legal channels.

The U.S. admits a tiny fraction of people who want to immigrate

Number of people who said they want to immigrate or who legally applied, compared to those granted permanent residence

158 million people would like to immigrate to the U.S.

32 million people actually began the application process in 2021

24 million

workers

200,000

refugees

8 million

family members

200,000

workers

20,000

refugees

700,000

family members

Only 900,000 people were allowed to enter legally

Sources: Gallup, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Note: Data was originally compiled in “Why Legal Immigration Is Nearly Impossible” by David Bier for the Cato Institute. The number of people who would like to immigrate is taken from a 2018 Gallup poll.

Opinion | Want to Fix the Immigration Mess? Make It Easier to Come Here Legally. - The New York Times

Our system of legal immigration isn’t set up to reward “good” choices. It is littered with arbitrary caps, bureaucratic delays and redundant processes that wring years of effort and money out of the precious few who qualify.

Gender Affirming Language in Immigration Court

RMIAN Attorney Shira Hereld and other advocates are leading a training on Friday, September 6th at 12:30 MT to transform the immigration court system and build a more gender-affirming and inclusive system. 

Shira co-authored Gender Affirming Language in Immigration Court - a practice advisory that outlines how gender-expansive identities can be affirmed in court, an essential resource for advocates committed to ensuring that people of different gender identities are respected in court. 

Please join us! Registration information here: hyperlink this link: https://acaciajustice-org.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItceuprDovHGhH5AHPrW0tcZUXnag7W78#/registration 

Justice Behind Bars: Stories About Carceral and Immigrant Detention Corporations

This Saturday, June 8th Motus Theater will bring powerful monologues from JustUs monologist and criminal legal reform advocate Candice Bailey and UndocuAmerica monologist and immigrant rights advocate Victor Galvan, whose powerful monologues reveal injustices carceral and immigrant detention centers have had on them, their families and communities. Featuring music from Spirit of Grace. Donations at the event will be split between RMIAN, Second Chance Center, and Motus' JustUs project.

Webinar: A Look at Universal Representation Campaigns

RMIAN’s Director of Advocacy & Litigation, Laura Lunn, will participate on a panel of advocates from across the country discussing the state of universal representation campaigns at the state and local level.

Tuesday, May 7, at 1:00pm-2:00pm MT

Webinar registration link and information here.

RMIAN & Partners File Civil Rights Complaint on Behalf of Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals Detained in Aurora

For Immediate Release 
April 9, 2024

Contact: 
Arianna Rosales, arianna@nipnlg.org, (408) 398-5140
Laura Lunn, llunn@rmian.org, (720) 370-9100
Elyssa Pachico, epachico@immcouncil.org, (503) 850-8407

Transgender and Nonbinary People Describe Discrimination, Harassment, and Mistreatment at Aurora Detention Facility in New Civil Rights Complaint 

Washington, DC–The National Immigration Project, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, and American Immigration Council today filed a civil rights complaint on behalf of a group of transgender and nonbinary individuals who are currently detained at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility and have experienced discrimination, harassment, and mistreatment while under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. 

The complaint details experiences of medical neglect and inadequate access to necessary medical and mental healthcare, dehumanizing treatment, and much more. 

Charlotte sought transfer to the Aurora facility from an ICE detention center in Georgia and was told that she would have better access to gender affirming care at Aurora. But in Aurora, she and other transgender women she is detained with are locked in their dorm for at least 23 hours a day. “I thought they’d take care of us, give us more freedom, recognize that we have suffered the most, we are the most vulnerable. We came from our countries being horribly treated and we get here and they treat us horribly,” said Charlotte. 

Victoria, also detained at the Aurora facility added “people break. They sign their deportations after being here too long because they can’t take this treatment. They don’t want to keep fighting their cases here because the system is so bad. I think it is intentionally bad here. It is a way to get people to give up on themselves.”

“The traumatic experiences detailed in this complaint make clear that ICE is incapable of safely and humanely incarcerating transgender and nonbinary people,” said Ann Garcia, Staff Attorney at the National Immigration Project. “As a result, we urge DHS to put an immediate and permanent end to ICE’s practice of detaining transgender and nonbinary people. Until that happens, at a minimum, ICE must immediately implement new policies to provide safeguards to transgender and nonbinary people in their custody while also implementing regular oversight practices to guarantee adherence to these protective policies. Ultimately, however, we know the abuse and mistreatment documented in this complaint are emblematic of a detention system that is inherently inhumane and flawed beyond repair, and we will continue fighting to end this cruel and harmful system.”

“ICE created a ‘trans pod’ at the Aurora facility, which is promoted as the premier place to be detained in the country for people who are transgender and nonbinary. This complaint reveals the systemic flaws with this model, which inflicts further harm and cruelty on people who have already faced profound mistreatment during their lives due to their gender identities and expression of themselves,” said Laura Lunn, Director of Advocacy & Litigation at Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. “The Department of Homeland Security must investigate these allegations, which we believe can lead to only one possible conclusion: a recommendation to end the detention of people who are trans and nonbinary because the agency cannot ensure the safety and wellbeing of people in its custody. Release should be the default, not the exception.” 

“Keeping trans people isolated in pods doesn’t make them safer in ICE detention, where they routinely face abuse by staff and denial of essential medical treatment. It is telling that this facility in Aurora was purportedly one of the few in the country that met standards for keeping trans people safe, and yet, as this complaint shows, people endured systemic harassment and neglect,”  said Rebekah Wolf, senior advocacy strategist at the American Immigration Council. “ICE needs to permanently end keeping trans and non-binary people in detention, because the agency clearly cannot guarantee basic standards of care.”  

The complaint builds upon the longstanding pattern of abuse, discrimination, and neglect that transgender and nonbinary people have reported while detained at the Aurora facility. The traumatic experiences detailed in this complaint are also set against the broader backdrop of more than a decade’s worth of detailed complaints filed by transgender and nonbinary persons with DHS oversight bodies and investigated by the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Read the complaint here. 

###

The National Immigration Project (NIPNLG) is a membership organization of attorneys, advocates, and community members who are driven by the belief that all people should be treated with dignity, live freely, and flourish. We litigate, advocate, educate, and build bridges across movements to ensure that those most impacted by the immigration and criminal systems are uplifted and supported. Learn more at nipnlg.org. Follow NIPNLG on Facebook, X, and Instagram at @NIPNLG.

Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Colorado, that works to ensure justice for adults and children in immigration proceedings. RMIAN empowers people through education of legal rights; provides zealous no-cost immigration legal representation to uphold fundamental fairness and due process; promotes the importance of universal representation where anyone in immigration proceedings has access to counsel despite financial barriers; and advocates for a more efficient, functional, and humane immigration system, including an end to immigration detention. Learn more about RMIAN’s work at rmian.org, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @rmian_org.

The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. The Council brings together problem solvers and employs four coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, research, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications. In January 2022, the Council and New American Economy merged to combine a broad suite of advocacy tools to better expand and protect the rights of immigrants, more fully ensure immigrants’ ability to succeed economically, and help make the communities they settle in more welcoming. Follow the latest Council news and information on ImmigrationImpact.com and X @immcouncil.

Colorado Legislature Considers a $2 Million Annual Fund for Legal Aid Organizations

RMIAN is part of a coalition with Colorado Legal Services, Colorado Center on Law and Policy, the Community Economic Defense Project, and others to support legislation to provide greater access to justice through more funding for legal service organizations in Colorado.

Please see this article in Law Week Colorado

Mekela Goehring, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, wrote in an email to Law Week that RMIAN’s staff attorneys represented 829 individuals in Colorado in their immigration cases. The cases included children who had been abused or neglected, survivors of human trafficking, asylum seekers and more. 

“But we had to turn away the vast majority of individuals who reached out to us for help,” wrote Goehring. “With additional funding, there is so much more that we could do.” 

Learn more about RMIAN’s Social Service Project

Huge thanks to RMIAN funder and community partner, Caring for Denver Foundation, for putting together this powerful video that discusses the important work of RMIAN’s Social Service Project (SSP) and the powerful collaboration of legal and social services at RMIAN.

RMIAN Pro Bono Attorney, Nat Robinson, writes about his experience in Newsweek

Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network Opposes Senate Spending Bill That Would Decimate U.S. Asylum Law

Westminster, Colorado, February 5, 2024—Over the weekend, in response to a White House supplemental funding request, a small group of Senators finalized a proposed spending bill that would end asylum as we know it, putting countless people at risk of harm and death. The bill advances an anti-immigrant agenda and obfuscates this country’s obligations to protect refugees and people fleeing torture.

Mekela Goehring, Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network:

“Lawmakers are bargaining with human lives, turning their backs on people seeking refuge on U.S. soil, applying the misguided belief that if we make it harder for people to access the United States, they will not come. Immigration enforcement through deterrence has never and will never work. Creating unlawful barriers to asylum based on xenophobic and racist motivations would cause a schism in the foundation of the U.S. immigration system and call into question fundamental principles of what it means to be American, where we pride ourselves on providing refuge to people in search of safety.”

Laura Lunn, Director of Advocacy and Litigation of Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network:

“People move to seek safety. Creating policies that ignore the underlying sources of instability causing people to flee for their lives is short-sighted and foolhardy. Rather than improve U.S. security, the proposed legislation would enrich criminal organizations that profit from kidnappings and violent crime targeting migrants. The Biden administration and members of Congress must prioritize humane policies over archaic blockades, increased detention, and heightened legal standards that will never prevent the natural phenomenon of human migration spurred by persecutory regimes.”

###

Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Colorado, that works to ensure justice for adults and children in immigration proceedings. RMIAN empowers people through education of legal rights; provides zealous no-cost immigration legal representation to uphold fundamental fairness and due process; promotes the importance of universal representation where anyone in immigration proceedings has access to counsel despite financial barriers; and advocates for a more efficient, functional, and humane immigration system, including an end to immigration detention. Learn more about RMIAN’s work at rmian.org, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @rmian_org.

CLE Webinar: A Focus on RMIAN

Please join us for a live CLE webinar on an Diversity, Equity & Inclusion topic A Focus on RMIAN, presented by Mekela Goehring, RMIAN's Executive Director. Special thanks to our event sponsor, Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti LLP.

In this CLE, RMIAN's Executive Director Mekela Goehring will discuss the impact of immigration enforcement and detention in Colorado, provide information about the importance of universal representation for everyone in immigration proceedings, and discuss opportunities for pro bono attorneys and paralegals to get involved in RMIAN's work.

Mekela Goehring has served as RMIAN’s Executive Director since 2005. She began working at RMIAN in 2003 as the organization’s first detention staff attorney, representing detained clients before the Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Board of Immigration Appeals. She is a frequent speaker on issues involving immigration law and policy, and works with numerous committees and groups to expand access to justice for individuals in immigration proceedings in Colorado and beyond. 

This lunchtime program will be held from 12:00 – 1:00 pm via Zoom webinar. The Zoom link will be sent out to all registrants.

Channel 9 Coverage of RMIAN’s FOIA Litigation Work

Channel 9 coverage of RMIAN's FOIA litigation work on Melvin Calera Mendoza's death at the GEO immigration detention center. Please see this powerful interview with RMIAN's Director of Advocacy and Litigation Laura Lunn about the ways that ICE has refused to produce documents about Melvin's death and RMIAN's work in this litigation. 

Law360 Highlights Perspectives of RMIAN Attorneys Endorsing Universal Representation

“The current immigration system is categorically unfair. People must argue their cases against trained government prosecutors before politicized immigration courts.” RMIAN attorneys, Shaleen Morales and Laura Lunn, argue in a recent opinion piece featured in Law360. The piece, titled Immigration Detention Should Offer Universal Legal Counsel, sheds light on the inequity of the current U.S. immigration adjudication system. It calls for significant shifts away from immigration detention to free up funding that can be reallocated toward government-appointed counsel. “Fundamental fairness and basic due process are only possible in our immigration system if people have meaningful access to counsel. Similar to the public defender model, the government should provide attorneys when people cannot otherwise afford one.”

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/articles/1782298?copied=1

RMIAN Contributes to 17th Annual Educating Children of Color Summit

Sabrina Sameshima, RMIAN Senior Staff Attorney, is presenting at the 17th Annual Educating Children of Color Summit in Colorado Springs on January 13, 2024. Its goal it to build equitity between our education and judicial systems.

The ECOC Summit provides a unique opportunity for educators, juvenile justice, and child welfare professionals to enhance their ability to retain and inspire the students and families they serve.

Sabrina's panel, entitled Immigration Options for Undocumented Youth, will explore common mechanisms to obtain immigration status with the intention of empowering participants through education and a heightened understanding of any available pathways to seek lasting immigration benefits.