Colorado’s largest organization offering legal services to immigrants has been ordered to stop operations.
The U.S. Department of Justice issued a “stop work order” to multiple immigrant advocacy organizations around the country, including the one that funds Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. The Colorado nonprofit provides free attorney representation and other legal help to thousands of immigrants who are locked in the detention center in Aurora or fighting deportation at the Denver immigration court.
The order follows an executive order from President Donald Trump titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” and announcing the “faithful execution of the immigration laws.”
The stop work order from the federal justice department was received last week by advocacy groups that receive federal funding, including Acacia Center for Justice, which supports Colorado’s network. Colorado advocates announced Monday evening that the order means it must suspend operations inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora and the immigration courthouse in downtown Denver.
More than 85% of immigrants in Colorado fighting deportation and trying to prove their case for asylum or other legal ways to stay in the United States have no attorney. Many of those visit the advocacy network’s help desks and “Know Your Rights” presentations in the courthouse and detention center before they go into court to face an immigration judge.
The federal action came in the form of a concise email, a copy of which was obtained by The Sun.
“This email is to send you notification to stop work immediately pursuant to the Executive Order linked below,” the email said, including a link to Trump’s protection against invasion order.
“The administration is effectively silencing immigrants’ ability to defend their rights while subjecting them to intensified enforcement and detention measures,” RMIAN said in a news release.
“Taking away access to these essential and life-saving immigration legal service programs while simultaneously ordering increases in immigration enforcement and detention that will trample community members’ rights is a shocking and gross violation of the fundamental principles of due process, equal access to justice, and to our values for caring for our community members and loved ones,” said Mekela Goehring, the organization’s executive director.
The order cuts off funding for “Know Your Rights” programs, which is how advocacy groups across the country screen cases for potential attorney representation, RMIAN director of advocacy Laura Lunn told The Sun on Tuesday. While the network’s 41 employees can pivot to other work, “without this initial touchpoint, it will be very challenging” to identify people who are detained who need legal support, she said.
The advocacy network began its work in Colorado in 2003. The group recently trained about 100 nonimmigration lawyers to take on immigration cases for people who are detained in Aurora.
The ICE detention facility in Aurora is licensed to hold up to 1,500 people. The federal government refuses to release a daily count of how many people are held in the detention center but immigrant advocacy groups estimate almost 1,200 people are detained. Of those, about 40% are facing criminal charges while 60% are being held solely for being in the United States illegally.
In addition, 77,000 cases are pending in federal immigration court in downtown Denver.
Immigration experts argue that not having lawyers present in the courtroom contributes to a nationwide immigration court 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.
Immigrant rights groups around the country have said they plan to file a lawsuit against the Department of Justice over the stop work order.
Acacia, the national nonprofit that funds the Colorado network, operates eight federally funded programs and one state-funded program in more than 80 locations.
Meanwhile, a congressional committee has asked Denver Mayor Mike Johnston to testify Feb. 11 about the city’s status as a “sanctuary city,” though Denver does not use that term. The mayor received a letter from the U.S. House’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, requesting that he explain Denver’s policies.
“Sanctuary jurisdictions and their misguided and obstructionist policies hinder the ability of federal law enforcement officers to effectuate safe arrests and remove dangerous criminals from American communities, making Americans less safe,” the letter says. “Denver is a sanctuary jurisdiction that refuses to fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.”
The actions come after Trump vowed to conduct “mass deportations” and the administration has ramped up immigration enforcement, beginning with raids in Chicago.