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

The U.S. Senate refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security last week, and we support that decision. Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper stood their ground and voted the right way, just before the Friday midnight funding deadline. As an organization, we are clear on our position. Not another dime for ICE. Not now. Not later. Even during this partial shutdown, ICE has not slowed down. We have confirmed the first ICE arrest in Eagle County during this partial shutdown. Tha

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

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.

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

A federal judge in Colorado has ruled that ICE cannot rely on blanket assumptions to justify warrantless arrests in our state. Under the decision, ICE officers must show probable cause of an immigration violation and provide specific evidence that the person is a flight risk before detaining someone without a warrant. The ruling responds to what many families have described for months: detentions carried out with little explanation and no individualized review. The court mad

The events in Durango this week have had a profound impact on Colorado, particularly on the Western Slope. A normal school morning became a nightmare for the Jaramillo Patiño family. Early Monday, immigration officers pulled over a father driving his 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to school and misidentified him as someone else. Instead of correcting the error and letting the children get to class, federal agents arrested and detained the dad and both kids. Agents

When Rafael would drive, his sons and family would joke that he drove too slow, like an old man. It was especially true when he would drive his work truck. So the red and blue lights with sirens on Monday morning were a surprise. Especially when the law enforcement officer who walked up to the vehicle said he had pulled him over for speeding. Still, Rafael handed over his driver’s license, thinking he was handing it to a local police officer. But as soon as the man in the bul

José was dropped off in Chiapas, Mexico, on a Wednesday this month, about 2,000 miles away from his family’s hometown, with nothing but the clothes on his back. Those clothes were blood stained from the arrest, when he says ICE agents beat him. He had no money, and U.S. immigration officials had kept his Mexican identification and passport. His first order of business, after he was able to call his family to check in: finding a shelter and a new set of clothes that weren’t co

A new poll of Latinos in Colorado shows a high level of distrust for local police and government.  It’s no surprise to us as we've...

Update: Luis has since been deported to Mexico. Voces Unidas formally filed a complaint with the Attorney General. This is now the tenth case Voces Unidas has documented of possible illegal collaboration between the Garfield County Sheriff's Office and ICE. When Luis Armando Rivas Martinez thought he was being followed by a silver car, he told his family, but tried to brush it off as nothing. But on Tuesday, June 3, while walking out of the WalMart in Glenwood Springs, the si

Voces Unidas has unfortunately learned of two more cases that raise our suspicions that another local government agency could be...