State lawmakers this year are advancing a historic slate of legislation aimed at assisting the estimated nearly 200,000 Coloradans living in the U.S. illegally, including through measures to shield them from federal immigration authorities and granting them access to state-funded benefits and services. The bills would also remove requirements that people prove legal residency to […]
illegal immigration
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Health
Contact tracing in Colorado immigrant communities is most effective with voices from within
By Markian Hawryluk, Kaiser Health News Early in the pandemic, Ximena Rebolledo León, a registered nurse at Telluride Regional Medical Center in southwest Colorado, needed to find everyone who’d been in contact with a sick Latino restaurant worker whose boss had told him he would lose his job if he didn’t show up. The man […]
Posted inArts, Culture
Denver lands CARNE y ARENA, a powerful immersive, virtual reality experience about refugees
An immersive virtual reality experience in the time of COVID? You are right to be skeptical. First, know that this groundbreaking virtual reality experience is safer than a trip to the grocery store, in terms of germs, and healthier than breathing Colorado’s ash-filled air, in terms of raging wildfires. No crowds. Appropriate preventive measures. Clean […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
“This sort of weird torture is over”: Colorado DACA recipients on their hopes, fears after Supreme Court ruling
The last few years have been harrowing for the estimated 14,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients in Colorado. They’ve watched as their protections from deportation wound through the federal court system and became a political football in Congress. They’ve held their breath waiting for answers about their future and whether or not they’d be […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Trump’s bid to end DACA
By Mark Sherman, The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants, a stunning rebuke to the president in the midst of his reelection campaign. The outcome seems certain to elevate the issue in Trump’s campaign, given the anti-immigrant rhetoric of […]
Posted inCOVID, Crime and Courts, News
All inmates at Aurora immigration detention facility will be tested for coronavirus
By Ben Fox, The Associated Press WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Wednesday that it has expanded COVID-19 testing among people held at its detention facilities following criticism of its response to the outbreak. ICE says it now offers voluntary tests for the virus to all people held at detention facilities in Tacoma, […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Politics and Government
Coloradans in the U.S. illegally — and their citizen families — were denied coronavirus aid. Will the state step in?
Alaina Silva met her husband in a crowded sushi restaurant in downtown Denver in 2011. He was the sushi chef behind the bar, wearing a black chef’s coat and apron that crisscrossed behind his back. “I had just moved for work and I didn’t know anyone, so I decided to dine alone for the first […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: We need radical action to respond to the coronavirus and the resulting inequity
COVID-19 officially arrived in Colorado just over a month ago. While many of us are still trying to navigate and make sense of new realities, it’s clear that inequity is making the pandemic spread faster and that the pandemic is increasing inequity. Those with the least access to economic, social and political resources and power […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
Woman taking refuge in southwest Colorado church hits 1,000 day mark
By Mary Shinn, The Durango Herald MANCOS — When longtime Cortez resident Rosa Sabido first sought sanctuary from deportation in Mancos United Methodist Church more than 1,000 days ago, she expected to stay for a few weeks to a year. As the fight for her legal residency stretched into years, she decided she would not […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News, Politics and Government
ICE asks federal judge to force Denver to turn over information on 4 men subject to deportation
By Colleen Slevin, The Associated Press U.S. immigration officials are asking a federal judge to force Denver to turn over information about four men accused of crimes who are subject to deportation after the city refused to comply with its order to do so. In a continued escalation of the conflict between federal officials and […]