The administration’s underlying goal, according to reporting by : To deport 1 million people without proper legal status within a year.

But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not on track to meet that target thus far. In late April, the agency and a similar number of deportations in the first 100 days of the president’s second term. The daily pace has been increasing, however — by early June, according to , the number of arrests had risen to over 100,000.

An escalation in ICE enforcement tactics and rapidly changing immigration policies, along with roadblocks put up by the courts, have defined Trump’s first five months back in office. So have public protests. This month, after ICE began broader-scale actions in Los Angeles, including raids of Home Depot parking lots, the president ordered the National Guard and the Marines to the streets of that city to help respond to demonstrations there — a directive that spurred more protests nationally.

In Colorado, immigrant-rights advocates have been surprised at the administration’s fast pace as it has moved to implement Trump’s agenda. Even if the state has largely not seen the workplace raids conducted elsewhere so far — and legal roadblocks and limited resources have slowed ICE down — it’s been aggressive here in other ways.

Several advocates say they doubt the agency will be able to remove 1 million immigrants by early next year, but ICE’s recent tactics concern them. They’re preparing for enforcement activities to intensify.

“Many people in the immigrant community have realized over the last four or five months that Trump means what he says,” Denver immigration attorney Hans Meyer said. “He is trying to enact a full-scale deportation machine.”

To take stock of Trump’s impact so far, The Denver Post interviewed elected officials, immigrant-rights advocates, legal experts, attorneys, immigrants of varying legal statuses and U.S. citizens who hold differing opinions on the president’s immigration strategy.

Denver has been in ICE’s crosshairs since large-scale raids first began in February. Trump has derided Colorado’s capital as a “sanctuary city,” targeting it along with dozens of others around the country. Last month, the Justice Department sued elected officials in Denver and Colorado over state and local laws limiting cooperation with ICE.

Federal agents have also made arrests near courthouses in downtown Denver, moved enforcement inside the federal courthouse where immigration cases are heard, and detained nationally recognized immigrant-rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra, who remains in ICE custody.

“There’s no small moves here by the Trump administration,” said Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor of law at the University of Colorado Boulder.

State and local officials have turned to the courts to fight several of the president’s actions. Attorney General Phil Weiser has filed or joined federal lawsuits that argue against the government’s withholding of funds for states that don’t submit to Trump’s immigration policies. Denver, too, has sued the Trump administration over decisions to hold back millions of dollars in promised grants.

As Denver trudges forward with its legal challenge and contends with ICE activity, Mayor Mike Johnston says he’s committed to keeping it a welcoming city for all.

“We will not shepherd anyone from the law if they’ve broken the law,” he said in an interview. “But we’re also not going to have people be subject to raids in hospitals or churches or schools, which just makes the whole city unsafe.”

Johnston also said: “We will continue to fight in these places where we think that federal action is illegal or unfair and is hurting Denver residents, because we think that’s beyond the scope of what the president can or should be able to do.”

Is deporting 1 million an ‘impossible’ task?

In Colorado, the number of people affected by immigration enforcement activities is still unclear due to a lack of federal transparency.

ICE has only through last December. In March, the agency said it was working toward posting monthly enforcement stats, but those have yet to come to fruition. Local ICE spokesperson Steve Kotecki did not respond when asked how many people had been detained, deported or released by the Denver field office since Jan. 20.

TRAC Reports — an independent and nonpartisan database — has noted that, from the start of the 2025 fiscal year in October through April, were filed in Colorado’s immigration court. That was well below the pace of the 2024 fiscal year, when close to 47,000 new proceedings were recorded for the entire year.

Information on local detainments has been piecemeal, with ICE about dozens of arrests. It’s also conducted several large-scale enforcement actions in recent months that drew broad media coverage.

ICE raids and their uncertainty scare off workers and baffle businesses

Those included a series of raids in a single day in early February across metro Denver at apartment complexes and homes. ICE had set out with a goal of arresting more than 100 gang members but netted just 30, according to Fox News, including one confirmed gang member. Officials complained about interference by activists on the ground.

Other Front Range communities have attracted enforcement activity, too. A multiagency raid of an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs in late April resulted in the detentions of 104 people who were illegally present in the country, ICE said. In early February, a similar raid of a club in Adams County resulted in arrests that included 41 people on immigration holds.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has confirmed that were taken from Colorado to El Salvador's CECOT prison as of April. The Trump administration, in , has used the Alien Enemies Act against suspected gang members, but advocates have disputed the gang ties of some detainees.

Across Colorado, academics, elected officials and immigration advocates are skeptical the Trump administration will come close to deporting 1 million people in its first year.

Gulasekaram at CU Boulder considers it unlikely, particularly if ICE is focused solely on migrants who've committed crimes and pose national security threats.

On top of that, "the only way in which the Trump administration could even approach what it's talking about is, on the first instance, they would need the manpower, the human power to get there," Gulasekaram said. "Currently, they don't have that."

ICE would need congressional approval for billions of dollars to boost the number of agents in what's already the largest federal enforcement arm, the Department of Homeland Security, Gulasekaram said. Without that, he added, it would require either turning to local law enforcement for help -- a practice that is limited by Colorado law, as well as local policy in places like Denver -- or using the military domestically.

As for the latter, "that is not something that is done," Gulasekaram said. However, he says he fears Trump may be laying the groundwork for that use through his activation of military forces in Los Angeles.

Former President Barack Obama's administration set the annual record by deporting over 438,000 immigrants without legal status in the 2013 fiscal year, according to . In comparison, the most immigrants removed from the United States during Trump's first term was about 267,000, in the 2019 fiscal year, according to .

In the district of state Rep. Ryan Gonzalez, a Greeley Republican, illegal immigration has been a top concern for voters, he said, pointing to polling conducted last year.

Even so, Gonzalez describes Trump's deportation goal as an "impossible" task that would cost too much money.

"I don't really see that happening, to be honest with you," he said. "He's well under the projections of where he should be at this point in time for deportations."

Gonzalez said he had reached out to local law enforcement to discuss ICE activity. He was assured that federal agents were arresting only immigrants without legal status who have severe criminal records, he said -- a move that he supports. "We're not trying to deport, like, the abuelitas," Gonzalez said, using a Spanish word for grandmothers.

But cites detention statistics showing that, while the number of people arrested by ICE who had other criminal charges or convictions nearly doubled between January and June, arrests of people with no charges or convictions -- other than an immigration violation -- increased by 800%.

Colorado U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans and five other congressional Republicans raised concerns to ICE's acting director in a letter this month, inquiring about the agency's enforcement priorities -- and questioning whether the deportation of criminals was still the priority.

"Every minute that we spend pursuing an individual with a clean record is a minute less that we dedicate to apprehending terrorists or cartel operatives," they wrote.

Amid such questions, Raquel Lane-Arellano, the communications manager for the , also doubts that the Trump administration will hit its mark.

"I also don't think you reach those kind of numbers without breaking the rules," Lane-Arellano said.

Groups respond to pivots on enforcement

The coalition is contending with a detainment process that Lane-Arellano depicted as increasingly militarized. During raids, ICE has partnered with federal agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI -- "all these agencies that have, frankly, better work to do than target immigrants," she added.

At groups like hers, "burnout is especially high right now," Lane-Arellano said, with overextended staff scrambling to keep up with Trump's moves.

But the coalition has experienced a jump in donations from citizens and foundations.

"I'm so proud to be a Coloradan right now," Lane-Arellano said.

Jennifer Piper, the program director at the in Denver, also doesn't see ICE hitting 1 million deportees this year unless it gets help from other law enforcement or a funding boost. At the same time, in recent weeks, she's witnessed the escalation in immigration enforcement tactics at courthouses.

She said at least eight people were detained at Denver's federal immigration court from May 29 through June 5, as her group raised the alarm about the new practice.

For these impacted migrants, "you're following the rules; you're showing up" to hearings, Piper said. "Now, when you're showing up, there's this risk that you will be detained -- and that once detained, you'll have to fight your deportation case from inside detention."

In Aurora, the ICE detention center that's run by a government contractor, the GEO Group, is the hub of local immigration enforcement activity. The agency as its only detention center in the state.

As of June 6, the facility housed 1,020 people -- more than 90% of them men, according to published by U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat whose district includes the center.

The top five countries of origin among detainees were Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras and India, the report says. Information was unavailable on the number of people brought into or released from the facility around that time. However, a previous report from May 16 said 131 people left the center during the prior week -- 124 deported from the U.S. and seven released from the facility.

Near the end of former President Joe Biden's administration, about 15 to 20 people were released from the GEO facility each week, estimated Andrea Loya, the executive director of , an Aurora-based organization that works with detained immigrants directly.

Now, several months into Trump's new term, she says the average has fallen to just five to 10 per week.

Trump's approach draws some support

Some Coloradans back Trump's removal efforts to varying degrees, including those who argue for changes to the federal immigration system.

They're not alone: Just over 50% of American adults want to see some immigrants without legal status deported, and another 32% would like to see all of them removed from the country, the reported in March. But other national polling results have differed, with only 43% of Americans approving of Trump's approach to immigration as of June in a .

The found in March that 53% of likely voters in the state believe Trump "has gone too far" in his deportation efforts, while 26% believe the administration has been "about right" in its approach.

In Castle Rock, Juan Candil supports Trump's strategy.

"I feel that not a lot of Latinos or immigrants would agree with me. I feel that things are changing for the better" under Trump, said Candil, 24.

The Colombian immigrant applied for asylum almost a decade ago, arguing that he had much to fear in his home country. However, he's still waiting for his turn with an asylum officer.

Candil depicted some recent migrants as very good people, while others are "bad actors," he said. Candil agrees with the administration's encouragement of self-deportation, in particular.

"That is relieving pressure from the system -- which, hopefully, also means that we get on the docket of some immigration judge sooner than later," Candil said.

Though he and his parents left Bogotá, Colombia, in 2016 after he said cartels threatened their safety, they still have yet to progress through the asylum process, he said: "It's been nine years. We're still waiting on an answer."

His family continues to shell out cash for attorneys and work authorization renewals, but "that money could kick-start our American dream of owning a house or starting our own business," Candil said.

Scott Shamblin, 23, also wants to see reforms in the nation's immigration system, including a streamlined process for immigrants with proper legal status to gain citizenship.

"I'm very pro-immigration, as is basically any Republican you talk to, including Trump," said Shamblin, who serves as the chair of the Arapahoe County Young Republicans. "It's just, they should do so legally."

He said Americans should have a say in who can stay.

"We should know who is in our country, and especially if they are criminals," Shamblin added.

James Wiley, the executive director of the Libertarian Party of Colorado, described his party, which has the most affiliated voters of any minor party in the state, as historically conflicted on immigration.

"Oftentimes, we consider any acts of the state to be violent and, therefore, any enforcement of borders to be an expression of that violence," Wiley said.

However, that sentiment has narrowed in recent years, particularly within the state's party, as Libertarians take an interest in some immigration restrictions. Now, they tend to welcome newcomers to the country -- if they align with American values.

"Let anybody come here who actually values the same things that Americans value: liberty, freedom, personal responsibility, personal sovereignty," Wiley said.

In his view, Mexico and Canada do not share those values, though he'd favor open borders with Argentina.

"What I'm seeing from the administration over the last five months is good in the element of a reduction of immigration, but it's not necessarily for the right reasons," Wiley said. "It's based on fear."

Worries mount in immigrant communities

Among many in Colorado's immigrant communities, the Trump administration's methods have inspired the kind of fear that Wiley is talking about.

"I, unfortunately, will say I think the Trump administration has been very effective," said state Rep. Yara Zokaie, a Fort Collins Democrat, "and that they are ignoring court orders and that they are using military force to enact their policies."

She argues that ICE is targeting migrants beyond violent criminals and that family separation has already occurred in her district, with parents deported and children left behind.

As an Iranian-American legislator, Zokaie also hears from the state's Middle Eastern community. She said some of those Coloradans are worried about the new travel ban, which went into effect June 9.

According to the , immigrants and nonimmigrants alike from 12 countries -- including Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen -- cannot enter the United States.

"There's a lot of concern over whether folks who live here can travel," Zokaie said.

On top of that, she added, "we have people who are fleeing from majority-Muslim and African nations -- that are fleeing violence and persecution and authoritarian regimes -- and this puts their lives in danger."

In Colorado, Zokaie says American citizens who are Brown are opting to carry their U.S. passports with them on a regular basis.

But on the Western Slope, Vanessa, a 25-year-old immigrant, doesn't have that option as a grantee of the . She declined to use her last name, citing concerns about potential changes to her legal status under the Trump administration.

Vanessa was only 6 months old when her parents brought her across the southern U.S. border from Guerrero, Mexico. "My parents decided to come over here for a better job opportunity, education and for safety," she said.

At 16, Vanessa was accepted as a DACA recipient during Obama's administration. Since then, she's used it to work and attend college. But Vanessa's uncertain about the fate of the program under Trump.

"I don't know what's going to happen to DACA," she said. "My whole life is based on this. My career is on this."

She also worries about workplace raids sweeping up her loved ones who are undocumented.

Still, "my parents have never been the type where they will stop doing what they are going to do because of this," Vanessa said. "If we're not doing anything wrong, we shouldn't be scared."

At Meyer's Denver law firm, he's helping clients without legal status prepare their families for the possibility of ICE apprehension and is familiarizing them with how to fight to stay in immigration court.

A few clients have approached the attorney to discuss self-deportation. But even more have conferred with him about how to seek legal protections or apply for green cards or citizenship, he said.

"For most immigrants, I think self-deportation is not a viable option," Meyer said. "The longer people have been here, the deeper their ties. And the deeper their ties, the more things they have to fight for."

'I see their horror and their fear'

A Denver-based organization is contending with another aspect of the Trump administration's approach to curtailing immigration: the president's indefinite .

The decision has left the Ethiopian Community Development Council's  grappling with how it can fulfill its mission as a nonprofit refugee resettlement agency.

Rhossy Ouanzin Gbebri, the development and communications manager, says he's unsure when the halt will be lifted. The agency typically serves 1,000 to 1,200 people annually.

"If we don't receive refugees, we don't get the money that we're supposed to get to be able to help them," Ouanzin Gbebri said. "Everything that is happening at the federal level impacts our work."

When the State Department ordered agencies to cease work under certain grants, the center was forced to let go of 15 staff members. The people it serves -- particularly those who haven't mastered English yet -- continue leaning on staff for help.

"Over the past five months, I've seen all sorts of emotion," Ouanzin Gbebri said. "A lot of people were scared. A lot of people were coming to the office to get help."

But volunteers have stepped up and lawyers are teaching refugees about their rights -- making for a silver lining for Ouanzin Gbebri.

"This work matters," he said. "Refugees here still need our help."

Other Coloradans have supported immigrants facing insecurities under Trump, including U.S. citizens motivated to respond after seeing the impact of the president's policies on their neighbors.

In Aurora, the Rev. Wayne Laws of the United Church of Christ is handling fears among the devout in the local faith community.

"Some pastors are reporting a drop-off in the congregation because immigrants, migrants are afraid to come to worship services," said Laws, 70.

But he says he's also seeing a greater level of activism. Laws and other local faith leaders are working together to launch , an organization that would provide crisis care to vulnerable populations.

Denver resident Roz Heise, 82, says she knows many immigrants without full legal status.

"I see their horror and their fear," Heise said. "I feel helpless and sad and frustrated and ashamed."

The octogenarian said that, over the course of her life, she hadn't heard such negative rhetoric about immigrants until Trump's first term. She's written letters to her elected officials and attended protests.

"If they want to arrest me for something, go right ahead," Heise said. "I mean, I'm 82. What are they gonna do? Kill me?"

As Trump's approach on immigration evolves -- and -- she's among immigrant-rights advocates, lawyers and officials in Colorado who say they will be ready to respond.

Byron Gomez is the executive chef at �����ܳ�ø, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and a familiar face on TV shows such as “Top Chef” and “Last Bite Hotel.” Soon, he’ll make his debut as one of the new judges on hit series “Chopped.” This week, he was among 25 people spotlighted on , billed as a window into the “exciting food personalities and up-and-coming culinary rock stars” making their mark in food media.

A native of Costa Rica, Gomez is also a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient. DACA recipients, also known as “Dreamers,” are immigrants without permanent legal status who arrived in the U.S. as children. As President Donald Trump seeks to follow through with his campaign promise of mass deportations, Gomez wants to change the narrative about immigrants and show they are vital not only to local workforces, but also the ethos of American prosperity.

“My biggest message that I could tell people is please educate yourself before you take any drastic actions or any judgment upon someone else. My example is a prime one: I am a contributor to the economy, I am a contributor to the society here in the United States,” Gomez said. “I am living my American dream. It could turn into a nightmare at any point, but I’m still going to keep on fighting.”

Gomez moved with his family to Long Island, in New York, when he was eight years old, and at age 15, he got his first job at Burger King. Despite lacking any formal training as a chef, Gomez progressed in the restaurant industry, eventually landing roles at Michelin-starred restaurants like Café Boulud, Atera and Eleven Madison Park.

After cutting his teeth in New York, Gomez moved to Colorado, where he served as executive chef of the . In 2021, Gomez joined an elite cohort of chefs when he competed on the 18th season of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” which was based in Portland.

Last March, Gomez took over the kitchen at �����ܳ�ø, which earned its first Michelin star in 2023. The 18-seat restaurant, which serves an 11-course tasting menu, maintained its star status at the most recent Michelin awards, announced in September.

That journey is what makes recognition from The Food Network a “pinch me kind of moment.”

“I’ve worked very hard my entire life to get where I’m at now,” Gomez said. “It’s very humbling.”

In his first year at , Gomez has embraced the restaurant����ap commitment to sustainability and limiting food waste while also putting his original stamp on the menu. Guests who dine there soon get to taste both in action in many plates, including a Costa Rican-inspired dish featuring fish and bananas. It comes with a black banana puree made from peels and fruit that have been fermented for nine days, as well as a sauce made from dehydrated scallop skirts, the shellfish’s muscular membrane that’s usually trimmed and discarded.

The menu is not limited to serving Costa Rican cuisine, however, so anyone expecting that will be “rudely awakened into realizing you’re going to have an experience of world cuisine using many techniques,” Gomez said. Leaning into fermentation and investing in certain ingredients that will be ready months or years down the road has satisfied his passion for kitchen alchemy. But the biggest adjustment, Gomez said, has been adapting his cooking to �����ܳ�ø’s wood-fired oven.

“We don’t have the equipment that most restaurants do, so it����ap also very astonishing the amount of talent and ideation that goes behind each dish,” Gomez said.

As �����ܳ�ø shoots for a second Michelin star, Gomez and restauranteur Kelly Whitaker are looking for innovative ways to collaborate with other artists in the culinary world and beyond. In January, for example, they hosted a dinner that entitled, . Each song played multiple times – twice with lyrics and once instrumental, Gomez said – allowing guests about seven to 10 minutes to finish each plate.

On March 31, �����ܳ�ø will team up with Oklahoma City restaurant Nonesuch, which earned this year after in 2024. The dinner will highlight locally sourced ingredients that showcase terroir from each locale’s respective state, Gomez said. , with optional beverage pairings ranging from $65 to $80.

Gomez considers food a bridge that connects humans despite their differences. He hopes to help the sense of community found around a dinner table ripple throughout other aspects of life.

“All this hatred, all this anxiety that����ap going on, food bridges all of that. Everybody needs to eat at the end of the day. Everyone needs to have that warm dish that reminds them of some sort of comfort. So if I’m able to speak up on that through these platforms of a plate of food, then I’m doing my part in society,” Gomez said.

That topic has prompted a lot of reflection lately: “I cannot imagine how people reconcile mass deportation and all of that with Jesus’ teachings,” Kaufman said during an interview last week. “I don’t understand how the mental gymnastics work there, quite frankly.”

His church protected a Mexican woman under a removal order during the first term of President Donald Trump, who returned to office Monday. If mass deportations happen during his second term, Kaufman is ready to again open the church’s doors to those in need.

“We will be ready if we need to stand as a sanctuary for anyone, as always,” he said.

Several religious leaders in Denver, including Christian pastors and Jewish rabbis, say they are troubled by some of , including plans for mass deportations that he’s promised to carry out. They worry about the impact on their congregations, which often include recent migrants, and moral clashes with their values of compassion and mercy.

In spite of those concerns, some houses of worship are mulling over whether they will protect immigrants with removal orders because of the shifting legal landscape and practical hurdles, like available space.

Prioritizing an immigration crackdown during his first days in office, Trump has already declared a on the U.S.-Mexico border, as foreign terrorist organizations and issued broad limitations on , which long has been extended to children born in the U.S. regardless of their parents’ legal status.

And a change that affected churches directly came early in the week: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security of a that largely had limited U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from making arrests at “sensitive locations,” such as religious institutions, schools and hospitals.

“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens — including (murderers) and rapists — who have illegally come into our country,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.”

The that, according to multiple data sources, 47% of international migrants, or people living away from their birth countries, identified as Christians as of 2020. Muslims made up the second largest group, at 29%. Denver-area mosques didn’t respond to requests for comment last week.

In Colorado, expatriates from South American countries like Venezuela and Colombia, both of whose citizens are , have received particular attention from community members, elected officials and the media. More than 40,000 migrants — many of them seeking asylum — traveled from the southern U.S. border to the state over the last two years.

Because of that influx, the Denver area is among major American cities that Trump has said he’ll target for ICE raids. By late in the week, no large-scale operations had occurred locally.

In the religious community, Trump’s deportation plans have been broadly rebuked — including by the Catholic Church’s highest human authority, Pope Francis, who referred to them as “a disgrace,” according to the . “This is not the way to solve things,” Francis said on a talk show in Italy.

But the Colorado Catholic Conference’s response was not as critical.

“The Colorado Catholic Conference of Bishops approaches the issue of immigration with prayerful hearts,” executive director Brittany Vessely told The Denver Post in recent days. “The call to welcome the stranger is woven into the fabric of our faith, yet we also recognize the responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of our communities.”

Strong views at church that provided sanctuary

The verdict among parishioners gathered at the First Baptist Church of Denver, 1373 Grant St., was firmly against Trump’s emerging immigration policies and promises.

“It’s so wrong; it’s so contrary specifically to the teachings of Christ,” said Madeleine Dodge, who sat among the group of six in the prayer circle. She considered her two sons, who are married to women from Japan and France.

They’re leaving the U.S. to move abroad, and “I wouldn’t want them treated that way,” Dodge said.

And in Roz Heise’s opinion, these policies overwhelmingly target Black and Brown immigrants. Under the new administration’s approach, “we’re not terribly worried about the folks coming from Canada or Europe,” said Heise, who is a regular at the Wednesday centering prayer.

Kaufman’s church is not only a house of worship — it’s also a community center that houses , an immigration law office, and , an education nonprofit that teaches English as a second language.

In 2017, the church allowed Jeanette Vizguerra, a Mexican mother of four, to hide in its building following the denial of her stay of deportation, which temporarily halted her removal from the country. That year, amid media coverage of her story, she was named one of Time Magazine’s .

ICE later permitted Vizguerra a stay of deportation until 2019. When it expired, she sought sanctuary again at the First Unitarian Society of Denver church, eventually leaving in 2021.

In Colorado, places of worship extended sanctuary to several immigrants over the last decade.

And although Denver city officials have already fielded threats from Trump associates if they “harbor” migrants — and the Justice Department — Mayor Mike Johnston plans to potentially sue to protect “sensitive locations” like churches.

He also told The Post last week that he wanted to build a network to take care of children left abandoned if their guardians were detained — and that step could involve the help of local religious institutions.

Kaufman’s congregation of about 70 active members includes a couple from Myanmar seeking asylum in the U.S. While the group hasn’t decided what they’ll do in reaction to federal immigration actions, Kaufman is confident that they’ll offer support however it’s needed, particularly if children are temporarily separated from their parents during ICE raids.

“We have folks in our congregation that I’m certain would be more than willing to to be a foster home,” he said.

Caring for strangers, widows and orphans

In the Jewish faith, rabbis who follow the Torah say it teaches the opposite of anti-immigrant rhetoric.

At , 1980 Dahlia St. in Denver, Rabbi Adam Morris serves around 170 households. His congregation doesn’t include any new migrants, but Morris’ group feels an obligation to support them, whether they have legal status or not.

In Judaism, it comes down to caring for strangers, widows and orphans — both literally and symbolically.

“We are commanded to give these parts of our populations our support, our compassion,” Morris said in an interview. “There are surely plenty of those people in our society right now — and, unfortunately, they also seem to be the same people who are being targeted by the new administration.”

During Trump’s first term, Temple Micah partnered with Park Hill United Methodist Church to house a Salvadoran woman seeking sanctuary.

Morris says the present situation is more complex because the temple rents its space from Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, so the decision to offer sanctuary isn’t theirs alone.

“I know that we will be moved to do something,” he said. “I don’t know what that is yet.”

Rabbi Joseph Black, the senior rabbi at the in Denver, says recent immigrants are among his flock. The Reform Jewish synagogue at 51 Grape St. is the largest in the state, with a congregation of about 2,200 households.

He pointed to the Hebrew Bible, where the following sentiment is mentioned almost verbatim at least 36 times: “You shall not oppress the stranger, for you know the heart of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.”

Black’s own mother was a refugee from the Holocaust who started a new life in the U.S.

But his congregation hasn’t taken any public political positions, and it doesn’t have an official policy to protect those seeking sanctuary from legal action. When asked if the temple would help arrange foster care for migrant children in need, Black said: “If someone came to us with that request, we would very seriously consider it.”

Temple Emanuel has made efforts to warmly receive refugees and immigrants into the local community. It has collected clothing and carried out programs to support migrants fleeing persecution.

“Obviously, we don’t want to break the law,” Black said in an interview. “But I do think that it is important that we are a place of compassion and welcome and love. We hope to continue to be that to all.”

“Migrants are members of the Body of Christ”

Local branches of Christian denominations, including Episcopalians and Methodists, are also trying to decide on tangible ways to support the immigrant community.

Canon Mike Orr at the said his diocese is “working to provide practical pathways to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

from the heads of the national Episcopal Church urged its following to support protections for recipients, called “Dreamers” — immigrants without permanent legal status who arrived in the U.S. as children — and programs like and . TPS temporarily permits migrants from certain unstable nations to reside and work here, while the other program, under Trump, resettles refugees throughout the country.

The leaders also encouraged fellow Episcopalians to oppose mass deportations.

“Across our church, migrants are members of the Body of Christ and part of our congregations and communities,” the letter reads. “To our siblings who are at risk of deportation or of being separated from those you love, know that your story is our story, and your dignity is inseparable from our own.”

However, the Episcopal Church in Colorado declined to comment on whether it would provide sanctuary if mass deportations happen — and how it would react if family separations occurred during ICE raids.

Leadership at , 1820 Broadway, wants to help the migrants who walk through Trinity’s doors for lunch, which is offered four days a week, and for Sunday service. That day, up to 250 congregants usually come to worship.

The church is considering forming partnerships with immigration law groups to educate religious communities and serve as a resource to migrants.

“While we will observe the law, we are also compelled by the grace and mercy of God to live out our faith in service to our community,” said Sheila Alishouse, the Trinity Council chairwoman.

The church is not only bound by the gospel, but also by its , which instructs members to “welcome people of every race, ethnicity, and country of origin.”

Senior pastor Ken Brown says his church lacks adequate accommodations to offer sanctuary to migrants. But he considers possible family separations during deportations “inhumane,” and he encourages congregants who feel similarly to advocate for this marginalized population.

In an email, Brown wrote: “Trinity has lived this position in downtown Denver for 165 years and we have no plans to retreat from being a good neighbor.”

The lead pastor at an interdenominational church wonders how Trump’s proposed ICE raids could hurt his congregation of about 800, which includes recent migrants.

“For some, I suspect they would be deeply disruptive — and, perhaps, devastating,” said Denver United Church’s pastor Rob Brendle in an interview.

In his pews at the church at 660 S. Broadway, Democrats, Republicans and independents sit together. But rising above partisan political matters, “Denver United realizes that our foremost allegiance is to Jesus Christ,” Brendle said, “and thus our primary responsibility is to love and serve all of the people in this city in his name.”

So his church is committed to doing what it can physically and lawfully “to care for the helpless and marginalized.” For Brendle, that means working with other organizations that specialize in providing aid.

“We stand with individuals and communities in Denver of all compositions and expressions, recognizing (that) many who immigrated did so with the same ideals driving them that drive us,” Brendle said, listing them: “Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, well-being, safety for their children.”

“Behind every undocumented person is a human story: a parent striving to provide for their children, a person trying to flee violence,” Ricks, an Aurora Democrat, said Wednesday. “No person should face intolerance based on their immigration status.”

Behind her, more than two dozen Coloradans — immigrants, advocates and elected officials — gathered on the steps of the west foyer’s staircase in opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, which are expected to include mass deportations.

As the new Republican administration in Washington, D.C., handed down orders, community leaders argued that the effects would include suffering by communities in Colorado. It’s a state with  as of 2021, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

During Trump’s first few days in office, he’s started tackling immigration through a series of executive orders. He declared a on the U.S.-Mexico border and as foreign terrorist organizations. Trump elevated of the southern border wall to a higher priority, along with the detention and removal of people without legal status.

Unconfirmed reports of potential ICE raids in major American cities, including Denver, have circulated before and after Trump’s Monday inauguration. But as of Wednesday afternoon, no large-scale operations had been reported yet in any city.

Trump also proclaimed sweeping limitations on , which is extended to children born in the U.S. in spite of their parents’ legal status. That move was soon challenged with lawsuits, including cases filed by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and over 20 other states.

For State Rep. Junie Joseph, a Boulder Democrat and Haitian immigrant, Trump’s proposals would come at both economic and social costs, particularly because mass deportations could separate children from their parents.

“The prospect of mass deportation not only threatens the stability of immigrant families,” Joseph said Wednesday, “but also it creates a crisis for children who may lose one or both parents.”

If that happens, an “overwhelming” influx of children would enter Colorado’s child welfare system, which Joseph described as “already under significant strain,” pointing to a state budget shortfall of more than $670 million.

Trump’s policies also could hurt families with mixed legal status, like Cristian Solano-Córdova‘s. Born in Mexico, Solano-Córdova was brought across the southern border at 3 years old by his mother, with his younger sister in tow.

All three are immigrants without legal status, though Solano-Córdova qualified for (DACA) since he arrived in the U.S. as a child. He went on to graduate from Metropolitan State University of Denver, where he served as the student body president.

But as the family members worry about their fate, Solano-Córdova also wonders what will happen to another sibling: the youngest daughter, who is an American citizen since she was born on U.S. soil.

Considering the future, Solano-Córdova said: “She might need great strength to overcome great threats.”

Like Johnston, we too are unsure how seriously to take the threats of Trump’s top adviser Stephen Miller, whose anti-immigration sentiments and preventing illegal crossings at the border facilitated by coyotes. Miller has said for years now that under Trump’s administration, millions of people will be rounded up and deported in America’s largest immigration enforcement sting.

Just before Christmas, Miller’s group sent a letter to Denver City officials threatening to arrest them if they “harbor” immigrants wanted for deportation.

But Miller’s indiscriminate list of people who are guilty of “immigration crimes” includes people who have lived and worked in America for generations – people whose great-grand children are not only second-generation U.S. citizens but are doctors, teachers, engineers and police officers. People who have never even had a speeding ticket.

Johnston is right to prepare for such a calamity, while praying upon a dim star of hope that Trump has enough sense not to upend entire communities in search of 80-year-olds whose only crime was coming to America without proper paperwork decades ago.

The plan is simple:

1. Cooperate with ICE officials when they are going after criminals in Denver’s jail who are scheduled for release. Denver has always given ICE officials a heads up if someone wanted for deportation proceedings is in their custody and told them the date and time of the person’s release. Denver could improve in this area as could ICE as we have seen over the years.
2. But Johnston has made it clear that Denver will not aid ICE in a mass deportation sting that drives terror into the hearts of Colorado immigrants regardless of their legal status. Denver police will not detain people for ICE and will not support non-criminal immigration enforcement actions.
3. Coloradans will be protected at “sensitive locations” like schools, hospitals and churches. And Coloradans with some form of legal status — DACA, TPS, expired Visas, or pending asylum cases — will be protected. Likely this will be done through legal challenges should ICE attempt to detain mothers in the drop-off line at school or victims of crimes as they are discharged from the hospital.
4. Create a network that can care for the children of those who have been detained both for short-term emergency placement in foster care until a next of kin can be identified in the United States or for long-term care until a parent����ap deportation case is adjudicated and they are released from custody or sent abroad.

We are not opposed to the deportation of violent criminals who do not have a legal status to remain in the United States, but Coloradans must prepare for the possibility that ICE agents will be detaining fathers and mothers with no criminal history who are taking their children to Elitches for the day. How will we respond when ICE agents start picking up every person standing on the side of the road asking for money and demanding they prove their immigration status?

It����ap nice to know that Johnston has a plan to defend those individual’s due process rights before deportation by engaging with the attorney general and outside legal counsel.

“We have allies who would do the legal work on this. I think we are going to be plaintiffs. We are not planning to spend a great deal of Denver taxpayer dollars on it, but we are going to make sure to raise Denver voices to say we think it’s wrong,” Johnston told the board. “If Denver is one of the early locations where they start these deportations, we

We wish we could offer assurances to Coloradans with tenuous legal status – those with DACA, TPS or pending asylum cases, that everything is going to be OK.

But unfortunately we are at the whims of an administration that has expressed very little concern for the humanitarian crisis caused by mass deportations, so the best we can do is express support for a plan that could ease the suffering should Trump decide to deport millions of people.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Ripping the community asunder with an anti-immigrant sting executed by military personnel or federal agents under a presidential order called “Operation Aurora” would upend the city’s hard-fought safety and stability.

According to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, almost. That statistic is likely an undercount given the understandable reluctance among immigrants without legal status to participate in any government survey or census.

President-elect Donald Trump has relentlessly tried to paint the city of 386,000 people as a violent hell-hole needing drastic federal action to save it from the scourge of illegal immigration. In a clear nod to the white supremacists backing his campaign, Trump repeatedly said recent migrants were “poisoning the blood” of America by flooding across our borders from around the world. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The and 63% of the city owns their own home. The rate of violent crime is significantly lower than that of similarly sized cities across the nation, and it is slightly lower than the average rate in Colorado. When looking at all crimes, Aurora did see a spike in 2021 along with the rest of the nation, but that those property crimes have been decreasing rapidly as things have stabilized again post-COVID.

Aurora is the light, not the blight, of diversity

Aurora is a community made richer because of its diversity. The sprawling suburb is a culinary mecca for the slew of immigrant-owned restaurants. Minority-owned small businesses thrive in the community and the schools are a rich tapestry of cultures that frequently overperform their socio-economic status.

Aurora is a place where immigrants can still buy a home and attain the American dream of building equity, and a nest egg for retirement while sending their children, many of whom are U.S. citizens born and raised in the community, to college.

None of that prevented Trump from standing on the stage at the Gaylord Rockies Hotel amid the jail photos of gang members and pledging to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to bypass due process and round up suspected foreign-born gang members, detain them, and quickly deport them. Trump dubbed his plan “Operation Aurora.” How cruel to name the operation after the very community it would harm the most and that along with Springfield, Ohio, is among the least deserving of this slur.

Aurora police and surrounding supporting law enforcement agencies, in conjunction with federal bureaus, have already made progress in shutting down the Tren de Aragua gang, an international criminal organization that The Denver Post had exhaustively covered long before Trump started freaking out about their criminal activities. Aurora police have arrested nine individuals related to 14 separate criminal activities over the past 10 months. A 10th member of the gang was identified but has not been charged with any crimes. The crimes range from attempted murder and assault to intimate partner violence. Two other men affiliated with the gang were arrested in Aurora for a murder in Texas. Police say there aren’t many more members than that — 12 people — in Colorado.

Those 12 people are a tiny fraction of the thousands of immigrants who call Aurora home. Trump will not be satisfied when he realizes the criminal element in Aurora is a mere couple dozen people who entered the U.S. illegally or abused the asylum system. Then who will he target?

Anyone with temporary legal status is at risk

Trump may think voters gave him a mandate to deport millions of people, but we aren’t certain that all Trump voters understood the depth of his plan.

Trump doesn’t just want to target violent criminals or even just petty criminals. He has pledged to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from more than 800,000 people living in the United States legally and deport them back to their home countries. Past presidents have used TPS to allow people whose home countries had become unsafe to remain in the United States even after their visa or travel permit expired. President Joe Biden recently expanded TPS to some Venezuelans, but there are people living and working in the U.S. who have fled conflicts in Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, and Haiti. For some going home will be a death warrant.

And he won’t stop at ending TPS.

Trump’s attempt to repeal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was one of his first actions as president in 2017. If Trump repeals DACA for dreamers, friends and neighbors who have attended Colorado schools since kindergarten and are now working legally and paying taxes will be deported. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Trump’s administration had failed to properly revoke DACA calling the decision arbitrary and capricious, but stating clearly that the Department of Homeland Security could revoke DACA if it followed proper procedures. We have little faith that the court, now stacked with another Trump appointee, would stand up for dreamers.

We cannot think so ill of Colorado’s 1.3 million Trump voters to think they want communities like Aurora to be devastated by the fear of deportation and the reality of families separated when mothers and fathers, grandparents and siblings are stripped of their temporary legal status and sent to countries that many of them hardly know. We hope we are wrong and Trump doesn’t execute the drastic anti-immigration policies he’s outlined.

But if he goes forward, Trump cannot name his cruelty after Aurora — a place of hope and light for immigrants. He should name it Amache after a place of dark shame for the last American president to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to round up foreign-born Japanese Americans during World War II. The families put in Camp Amache were not criminals or enemies of America, but that didn’t stop President Franklin D. Roosevelt from making the order for internment.

It may prove fitting that Trump unveiled this “Operation Amache” only 200 miles north of Colorado’s Amache National Historic Site.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

“I was totally heartbroken at the fact our nation had chosen someone like Donald Trump to be the face of our country,” said Ramirez, founder and executive director of , a Colorado nonprofit that helps low-income, Latino high school students access college.

When Trump, ousted by voters in 2020, secured a second term by defeating Vice President Kamala Harris this week, Ramirez said he knew he must step up and help.

“The very safety of some of our students and families is going to depend on people like me,” the 43-year-old, first-generation Mexican-American said. “They’re relying on us. They’re looking to us, and they need us. We have to be those people for them at this moment where this is so much uncertainty.”

With Trump’s re-election, Colorado’s immigrant communities and advocacy organizations are preparing for what they fear will be a new level of federal hostility that could endanger the hundreds of thousands of foreign-born people who call the state home.

Trump, who has referred to immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the United States, promised to carry out mass deportations of people who are here illegally. His plan — “Operation Aurora” — is named after the culturally diverse Colorado city of 400,000 that drew national attention after the former president repeatedly exaggerated claims that violent Venezuelan gangs had taken over.

He has said he would pursue the death penalty for migrants who kill American citizens and invoke the , a 1798 law previously used to create Japanese internment camps during World War II. Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, has said sympathetic Republican governors could activate National Guard troops and deploy them to nearby states that refuse to participate in deportations.

“We will send elite squads of ICE, border patrol and federal enforcement officers to hunt down, arrest and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left,” Trump said during a campaign rally in Aurora last month.

In Denver, a deep-blue city that long has held so-called sanctuary policies, Mayor Mike Johnston said the second Trump administration should not expect cooperation with any kind of mass deportation program.

“We would not participate in anything of that nature and I think they would find a great majority of the country would not partner on something like that,” Johnston said in an interview Wednesday.

Denver already bars local law enforcement from cooperating with federal officials seeking to deport undocumented immigrants who may be in city custody. Under Johnston, the city has also launched a program dedicated to supporting asylum seekers — mostly migrants from Venezuela — with housing, food, job training and other services while they await federal authorization to work.

“We’re not planning to change any part of our approach to this issue,” Johnston said. “We will continue to be a welcoming and warm city connecting people to the service they need including housing.”

Gov. Jared Polis, through a spokesperson, declined an interview request Wednesday about Trump’s plans for immigrants in Colorado. The spokesperson, Shelby Wieman, instead referred to a statement in which Polis congratulated Trump and affirmed Colorado’s commitment “to protecting freedom, choice and the opportunity for everyone to build the life they want in our great state.”

Colorado nonprofits “prepared to stand up”

At in Aurora, owner and founder Ashley Cuber said 90% of her client base are Venezuelan migrants who arrived in the past year or so – mostly families applying for asylum.

She expects complications under Trump for not only her clients, but also people with and recipients of DACA, or , status.

Temporary Protected Status is extended to foreigners from select countries undergoing armed conflict, natural disasters and other conditions — a temporary immigration status that protects migrants from deportation and grants them authorization to work. Current eligible nations include Afghanistan, El Salvador, Haiti, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela.

Meanwhile, DACA is an Obama-era immigration policy that provides protection from deportation and work permits to people who were brought to this country without documentation as children.

Alberto Bejarano, a Venezuelan who resettled in Denver in March 2018 and secured Temporary Protected Status, isn’t worried. He backs the incoming Trump administration and its plan for deportations. Bejarano compared the Democratic Party to the socialism of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

“Trump has never said that he’s anti-immigration,” Bejarano said Wednesday. “He’s like most of us: anti-illegal immigration.”

During his first term, Trump dramatically curtailed the use of Temporary Protected Status and tried to end DACA. He pledged on the campaign trail to in Springfield, Ohio, and deport them.

“He’s planning on stripping Temporary Protected Status or other types of status like DACA away from people to make them now eligible for deportation,” Cuber said. “There’s going to be lawsuits.”

She described her friends who are DACA recipients as “terrified.” Cuber estimates that mass deportations would impact hundreds of thousands of people across Colorado. There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.

“It would harm the United States to deport the numbers he’s saying,” Cuber said. “And it would take decades for the U.S. economy to recover, if ever.”

Around 9.5% of Colorado’s residents are foreign-born, according to  Nearly half of Colorado’s immigrants are naturalized citizens. About 5.8% of the state’s U.S.-born residents live with at least one immigrant parent.

Immigrants account for 11.4% of Colorado’s labor force and make up 12.2% of the state’s entrepreneurs, 11.2% of STEM workers and 8.3% of nurses, according to the data.

Nita Gonzales, a board member of , said she doesn’t doubt Trump will act on his proposed mass-deportation plan.

“This plan is not just about immigration policy,” Gonzales said in a phone interview. “It’s about targeting families, neighbors and individuals who contribute daily to the strength and diversity of our communities.”

She referenced the legacy of former Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr, a Republican who spoke out against Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. Gonzales pressed Colorado’s mayors, congressional delegation, state legislature and Polis to push back against the president-elect����ap immigration policies in the near future.

“We have to work to ensure our cities are places of safety and not targets for political agendas,” Gonzales said. “We are prepared to stand up against this in Colorado.”

State Rep. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat who comfortably leads in his bid for a seat in the state Senate, likewise leaned on the election results to show Colorado’s values – even if Trump has explicitly targeted his district.

“Last night, unfortunately, the country chose Trump and Trumpism,” he said Wednesday. “I think it’s important to point out that Colorado did not choose Trump and Trumpism.”

Weissman promised to fight any unlawful actions in court and highlighted existing caselaw preventing things like the detention of immigrants purely based on federal immigration detainers.

“Any efforts the federal government attempts to pursue in the state of Colorado that are not legal will be met with a reminder that we are a country where we still follow the rule of law,” Weissman said.

“Feeling like there’s a target on their back”

Henry Sandman, managing director of the , said the organization has already started hearing from immigrant community members who are scared and sad.

“Just the pain of feeling like there’s a target on their back — like they’re not wanted,” Sandman said.

Sandman said the coalition will continue its work of making sure Colorado is a state welcoming to immigrants.

The organization was born out of a difficult time for immigrants in the past, when racist rhetoric was rampant after 9/11, Sandman said. From 2006 to 2013, the coalition fought to repeal “show me your papers” laws that forced law enforcement to detain and deport thousands of Coloradans.

During Trump’s last presidency, Sandman said ICE raids abounded. The coalition established a hotline to provide the immigrant community with information about what was going on and to help teach people their rights under U.S. law.

Beyond fears of mass deportation and raids, Sandman said he’s concerned what repeated attacks painting immigrants as criminals will do to harm the vulnerable community.

“That’s something we’re going to be monitoring very closely because the way immigrants were portrayed throughout the campaign is not accurate and it divided us,” he said. “We want to change the discourse.”

Denver Post staff writer Joe Rubino and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

The City Council on Monday night voted unanimously to refer a measure to the Nov. 5 ballot that — if supported by a majority of voters — would remove U.S. citizenship as a pre-requisite for those jobs in the city charter.

Councilwoman Jamie Torres, one of the referral measure’s cosponsors, emphasized that the change would not clear the way for people residing in the country illegally to be first responders in the city.

Applicants would have to have legal status and work authorization. She mentioned DACA recipients — or young people who were brought to this country illegally by their parents and now have protections under the policy — specifically as one group that could benefit from change.

A state allows DACA recipients to possess firearms and become peace officers.

For Torres, getting rid of the citizenship requirement comes down to fairness.

“These are members of our community who have graduated from our high schools, maybe even our colleges, who are making lives for themselves here in Denver and who may want to consider this as their future job but haven’t been able to because our charter restricts it,” Torres said.

Both Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas and Denver Fire Chief Desmond Fulton wrote letters in support of referring the citizenship question to voters.

The already allows noncitizens to apply to work as deputies. That change, which did not require a vote to update the city’s charter, was made after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation in 2015 and 2016 concluded the department was discriminating against immigrants by requiring U.S. citizenship, according to a presentation that Torres and her co-sponsor Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval went through with members of the council’s Finance and Governance Committee last month.

Sandoval emphasized at that committee hearing that the policy change was not drafted with asylum-seekers who have poured into the city from the U.S. southern border over the last two years in mind.

The presentation highlighted research suggesting that law enforcement agencies nationwide are struggling with recruitment and retention. The Police Executive Research Forum completed a national survey in 2022 that found that new officer hiring was down 3.9% in 2021 compared to 2019. Retirements went up 23.9% over the same time period.

Denver is seeking to add 167 police officers to its ranks this year. Mayor Mike Johnston budgeted $8.2 million from the general fund with that goal in mind.

The item passed as part of the council’s consent agenda on Monday as did a referral measure that puts a question on the November ballot asking Denver if they want to allow rank-and-file city workers to form unions and engage in collective bargaining with city leadership. Police officers and firefighters already have collective bargaining rights in Denver.

Torres and Sandoval started Monday’s meeting as the council’s president and president pro-tem, respectively, but their most recent terms in those internal leadership roles have now expired.

During the meeting, the council unanimously elected Sandoval to succeed Torres as president on a one-year term. Councilwoman Diana Romero Campbell was unanimously elected to replace Sandoval in the president pro-tem role.

The council president presides over meetings and appoints members to committees. The president pro-tem fills in for the president when that person is not available.

In a briefing, the officers described how they planned to arrest the 25-year-old, who was born in Mexico, as he arrived — a step in the deportation process. He had a felony conviction for soliciting for child prostitution on his record, and he would be among the last of 19 people targeted by ICE’s Denver field office and arrested as part of this year’s national Sex Offender Arrest and Removal operation, known as SOAR.

They were among 275 immigrants arrested across the country from Feb. 5 to Feb. 16, . SOAR operations focus on apprehending immigrants who are in the country without authorization and have been convicted of sex crimes.

In the parking lot on Feb. 13, Denver Post journalists attended the ICE officers’ briefing ahead of the arrest of Edgar Pando-Carpio to observe the federal agency’s annual operation and learn more about its enforcement of immigration laws in Colorado.

Officers discussed how they expected to find Pando-Carpio based on previous patterns: A gray Jeep Liberty would pick him up outside his house, they said, and take him to the car wash where he worked. The vehicle would likely make a few stops along the way.

After a couple hours of waiting, the group was alerted by officers tailing Pando-Carpio that the Jeep was headed to the car wash. Soon after, immigration authorities arrived there and arrested him without incident. He later was booked into an Aurora detention facility.

Pando-Carpio pleaded guilty to the felony soliciting charge in August 2022 in Arapahoe County District Court, court records show. A judge sentenced him to 10 years probation; a sex-offender intensive supervision program, which required him to register as a sex offender in Colorado; and to pay fines, according to ICE.

He has been in the United States since he was 6 years old and previously qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects some immigrants who came to the country as children from deportation as long as they continue to receive approval for renewals.

But U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services terminated his status in June 2021, following , according to ICE. In November 2022, Arapahoe County issued a warrant for Pando-Carpio’s arrest, alleging failure to comply with his sentencing terms and conditions, that remained outstanding this month.

ICE’s Denver field office conducts enforcement in Colorado and Wyoming. During this month’s SOAR operation, ICE officers arrested eight people in metro Denver, two in the Florence area, four in the Frederick area and five in Grand Junction. Those targeted included other Mexican citizens and a citizen of the United Kingdom.

“This operation was successful in that it showed those who defy our laws and victimize others won’t be tolerated in our community,” said Arthur Wilson Jr., the acting Denver field office director, in a statement. “I applaud our officers’ efforts that enforced our nation’s immigration laws across the state.”

Colorado law restricts cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, providing some protections to undocumented immigrants — though ICE has been accused of circumventing such laws.

But state law does not prevent ICE, a federal agency, from making arrests in the state.

Between October 2022 and September 2023, , the Denver field office arrested 8,129 immigrants in its region. Of those, 717 had criminal convictions, 266 had pending criminal charges and 7,146 were accused of immigration violations. During the same period, the region detained 4,007 people and deported 1,571.

Under the state’s policies, if local police arrest a noncitizen, the person won’t be held for immigration authorities to pick up before they are released from jail. And not all jurisdictions notify ICE when someone is being released, said Greg Davies, the field office’s assistant director.

In Pando-Carpio’s case, he said, if Arapahoe County had taken the man into custody because of his warrant and jailed him, ICE likely would have had to conduct another operation to arrest him and try to deport him.

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.

But there are limitations on both the length of paid time available and how much is paid under the state’s , known as FAMLI. Colorado voters created the program in 2020 when Proposition 118 passed with nearly 58% support.

Employers and employees began paying into the program last year, evenly splitting the premium set at 0.9% of an employee’s wages. But 2024 is the first year that Coloradans can receive the benefits, with the first claims now being approved.

“We’re proud to have built a that makes it as simple as possible for Colorado workers to access this important benefit,” FAMLI program division director Tracy Marshall said in a statement. “Most Coloradans have been paying FAMLI premiums for a year now, and we’re excited to have reached the important milestone of issuing our first set of benefit payments.”

As of midday Wednesday, Colorado employees had submitted 8,919 claims since the online portal opened in late November. Of those, 5,537 have been approved, 2,028 are pending as the division waits for more information from the applicants, 605 have been denied and 644 have been canceled, according to the division. A small number of claims were for short periods of leave already taken this month or are claims under review.

Program managers expect to receive 67,700 claims by the end of the 2024 fiscal year, which ends June 30, Marshall said. The first payments went out this week.

Here is more information about how and answers to common questions.

How does the program work?

The program is considered a “social insurance program,” so the state pays out the claims, and they’re funded partially through premiums split between employers and employees (through paycheck deductions). Some employers, including local governments, have been able to opt out of the new program.

How much paid time off is available?

The FAMLI program provides up to 12 weeks of compensation for employees when they need to take leave — or up to 16 weeks in cases of complications with pregnancy and childbirth.

What situations are eligible for paid leave?

Coloradans who have a new baby or child, whether by birth or through fostering or adoption, can file claims.  Employees also are eligible if they have a serious health condition they need time off to manage or if they are dealing with immediate safety needs or impacts from domestic violence or sexual assault.

Paid leave is also available for situations involving , including if employees need to care for a loved one who is dealing with serious health issues or if they need to make arrangements for a family member’s military deployment.

The benefits are available once a year, per qualifying event.

Who’s eligible to apply for paid leave? Do I have to be a full-time employee?

A majority of Colorado employees, whether they work full time or part time, can benefit from the program after they’ve earned at least $2,500 in wages that are subject to FAMLI premiums over a one-year period. Employers have to register for the program, even if they only have one employee, though employers with nine or fewer workers don’t need to make employer contributions to the program. Their employees, who still pay their share of premiums, can still receive the benefits, Marshall said.

When applying for benefits, both part-time and full-time workers are required to list their employers and work schedules. A person with more than one job could take paid leave from multiple employers at one time or from just one employer. They also can take their leave continuously, intermittently or by reducing their work hours.

Self-employed workers who live and work in Colorado also are eligible if they opted into paid-leave coverage prior to applying for benefits, have paid their premiums and have agreed to participate in the program for at least three years.

Marshall said a misconception is that an employee has to have worked for their employer for six months to a year to receive benefits. They can actually take the leave as soon as they begin the job, but there is a caveat: If they want job protection from that employer, they must work there for at least six months before taking the leave.

Do I receive my full wages?

It depends. Compensation is capped at $1,100 per week through the end of 2024, but the actual amount is determined based on the applicant’s average weekly income, with lower-income earners generally receiving a higher percentage.

The division uses a sliding scale based on an employee’s average weekly wage to determine compensation each week. Those who make $710.58 per week or less — equivalent to $36,950 per year — will receive 90% of their average wage, or up to $639.52.

Workers who make more than that will receive an additional amount calculated at 50% of the difference in weekly pay above that threshold, until they reach the maximum. The upshot is that a worker who makes the equivalent of $50,000 per year will receive $765 per week, while someone who makes $65,000 per year will receive $909.23 per week. Those who make at least $84,840 per year — just over $1,631 per week — will receive the maximum $1,100 per week in compensation.

The program’s website has that workers can use to calculate how much they would receive in benefits.

How can I make up the difference?

Employers can supplement the amount of money their workers receive while on paid leave by allowing them to use paid sick time or vacation time they’ve accrued. The state requires an agreement in writing, and the employee can’t receive more compensation than the amount they would have been paid through their average weekly wage. More details are available .

Are DACA recipients and undocumented immigrants eligible?

Immigrants with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status and some undocumented immigrants are eligible if they meet certain requirements. They must earn at least $2,500 in wages and be able to verify their identity by providing either a valid social security number or a taxpayer identification number.

How does this program differ from federal FMLA leave?

On the federal level, the of 1993 protects an employee’s job while allowing up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Colorado is not the first state to approve a public paid-leave program — eight others have implemented it — but its program is considered among the most progressive. It’s also the first one in the country created through the ballot (following six failed attempts by Democrats in the state legislature).

What if I work for a local government that opted out of the state-run program?

Local governments and some businesses that have similar paid family leave programs have opted out of the state-run system and avoided paying premiums. Workers who want to access those benefits will have to apply through their employers’ programs.

If those workers still want to receive benefits from the state, they can participate by registering ahead of time with the FAMLI program and committing to reporting their wages and paying their portion of premiums for at least three consecutive years, Marshall said.

How do I apply to get paid leave?

Employees can fill out applications on the starting before they go on leave. Anyone filing a claim will have to submit their full contact information, a social security number or taxpayer ID number, their employer’s information, the dates of the leave and how they would like to take the leave (whether through reduced hours or otherwise).

Medical leave — for the employee or to care for a family member — requires an applicant to submit a serious health condition form signed by a licensed medical provider (available on the website). Employees welcoming a child will need to submit a birth certificate or documentation of birth, adoption, foster care or kinship care. Other types of documentation are required depending on the circumstances.

User guides are available in English and Spanish on . The division also is hosting virtual informational town halls in English and Spanish, with remaining sessions on Feb. 1. Registration links are .

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.