Social Policy

Michael Bennet's role in Colorado Compact on immigration caps senator's big week

When John Hickenlooper addressed the Democratic National Convention in early September, he emphasized how Coloradans could overcome party differences to collaborate -- unlike Congress. And Coloradans offered an impressive display of collaboration yesterday, when former Senator Hank Brown, a Republic ... More >>

Immigration: Report says CO's "show me your papers" law costs $13 million per year

Colorado spends about $13 million a year to enforce a 2006 state law that requires local cops to report to federal immigration authorities arrestees who they suspect are undocumented immigrants, according to a report by the Colorado Fiscal Institute. Those reported to the feds spend an average of 22 ... More >>

Marijuana: CBI says cross-checking MMJ registery against gun databases off the table

Last week, we told you about 2011 documents uncovered by activist Corey Donahue that outlined using the proposed medical marijuana patient registry database to cross-check federal firearm databases. The reason: MMJ patients are not legally allowed to own guns. Now, however, a state official says su ... More >>

Immigrant rights group asks ICE to stay away from Strawberry Days Festival

Update below: Will federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement have a presence at this weekend's 115th annual Strawberry Days Festival in Glenwood Springs? That's what youth-led immigrant rights group AJUA wants to know. AJUA sent a letter to ICE, explaining that the agency's presence at last year's ... More >>

Video: Thanks Obamacare! clip pleads "Don't Deny Us" as Supreme Court mulls ruling

Last November, we introduced you to ThanksObamacare.org, a local website aiming to transform "Obamacare" from an attack label used by opponents of the 2010 health-care law to a term of endearment. This week, the site's released a new video, "Don't Deny Us," which expands on this theme as political o ... More >>

Immigration: About 15 percent of Denver case subjects allowed to stay in U.S. after review

Preliminary numbers show that about 15 percent of the 7,923 immigrants whose cases were reviewed as part of a Department of Homeland Security pilot project in Denver will be allowed to stay in the country, says Laura Lichter, the president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Those ... More >>

Mitt Romney's win in Iowa could threaten immigrants, say Colorado Democrats

Rick Palacio​Colorado's Democratic leaders are worried that last night's win for Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucus could spell trouble for immigrants in Colorado. "Folks, it takes an alarming event to bring the likes of us together to weigh in on the Republican nomination," Colorado Democratic P ... More >>

John Suthers calls ruling against health-care legislation a victory for federalism: Read it here

John Suthers.​Last March, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers joined "nearly a dozen" state AGs in challenging the constitutionality of just-passed health-care legislation. Now, he is celebrating a U.S. District Court ruling in Florida that concludes Congress "exceeded the bounds of its aut ... More >>

Why do Mexicans cut down agave plants?

Secure Communities: Colorado signs on to fingerprint check for illegal immigrants

www.ice.gov​Colorado is the latest state to join Secure Communities, a federal program that checks fingerprints of people booked into local jails against a national database of illegal immigrants.

Inside America's kidnapping capital of Phoenix, Arizona

Welcome to Mi Pueblito

The small-town, family-farm lifestyle that we love to celebrate is being preserved -- thanks to Mexican immigrants.

Badlands: From Ground Zero of the Immigration Crisis Along the Mexican Border

Tom Tancredo and his band to star at Arizona immigration rally: Kenny Be's Fotochop Friday

​ While many of America's celebrities announce their Arizona boycott plans, Colorado's most famous performer is preparing a big show of support. Inspired by the new immigration law passed by the Arizona state legislature, Tom Tancredo is getting the band back together.

Letters: Gustavo Arellano, go home (or at least to Arizona)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Greeley to be "transparent"

These ICE men probably aren't dealing with money laundering...​A July 2008 Greeley Tribune article predicted that "an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, a flashpoint of controversy when it was proposed three years ago, will open this fall in Greeley." Wrong. It took nearly two more y ... More >>

WeHireAliens.com not for job hunters -- or John Hickenlooper

​Amid the white-hot debates raging over Arizona's new immigration law, it's harder than ever to separate the spluttering from the substance when it comes to immigration policy. Especially if you're trying to make sense of the über-patriotic sentiments found online at Wehirealiens.com. A pro ... More >>

Tom Tancredo serves no whine before its time

Immigration Center: Business that allegedly faked fed link hit with $2.5 million judgment

A Flickr photo​As Denver City Councilman Chris Nevitt noted yesterday in support of a proclamation demanding comprehensive immigration reform, "I think the two sides of this debate have demonized each other. The immigration-rights folks look at the people who pursued the Arizona measure as bei ... More >>

Tom Tancredo's favorite new trivia game: "Illegal Immigration"

Photo by John JohnstonTom Tancredo engages in some gamesmanship.​Looking for a fun new board game to while away these lovely spring afternoons? Anti-immigration firebrand Tom Tancredo has the perfect suggestion. As the Colorado Independent first reported, Tancredo fired up his Twitter account ... More >>

ICE, Loveland Police arrest eleven in operation targeting "foreign-born gang members"

Courtesy US Immigration and Customs EnforcementICE men in action.​Amid the uproar stirred by the new Arizona immigration law -- travel bans by Denver Public Schools and the City of Boulder, plus student walkouts and weekend rallies -- US Immigration Customs and Enforcement, known as ICE, conti ... More >>

Immigrant Rights Coalition decries death of bill targeting state's worst job

Not much of a home on the range.​In January, Alan Prendergast argued that herding sheep may be Colorado's worst job. He cited research from Colorado Legal Services showing that the vast majority of herders, many of them brought to the U.S. by industry types from Peru, Bolivia or Mexico, "don't ... More >>

Arizona immigration bill: Removing one word won't stop Colorado protests, advocate says

An image from ColoradoImmigrant.org.​Last Friday, we previewed a student walkout decrying the controversial new Arizona immigration law. On Saturday, the events continued here and in several other locations across the state. These get-togethers were well attended everywhere, says Chandra Russ ... More >>

Glenn Beck co-host Pat Gray: AZ illegals aren't like pre-WWII Jews in Germany -- because the Jews were citizens

Their German citizenship didn't exactly solve their problems.​Republican gubernatorial hopeful Scott McInnis likes Arizona's controversial new immigration law a whole lot more than does Representative Jared Polis, who told Politico that requiring immigrants to have their papers on them at all ... More >>

ACLU sues Jeffco sheriff Ted Mink, says he unlawfully imprisoned man for 47 days

Ted Mink allegedly held a man for over a month without charges.​The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit against the Jefferson County Sheriff, accusing him of illegally detaining a man for 47 days for the suspicion that he was an illegal immigrant. Sheriff Ted Mink, the ... More >>

Ask a Mexican: The April Fool's Day Minuteman Project edition

​Editor's note: Because this week we present the 2010 version of our annual Best of Denver issue, some of our regular features are taking the week off -- but not Gustavo Arellano's Ask a Mexican column, spiced up just for April 1. Dear Readers: In honor of April Fool's Day, I turn this column ... More >>

For Christ's sake: Local Evangelicals plan Civic Center Park rally for immigration reform

A Flickr photo​Jeff Johnsen, the executive director of Mile High Ministries, a collaboration of urban churches in Denver, thinks its time that Evangelical Christians spoke up about immigration. "The way we've worked out our social concern is caring for the poor: helping the homeless, feeding ... More >>

Jon Caldara isn't resting on health care even after Scott Brown's win

Jon Caldara would have looked like this had Scott Brown lost.​Yesterday, the Independence Institute's Jon Caldara was among the driving forces behind a large gathering at the state capitol in favor of opting out of any federal health care plan, either via legislation or a ballot measure. Then, ... More >>

P.S. 1 didn't make the grade, but can anything replace Denver's longest-running charter school?

Immigrant hot potato one reason for ongoing protests at Aurora detention center

A photo of an ICE bust in progress, from the organization's 2008 annual report.​Since May, an interfaith group has staged a vigil the first Monday of each month at the Aurora Contract Detention Facility, 11901 East 30th Avenue -- and they'll be there again tonight at 6 p.m. Among the many rea ... More >>

One Denver nonprofit's World AIDS Day message: Clean needles save lives

Andrew McClure and Lisa Raville, advocatin'.​ Anyone who Googled anything today knows that it's World AIDS Day. And anyone who drove by the intersection of Colfax and Broadway this afternoon knows select folks in Denver think clean needles are part of the solution to stopping the spread of the ... More >>

Betsy Markey rep just not that into talking about her "no" vote on healthcare bill

Betsy Markey doesn't like the House's healthcare bill -- and she's not that into talking about why not, either.​Even though Diana DeGette has big problems with an amendment to the mammoth healthcare bill limiting access to abortions, she voted for the measure. Not so Betsy Markey, the only Dem ... More >>

Archbishop Charles Chaput puts Obama administration on notice about abortion funding

Archbishop Charles Chaput supports healthcare reform -- but his mind could be changed.​Archbishop Charles Chaput supports healthcare reform -- but his mind could be changed.​Although Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput is seen as an arch-conservative in many quarters, he's actually supporte ... More >>

So that's why Polis has been so ballsy on health care: He's been making it rain on the Hill

"I got money in the bank/Shorty what you drink?"​House Democrats are playing nice again, and moving closer to finding compromise on a stripped down version of the president's health-care plan. And wouldn't you know it, just days after irking upperclassmen with his very-un-freshman-like stance ... More >>

Jared Polis makes the NYT with anti-Obama health care message

It looks like Boulder Congressman Jared Polis has taken the lead as one of the Democrats to cross party lines and thumb his nose at President Obama's health care proposal. But his concerns don't have to do with health care itself. No, a letter he wrote that was signed by 21 other Democratic congres ... More >>

Archbishop Charles Chaput works both sides of political fence

Archbishop Charles Chaput. Denver-based Archbishop Charles Chaput has grown more political since taking over as head of the city's archdiocese in 1997 -- and he spoke out early and often about the politics of abortion during the run-up to the 2008 presidential vote. As such, even his condemnation ... More >>

Letters from the week of April 16

State senator Morgan Carroll's blog: Even feistier than advertised

State senator Morgan Carroll. Earlier this week, the Denver Post published a story about Morgan Carroll, a Democratic state senator from Aurora, who had angered the leadership in the legislature after posting a blog last month criticizing the way they treated Senate Bill 166, "which sought to ban d ... More >>

ICE deportations in Denver set record; see the release here

Barack Obama's shout-out to Michael Johnston and Mapleton

The next Tom Tancredo

Letters to the Editor

Letters from the week of 4/24/2008

Sick Right Here

Fear Factor

In his first week running his new website, Brad Jones crashed a state representative. What will he do for an encore?

Guest Wishes

Helen Krieble wants to end all the horsing around over illegal immigration.

Follow That Story

Border Wars

Cutting Edge

A plan by some Colorado leaders to trim hard-won health-insurance benefits could leave consumers feeling the pain.

Reading, Writing and Refrigerator Raids

Virtual schools are becoming a viable option for parents who prefer to keep their kids at home.

Funky Town

Even though the EPA says Denver's air is getting cleaner, the odor lingers on.

INDEPENDENCE'S DAY

A CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK IN GOLDEN MAKES THE DEMOCRATS THIRST FOR ONE OF THEIR OWN.