When she got a call from her husband, less than an hour after he left home for work, he told her he had been detained by ICE. She didn’t believe him. “I thought he was joking with me,” the wife said. “I told him to stop lying.” It was later that morning, after a trusted friend had checked the area and accompanied her to pick up his car a few blocks from their Rifle home, that it finally hit her. “I felt like he had died,” she said. “To see his truck and all his things abando

New public data from ICE offers a look at the scope of enforcement efforts in Colorado, including the Western Slope. While not perfect, this data provides our best available insight into the impact of these operations. The data comes from the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley School of Law, which obtained internal ICE records through public records litigation against the federal government. For the Western Slope, the data shows that at least 541 people with a connectio

He thought he hired an attorney. After Luis Armando Rivas was detained by ICE, he and his family made sacrifices to secure competent legal representation to fight his deportation in a very complex and biased immigration legal system. After considering several quotes from law firms, they landed on a local option, Hector Gonzalez with Connect Immigration, who was charging about half of what other attorneys were charging at the time. They signed a contract and started a monthly

In places like the Western Slope, immigration arrests are quietly increasing, usually with little media attention. The expansion of license plate readers is helping. Automated License Plate Reader technology allows police agencies, cities and private companies to set up cameras and automatically track passing cars, logging every license plate in a database. These camera systems claim to help law enforcement identify stolen vehicles, but they can also show where someone has be

For many of us on Colorado’s Western Slope, the struggle for farmworker dignity is deeply personal. My father was a farmworker when he first moved to this country, working as an undocumented laborer in the orchards around Hotchkiss and Delta in the 1970s. He worked in the fields of California as well, where I was born, not very far from the birthplace of America’s farmworkers movement. So when I see Colorado’s state legislature advancing a bill that undermines the dignity of

The Supreme Court heard arguments this week on whether a president can deny citizenship to children born in the United States based on their parents’ immigration status. The case centers on a Trump executive order that attempts to narrow who qualifies as American at birth. The Constitution is clear. The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to people born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction. That has been settled law for more than a century. This challenge is

The mountains sell a story of clean air, fresh powder, luxury, and escape. Visitors come for the views, the skiing, the village lights, the Michelin-star meals, and the postcard version of Colorado. Ski resorts like Aspen, Snowmass, Vail, Breckenridge, Steamboat, Telluride, Winter Park, Copper Mountain, and others across Colorado all benefit from that image. What most visitors do not see are the workers holding it all together. The rooms do not clean themselves. The dishes d

On Tuesday, Voces Unidas testified before the Colorado House Judiciary Committee on two immigration bills, one day after 300 people came to the Capitol on Monday for Latino/a Advocacy Day to lobby lawmakers in support of those same measures. The two bills ended with the same vote count, but very different outcomes. HB26-1275 failed in committee on a 6-5 vote. HB26-1276 was amended and passed on a 6-5 vote. We are deeply disappointed that HB26-1275 failed. At a time when trust

The first day of Latino Advocacy Day brought more than 300 people together from across Colorado, including 100 youth, for the start of a three-day effort leading up to Monday’s formal day of action at the Capitol. Participants spent the day grounding themselves in the Colorado Latino Agenda and moving through issue briefings focused on housing justice, community safety, worker protections, environmental justice, and affordable healthcare. In the housing sessions, people dug i

You may have received a notice or letter earlier this year from your clinic or hospital, alerting you that some of your information is possibly being shared with ICE. We know these notices have caused anxiety in the immigrant community so here are some things you should know. First, the notice you received is not about something that is happening at your clinic or hospital or healthcare provider. It does not mean your clinic is collaborating with ICE. Instead, the notices ar

Today, Voces Unidas joined coalition partners, impacted workers, and lawmakers on the West Steps of the Colorado State Capitol to announce a new bill to protect workers from dangerous extreme heat and cold on the job. More than 20 impacted workers stood alongside advocates and legislative sponsors to mark the public start of this effort and to make clear that Colorado cannot keep treating extreme temperatures at work like they are normal. It was the start of a statewide push

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