The Colorado Independent

Posts Tagged Ice

The new birthers: Arizona truck driver arrested, forced to show birth certificate

By | 04.26.10 | 7:00 am

A Latino truck driver outside Phoenix was taken into custody by law enforcement at a weigh station. He pulled in to have the truck looked at, was apparently approached by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and asked for ID. He…

ICE spokesman battles characterization of ‘secret’ subfield detention facilities

By | 01.26.10 | 3:46 pm

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.”

Apparent immigration detention abuses spark calls in Colorado for reform

By | 01.25.10 | 8:56 am

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.

Grassroots candidate Ken Buck: confident enough not to pander

By | 01.08.10 | 10:14 am

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…

Report of ‘secret’ immigration detention centers raises rights concerns

By | 12.29.09 | 11:09 am

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.

Report: Colorado home to secret immigration detention centers

By | 12.23.09 | 9:58 am

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…

Homeland Security hearing lays out immigration battle ahead

By | 12.11.09 | 10:27 am

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.

287(g) immigration enforcement programs costing local communities

By | 11.10.09 | 9:11 am

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…

Polis: ‘287(g)’ immigration crackdown laws create ‘sweep of terror’

By | 10.21.09 | 1:45 pm

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…

New immigration enforcement agreements frustrate Coloradans

By | 10.19.09 | 8:43 am

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…