In the Western Slope, you can feel it when someone disappears. A spouse doesn’t come home. A parent doesn’t show up for pickup. A coworker never makes it to work. And suddenly everyone has questions: can we still open for lunch, are we next, who can help, who knows what happened. People also talk about what they’re seeing on the road during their morning commute: masked, armed men in unmarked cars. Stops that don’t feel like real traffic stops. Windows broken. People dragged

In a mountain town, a snow day feels familiar. The snow stacks up fast, the roads turn into a hazard, and temperatures drop. Schools announce a late-start. Tourists sleep in. Employers tell office staff to work from home. In places like Aspen, Snowmass, Vail, and Breckenridge, the resort economy doesn’t pause—it just expects the town to be ready. Safety becomes a “shared decision”—for the people who get to stay inside. But for many Latino workers, a snow day starts before daw

Drive I-70 from Summit County over Vail Pass, through Eagle and Garfield counties, past Glenwood Springs and Rifle, and into Mesa County and Grand Junction. It feels like one continuous stretch of highway. But along that drive, different jurisdictions are using license plate reader cameras that track vehicles as they pass. And it’s not just towns along I-70. Across the Western Slope, communities are installing or debating these systems. Glenwood Springs operates license plate

Today, Voces Unidas testified in strong support of HB26-1145 , a bill to strengthen Colorado’s mobile home park water quality program. HB26-1145 builds on HB23-1257, the 2023 law Voces Unidas helped pass that created Colorado’s first statewide program to test drinking water in mobile home parks and require a consistent process to collect results and act on them. For years, residents have raised concerns with their local elected leaders. Families have brought rust-colored wate

Senior Garfield County law enforcement officials, acting in their official capacities and using government email accounts, circulated degrading comments about State Rep. Elizabeth Velasco and mocked Latino community members who sought clarification about reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Glenwood Springs, according to public records  on the City of Glenwood Springs’ website. On June 19, 2025, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario circulated a photo

Entrepreneur. Brother. Son. Husband. Hard worker who loves soccer and plays it well. Those are all words family members would use to describe 29-year-old Juan Carlos Membreño Portillo.  But when ICE agents picked up Juan Carlos in Glenwood Springs this week, they described him as a criminal, and a gang member.  It’s not true, the family says. Now Juan Carlos is fighting his detention, hoping to not get sent back to El Salvador, where he fled threats from gang members, organiz

Before he was detained, “Martin” worked long hours, played weekend soccer, sometimes coaching, and was building a steady life for his family in rural Colorado. He had plans for the year ahead. He did not expect a routine morning commute to change everything. When he was picked up by ICE following what he believed was a routine traffic stop, he was immediately transported across the state to the detention center in Aurora.  He faced uncertainty, depression, and his health qui

Since March 2024 , Voces Unidas has been documenting civil rights complaints involving the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office. In the past 12 months, a disturbing pattern has emerged: being in Garfield County custody leads to ICE custody. 10 cases. 1 pattern. In nine of the 10 documented cases, a person was arrested on state charges, posted bond or was ordered released by a judge, and yet never walked out of the jail. Under Colorado law, posting bond is not a technicality. Stat

As our community is aware, last month in Eagle County, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained nine Latino community members during a series of fake traffic stops. A tenth person was detained as he was walking to a bus stop. After the detentions, family members discovered ace of spades cards — commonly known as “death cards” — left inside at least two abandoned vehicles. “We are outraged by how ICE carried out these detentions in Eagle County,” said Alex Sán

Immigrant families across Colorado’s Western Slope are facing a disturbing rise in immigration enforcement activity, including fake traffic stops, racial profiling, intimidation tactics, and detentions carried out without judicial warrants. Because Voces Unidas also provides emergency immigration legal aid in rural communities, these trends are not abstract. Families contact Voces Unidas when a loved one is detained, when a worker disappears on the way to a job site, or when

This week, Voces Unidas formally delivered demands to Colorado’s entire congressional delegation following the death of Delvin Francisco Rodriguez while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On February 2, 2026, Voces Unidas and 23 other Colorado organizations called for immediate transparency and accountability from ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. See list of organizations below. Delvin was detained by ICE in Summit County in Septe

TO OUR COMMUNITY IN EAGLE COUNTY, Last week was difficult. ICE was active in our communities. At least nine people were detained, and ICE agents were seen near restaurants and hotels. The fear was real because what happened was real. From our office in Avon, we were answering calls as this unfolded. Family members called looking for loved ones. Workers and managers — Latino and non-Latino — called after seeing ICE with their own eyes outside their workplaces. Everyone was re

Delvin Francisco Rodriguez was detained by ICE on Colorado’s Western Slope in September and died in December after he was transported to a detention center there. His family wants answers.

This week in Eagle County, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crossed a clear and dangerous line. After detaining 10 Latino community members, ICE agents left ace of spades cards—widely known as the “death card”—inside the abandoned vehicles. The cards, later found by family members, clearly identify ICE’s Denver Field Office. Card found by family The ace of spades has a long history as a tool of intimidation , from psychological warfare during the Vietnam War to its a

Blog was updated to reflect that at least 10 people were detained in Eagle County on January 21, 2026. Voces Unidas has confirmed that in early morning of Wednesday, January 21, 2026, ICE agents carried out a series of fake traffic stops on Highway 6 near Exit 171 (Minturn exit). ICE agents stopped four vehicles as those individuals were heading to work. These fake traffic stops resulted in the detention of eight community members. Another person was detained later that morni

Today, we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a country still grappling with the injustices he fought to dismantle. Racism remains deeply embedded in American life. Inequality continues to shape who is protected and who is targeted across immigration, policing, housing, education, and economic opportunity. These outcomes are not accidental. They are the result of decisions that consistently elevate some while denying dignity and security to others. Immigrants are once again b

As a Mexican-American who oversees an immigrant-led civil rights organization in rural Colorado, I see every day the impact of foreign policy in our communities. Much of our work is done for those who are here because of instability that the United States has helped exacerbate. So I will state this plainly from a position of experience: A unilateral U.S. invasion and occupation of Venezuela is reckless, illegal under international law and guaranteed to intensify human sufferi

In multiple cases, families say their loved one was ordered released or posted bond — but never walked out of the Garfield County Jail. Instead they were detained by ICE.

The new year brings a new legislative session in Colorado, and when the 2026 General Assembly convenes at the State Capitol in January, Voces Unidas will be there promoting policy solution important to rural Latino communities, as we have since 2021. The challenges currently facing rural Latinos require us to build on prior work and focus on strengthening protections for immigrants and working families across the state. While we will take positions on many proposed bills over

A federal court in California has issued a nationwide ruling that restores access to bond hearings for thousands of immigrants who entered the country without inspection and were not detained at the border. These are people the federal government has been holding without any opportunity to request release on bond. In the recent Maldonado Bautista decision, the court rejected the federal government’s policy and the Board of Immigration Appeals’ earlier framework known as Mat