Profiles, features and long-form news stories about the people, policies and movements surrounding human migration into the United States
Bringing the border to the Front Range
Area faith communities host asylum seekers as border shelters reach capacity “Does it snow here in December?” she asks me, sitting in the shade of a tree outside a Denver church on an 80-degree June day. “Yes,” I tell her, through an interpreter. “Sometimes it snows an inch, other times feet. It snowed recently in…
The cost of becoming American
New federal fee structure is the latest barrier to immigration On July 31, United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced significant fee increases for most naturalization and benefits requests. While the agency justified the increase as an effort to address budget shortfalls, immigration lawyers and advocates decry the move, arguing it will not only…
In lieu of a just system
New resource seeks to help ease adjustment after deportation If you’re returning to Honduras, consider covering up any tattoos and be able to explain them if asked — the tattoos might be the thing that puts you the most at risk. Once back in Mexico and Guatemala, try to blend in, not appearing too vulnerable…
Opposite of America
Asylum seekers fearing death at home find only prison and discrimination in the U.S. Four hundred and sixty-two. That’s how many days Mishkat Sarkar has been in America. That’s how many days he’s been in immigration detention, including the last 15 months in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Denver Contract Detention Facility in…
Shelter from the storm
In the face of increasingly aggressive federal immigration policies, the Colorado sanctuary movement grows When Jeanette Vizguerra entered sanctuary in the First Unitarian Society church in Denver on Wednesday, Feb. 15, she brought national attention to a growing movement of activists and faith communities around the country working to protect undocumented immigrants facing rising deportation…
Case pending
Local community hopes to prevent the deportation of Cameroonian friend Martin hadn’t planned on coming to the U.S. He really hadn’t ever thought about leaving his native Cameroon. Part of the Anglophone minority, he grew up near Mamfe in the southwestern region of the country. The oldest of five children, he went to school and…
‘In the interest of justice’
ICE detaining and deporting those with pending criminal charges harms victims and the accused When Boulder County Deputy District Attorney Christina Rinke found out that Jose Lopez-Gutierrez had been deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), she petitioned the district court in Boulder to revoke his bond and issue a warrant for his arrest should…
ICE detaining transgender individuals despite widespread calls for their release
In Estella’s home country of Cuba, transphobia is rampant, she says. She’s been attacked. She’s been targeted by police. There are no human rights, she says. There is no access to HIV medication. “I preferred to risk my life than continue that way,” she says through her lawyer at the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network…
Hanging onto hope
Torn apart by the Syrian Civil War, siblings seek a better life around the world Salam hasn’t seen anyone in his family since December 2014 when he left Turkey to attend graduate school at the University of Colorado Boulder. Originally from southern Aleppo, his family is now spread across the globe as a result of…
Coloradans rally around immigrant parents seeking reunification with their children
On Monday, July 23, attorney Laura Lunn with the Rocky Mountain Immigration Advocacy Network (RMIAN) went to immigration court at the Denver Contract Detention Center in Aurora unsure of what would happen. She was scheduled to represent a client from Central America, who had been separated from her son at the U.S. southern border, in…
Angela K. Evans 