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In a series of charged emails to the Colorado Independent prompted by a report on the existence of unlisted immigrant-detention “subfield offices” in the state, Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, wrote to clarify that the offices were used only for processing suspects. He said immigrants suspected of violations were held at the agency’s subfield offices for up to approximately two hours before being transferred to long-term holding facilities. He conceded that contact information for the facilities was unavailable and that detainees being processed at the offices were not allowed to contact relatives or attorneys before being transferred to the larger facilities. The nature of the processing done in the offices, however, was merely transitional, he wrote, and the offices were not “secret.”

The detention policies of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Colorado and the network of facilities that has grown here in the last few years are drawing increasing attention among local lawmakers and human rights organizations.

Critics of the system say men and women held on suspicion of immigration violations in the state are housed in conditions that rival those established for violent criminal offenders, that the immigrants are becoming fodder for a booming detention industry, and that detainees are often difficult to locate in the tangle of state facilities, which include unlisted so-called subfield offices.

Weld County D.A. and GOP U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck made a campaign stop at the Longmont Public Library yesterday. His take on flash-point issues such as federal health-care reform legislation, immigration and energy development seemed a throwback to a pre-Tea Party age. He said there were parts of health reform that were worthwhile. He [...]

According to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Detention and Removal website, the federal agency has only one center for detention in Colorado, a privately owned facility located in Aurora. The website doesn’t mention that the agency may also be holding people at unlisted sub-field offices around Colorado.

The Nation, which broke the story last week of such sub-field offices, called them “secret” and suggested that they are “black sites” into which detainees might effectively disappear. ICE disputes the terminology.

An upcoming report from The Nation purports to expose 186 secret Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, four five of which are located here in Colorado.
According to the report, ICE has been confining people in “unlisted and unmarked subfield offices” around the country. A partial list of phone numbers and addresses suggest Colorado [...]

A House Homeland Security Committee hearing Thursday morning highlighted the sharp divide in Congress over illegal immigration and what should be done about it, presaging the difficult fight ahead when Congress eventually begins to tackle proposals for comprehensive immigration reform.

A new report from the conservative Center for Immigration Studies makes a point of praising the so-called 287(g) program, calling it very “cost-effective.” The program, which was just renewed by the Obama administration, grants broad immigration enforcement powers to local law enforcement agencies.
Although the program may be cost-effective for the federal government, there is some [...]

A federal program known as 287(g), which grants broad immigration enforcement powers to local law enforcement agencies, has resulted in a “sweep of terror,” said 2nd District U.S. Rep. Jared Polis. In a floor speech today, the Boulder Democrat–who can usually be counted on to speak out in support of immigration reform–had sharp criticism for [...]

The U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Friday that it had decided to standardize so-called 287(g) agreements rather than cancel them. The agreements grant broad immigration enforcement powers to local law enforcement agencies. In Colorado, and across the nation, immigrant rights groups responded with frustration.

AURORA — As they have once a month for six months now, a crowd of about 50 people stood outside the GEO Aurora ICE Processing Center Monday night, in a cold rain, to protest its expansion. The center will nearly quadruple in size this year.