The University of Colorado is facing continued pressure from its own students as well as immigrant rights activists over its refusal to end its contract with Key Lime Air, a small Colorado-based charter airline that operates deportation flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Aurora has long been a source of tension in the community. Recently, members of Colorado’s congressional delegation uncovered that the immigration officials were unable to provide basic information during oversight visits, sparking renewed attention on the facility.
The Baptiste Group, a Georgia-based company that provides disaster remediation, shelter, social services, and other emergency relief services, is one of the companies proposing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Colorado Springs, according to documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) earlier this month. The Baptiste Group ran an emergency shelter for unaccompanied migrant minors in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which lost its license following allegations of sexual misconduct involving three staffers and several teens in 2021. A review of the ACLU documents also shows that The Baptiste Group misrepresented the condition of the Colorado Springs property in its communications to the Department of Homeland Security.
WASHINGTON — Former top immigration officials from the Biden administration warned Tuesday that billions for immigration enforcement signed into law earlier this month will escalate the rapid detention and deportations of immigrants.
Congressman Gabe Evans says 100% of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) deportations and detentions in Colorado — even of people without any criminal charges or deportation order — are correct and justified. He says he knows this because he met with ICE officials last month and they broke down the numbers for him — numbers that add up to 100%.
Activists and community members from Aurora and Denver gathered outside Geo Group-ICE detention facility Monday to demand the release of Jeanette Vizguerra, a prominent immigrant rights activist who was detained earlier this year. Vizguerra’s arrest has sparked outrage and a series of standing protests outside the Aurora detention center from her supporters.
Over 50 people gathered in front of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday to protest this weekend’s multi-agency raid in Colorado Springs which resulted in the detention of over 100 people.
A lot has happened in the past seven days. Trump’s promised “Operation Aurora” kicked off in Colorado as ICE and other federal agencies carried out raids at apartment buildings in the Denver Metro area. According to The Colorado Sun’s Jennifer Brown, the agency has yet to reveal how many people were detained and if they had connections to the gang ICE was targeting, but residents and activists described masked agents using smoke grenades and breaking in doors.
Democratic members of Colorado’s Senate and House are calling for a congressional investigation into a whistleblower complaint filed earlier this month stating that immigrants received forced hysterectomies while detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Georgia.
State Sen. Owen Hill (R-Colorado Springs) criticized presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) on social media last week after she expressed concern for pregnant women who have miscarried while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), questioning whether she has the “moral authority” to do so given her pro-choice stance.
