Immigration
Former Mexico President Vicente Fox praises Denver’s new immigration ordinance
DENVER – Former Mexico President Vicente Fox kicked off his first day in Denver Tuesday by praising the city’s decision made Monday to bolster protections for immigrants in the city.
Fox is in town for talks regarding the economy between Colorado and Mexico.
In a news conference that also included Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Fox praised the measure passed Monday by the city council, which Hancock defended in the face of opposition from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
“The reality is if people feel safer calling the police, if they feel safer reporting crimes—whether they’re victims or witnesses—we’re all better off,” Hancock said.
Fox echoed those sentiments.
“My first surprise is that great news [of the new city measure]—that this city is taking some steps to make sure that rule of law in this city is applied fairly, without discrimination,” Fox said.
Councilwoman Robin Kniech, who was one of the councilors pushing the immigration measure, told Denver7 Tuesday she’s not afraid the city will lose federal funding, as the Trump administration has threatened, saying she believes federal law is on the city’s side.
Mayor Hancock is expected to sign the new ordinance into law later this week.
Fox was expected to join Gov. John Hickenlooper, Hancock, and Aurora’s mayor at a private dinner Tuesday evening at the Governor’s Mansion.
Fox will be in town for Wednesday afternoon’s trade forum, which is open to the public, though tickets are required. More information can be found here.
Denver mayor, city council reach compromise with new immigrants’ rights ordinance proposal
DENVER – Denver’s mayor and city council have reached a compromise of sorts on an ordinance aimed at memorializing city policies they say are aimed at protecting immigrants and refugees in the city.
Mayor Michael Hancock and councilors Paul Lopez and Robin Kniech announced at a Wednesday afternoon news conference that they will be introducing the new ordinance directly to the full city council on Aug. 21—bypassing committee. The proposed ordinance is called the Denver Public Safety Enforcement Priorities Act. Watch the full news conference in the player below. Continue reading
Denver council committee passes immigration ordinance proposal to full council
DENVER – A Denver City Council committee voted 6-1 Wednesday to pass a proposed ordinance to the full council that would change the city’s public safety priorities laws regarding immigration and law enforcement cooperation with federal agents, putting two different proposals in front of the city that hope to accomplish the same thing.
Hancock on Tuesday released a fact sheet on his proposed route for the changes: an executive order that would further strengthen some of Denver’s rules on how city and county employees interact with federal immigration authorities, and would also create a legal defense fund for immigrants targeted by authorities. Continue reading
Denver mayor drafts executive order to push back on Trump immigration policy
DENVER – Mayor Michael Hancock is drafting an executive order that would create a legal defense fund for immigrants as part of a series of new policies aimed at pushing back against the Donald Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
The legal defense fund would be in place through Jan. 20, 2021—the first day of the president’s current term—and would help pay for lawyers for people threatened with deportation, according to a fact sheet of the draft executive order provided to Denver7 Tuesday. The Denver Post reports the fund would be created mostly from donations.
The proposed executive order would put into official city policy some of the things that Hancock and the city council have pushed for in recent months as pushback to a new crackdown by Trump and his head at the Department of Justice, Jeff Sessions.
Namely, it would make it official city/county policy that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility and that city/county employees (especially the Denver Police Department and Denver Sheriff Department) won’t aid federal agents in arresting people without a warrant.
The draft proposal also would engrain into city rule that neither law enforcement agency would hold an inmate beyond their release time without a warrant—even if there is an immigration detainer in place. It would also prohibit federal agents from entering any secure areas of a law enforcement facility without a warrant.
The proposal would also establish the legal defense fund and establish a team to track federal immigration law and enforcement in regards to the city and county.
And it would continue to uphold the U-Visa program that gives visas to undocumented people who are victims of crime and aid law enforcement in the investigation.
As a final facet, the proposed order would help families who are in the process of being broken up due to deportation get connected with foreign consulates and help them plan for their separation.
The proposal comes amid a push by councilors Paul Lopez and Robin Kniech to address some of these same concerns via the council and an ordinance—specifically the legal defense fund and language regarding detainers on undocumented immigrants.
Hancock said that though both his proposed executive order and the councilor’s ordinance proposals are different means to address some of the concerns about Denver being a “sanctuary city,” that he thinks both of their efforts are worthwhile.
“The community can rest assured that their mayor and their city council are all working towards the same goals as this conversation continues,” the mayor said in a statement. “I am grateful to Councilmembers Robin Kniech and Paul Lopez for the tremendous amount of courage and vision they showed in bring forward these concepts we jointly care about. Our goals are shared.”
He said that whether it’s a city ordinance, as the councilors have proposed, or his executive order that ends up being finalized into memorial or ordinance, that Denver is standing with the immigrant community.
“This executive order is another step in this administration’s work to send a clear message to our refugee and immigrant communities that Denver stands with you and that you can place your trust in your city and law enforcement agencies that are working to ensure you and your families can live a safe, happy and healthy life here in Denver,” Mayor Hancock said. “We remain focused on enacting policies and actions that provide real protections to our immigrant and refugee communities, and does not give people a false sense of security.”
But one of Denver’s top immigration lawyers, Hans Meyer, said the mayor’s executive order didn’t go far enough and that he preferred the councilmembers’ ordinance.
“If Mayor Hancock wants to stand up for the principles he espouses and protect Denver’s immigrant community against the Trump administration’s deportation machine, then he should adopt all the substantive protections of the proposed ordinance and not simply cherry pick the parts that make for easy sound bites,” Meyer said. “Hancock’s proposed executive order fails to extract Denver probation officers, city employees, and jail personnel from colluding with ICE to deport immigrant community members.”
The councilmembers are set to discuss the ordinance proposal again Wednesday morning at a committee meeting.
Rep. Coffman grilled on Obamacare replacement at town hall, talks VA wait times in interview
HENDERSON, Colo. – U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman voted against the House Republicans’ latest efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and has been talking about bipartisanship in crafting a health care solution for months, yet health care was still the prime topic of discussion at Tuesday’s town hall meeting at Prairie View High School.
Hundreds of his constituents from Colorado’s 6th Congressional District packed into the high school in Coffman’s first town hall meeting since April. Watch the town hall meeting in the player embedded below or by clicking here. Continue reading
Rep. Mike Coffman hosting town hall in Henderson Tuesday
HENDERSON, Colo. – U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman will host a town hall meeting Tuesday evening at Prairie View High School in Henderson—in Denver’s northeast suburbs.
The town hall meeting comes amid confusion and shake-ups in Washington—particularly in the White House.
Coffman has held several town halls this year amid pushes to fix the Affordable Care Act, and Tuesday’s town hall comes as he tries to push for bipartisan changes to the health-care law. His most-recent town hall in the Denver area was in early April.
Coffman voted against the House’s version of the Republican effort to repeal and replace the ACA, the American Health Care Act, in early May, and his since been pressing for bipartisan solutions as the Senate GOP push fell apart.
He said Monday he and a bipartisan caucus of congressmen and women had put together a new proposed solution to stabilizing insurance markets in each state.
Coffman’s Tuesday town hall is free and open to constituents of Colorado’s 6th Congressional District, but tickets to the event were sold out Monday.
People who have tickets will have to bring a photo ID to be cross-checked. Each person in attendance will be given a raffle ticket, which will be drawn at random to determine who will ask questions.
There are a few more rules for those planning to attend, which you can find by clicking here.
For those not able to attend, Coffman plans to live stream the event on his Facebook page.
The town hall meting starts at 6 p.m. at Prairie View High School in Henderson, and is scheduled to last for an hour.
Western Conservative Summit 2017 kicks off in Denver with Gardner, Buck, Sekulow among speakers
DENVER – The Western Conservative Summit kicks off Friday in Denver, and though President Donald Trump won’t be there this year as he was in 2016, the event is packed with high-profile Republicans and comes in the midst of a trying time for the GOP in Washington.
The yearly summit comes as Senate Republicans are expected to try for a last-ditch effort to get one of three possible health care bills to the floor early next week, though some of the senators who have opted to oppose bringing the Senate’s bills to the floor remain on the fence.
It also comes after a week of discord in the White House, as President Trump seemed to throw Attorney General Jeff Sessions under the bus over his recusal from the Justice Department probe into the 2016 in an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, and White House press secretary Sean Spicer resigned Friday after Anthony Scaramucci was appointed as new White House communications director.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will be at the summit, and announced Friday that Colorado’s Canyons of the Ancients National Monument would remain a national monument after a review of designations made under presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama that was ordered by President Trump in April.
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., is scheduled to speak at the summit on Friday evening, though it’s unclear exactly what time or what he’ll talk about.
He’s been among the most under-pressure Senate Republicans regarding the GOP’s attempts to repeal and/or replace the Affordable Care Act, as he’s yet to definitively take a public stand one way or another on any of the three proposals laid out by the Senate GOP over the past two weeks.
Earlier this week, he seemed to tip his hand on how he felt when he said he wasn’t happy with people who he said were “spiking the football” after efforts to get a repeal-now, replace-later bill to a floor vote.
But in an interview with the Denver Post Thursday, he said he “would prefer a solution that would be a replacement” for the Affordable Care Act, perhaps a hint he wasn’t pushing for the repeal-only bill that some of his Senate colleagues have sought to vote on.
But Gardner said he wouldn’t speculate on if he’d support that bill.
“I don’t know that’s what would come up and I don’t want to say that I’m going to vote for this, that or the other before I see it and before I know what’s in it,” Gardner’s told The Post. “I don’t see why anybody should be concerned about fighting for legislation that they believe will do better than what we have.”
But Gardner also told The Post he wouldn’t focus only on health care in his speech to the Western Conservative Summit on Friday.
A group of advocates is expected to gather outside the convention center at 4 p.m. Friday to protest.
Many Colorado’s Republican governor candidates for 2018 will also be at the summit. Victor Mitchell will speak Friday night, and George Brauchler and Doug Robinson are scheduled to talk Saturday.
State Sen. Owen Hill, who is running for Colorado’s 5th Congressional District seat in the Republican primary for 2018, will also speak Saturday afternoon, and Rep. Ken Buck will speak Saturday night.
Also scheduled to speak Saturday night is Jay Sekulow, who President Trump has hired to represent him in the Russia scandal and who on Friday denied reports that Trump and the White House were discussing the possibility of pardons in the future.
The conference kicks off at 1:30 p.m. Friday, and the final session will start Sunday at 9:30 a.m. at the Colorado Convention Center.
Denver Sheriff Department disputes ICE claim it didn’t notify of inmate’s release
DENVER – The Denver Sheriff Department is disputing allegations it never notified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents it was releasing an inmate with an immigration detainer from custody.
Late on Tuesday, ICE said it had picked up Ricardo Daniel Lopez-Vera, 19, and was holding him pending a hearing in front of a federal immigration judge.
ICE said it had placed an immigration detainer on Lopez-Vera on July 11—a day after he was involved in a fight that left another inmate dead. Continue reading
ICE picks up man involved in Denver jail inmate’s death, says sheriff didn’t notify of release
DENVER – The Denver jail inmate whose fight with another inmate ended in the other inmate’s death is now being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending an immigration hearing.
Ricardo Daniel Lopez-Vera, 19, had an immigration detainer placed on him by ICE on July 11—a day after he was involved in a fight that left another inmate, 42-year-old William Anderson, dead.
Denver7 had not previously named Lopez-Vera as the man involved in the fight because he was not charged in Anderson’s death.
ICE says Lopez-Vera was released from the Denver jail without the Denver Sheriff Department, which runs the jail, notifying ICE he had been released.
ICE says Lopez-Vera had previous convictions for driving while ability impaired and another misdemeanor, but said it had not previously contacted him before the July 11 detainer.
He will remain in ICE custody pending his immigration hearing. ICE hasn’t said when Lopez-Vera entered the country illegally.
Trump election fraud commission wants personal information from Colorado, US voter rolls
DENVER – The vice chair of President Donald Trump’s controversial Election Integrity Commission wants the full name, address, date of birth, affiliated political party, last four Social Security number digits and voting history since 2006 of every voter not only in Colorado, but in the entire U.S., and wants that information to be made available to the public.
The vice chair of the commission, Kris Kobach, sent a letter requesting that information and more on Wednesday to Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams and every other secretary of state for all 50 states. Continue reading