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As an anti-poverty organization, we at CCLP have made it our mission to advance the rights of every Coloradan. In doing so, we want to be very clear about who we define as “Coloradan.” Many people make this beautiful state their home, including immigrants, and they are Coloradans, regardless of immigration status and documentation. Our mission requires us to speak up whenever government power is used in ways that violate constitutional protections and endanger communities.
We insist upon the preservation of the rights of every Coloradan, full stop.
The U.S. Constitution has always been interpreted to apply to those who find themselves within the borders of our country for any reason or for any duration. That means the protections of due process have always applied to anyone on our soil. The denial of due process by federal immigration agents in any of the various operations conducted by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — is a threat to due process for all Americans.
Due process is a poverty issue. We have long seen in our work that failures of due process fall most heavily on those who have the least resources to stand up for their own rights. Everything we do at CCLP is dependent upon the continued existence and assumption of the ability for people to enforce the laws intended to protect them.
CCLP has been watching the news out of Minnesota with great concern. ICE and other DHS agencies are seen violating the U.S. Constitution regularly, with disastrous and tragic results. Children are being kidnapped by masked agents. Immigrants in custody have died. Protestors have been killed in broad daylight, in videos which many of us have seen for ourselves. The rule of law is being ignored by those who have sworn an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Civil violations by community members are being treated as criminal violations. Due process is flagrantly ignored, and even elected officials who should know better have argued openly that due process does not apply to those who they consider in our country “illegally.”
We monitor these actions in Minnesota not only to see what is happening to the rule of law nationwide under the Trump administration, but to understand what risks exist here in Colorado for our families, neighbors and loved ones. Though we have not seen the same operational scale here as has been unleashed in the Twin Cities, we have seen ICE activity in Colorado that brings significant concerns about the treatment of immigrants and protestors.
It is incumbent upon an organization like CCLP to determine what role we can play in the face of violations of rights. The federal government is taking actions here in Colorado which we must oppose with the tools we have available to us. The tools may change as the circumstances change, but at this time, we commit to the following.
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We will continue to support and pursue legislative actions (such as SB26-005) to protect our fellow Coloradans against federal overreach.
- We will oppose the use of armed guerilla tactics by DHS agents engaging in civil enforcement, and continue to advocate for the end of military-like institutional responses to civil issues.
- We will continue to fight to prevent inappropriate information sharing, particularly of protected health data which has absolutely no place in DHS investigations.
These are not new battles for CCLP. Ensuring that civil rights are upheld is a north star in this work. As rights violations become commonplace, we must stand firm, reasserting in the face of significant disinformation that civil rights aren’t limited only to citizens or documented immigrants, but, under the Constitution of the United States, apply to one and all. We’re not going anywhere. We are in this fight. It is a fight for all of us. It is a fight for the rule of law on which all of CCLP’s work is predicated. And it is a fight for the soul of a nation adrift. At CCLP we will continue to apply all of the tools of our work to ensure that the rights of every Coloradan are respected, honored and upheld.
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