Politics & Government

With or without a legal definition of “sanctuary city,” it’s now clear that the White House, DHS and ICE all believe that Denver fits the bill.

As the traditionally military-friendly National Football League finds itself in an existential crisis with players and some coaches participating in the #TakeAKnee movement, which was inspired by President Trump’s “son of a bitch” comments last weekend, John Elway decided to offer his two cents on the debate. During a weekly…

The extent to which hackers and other shadowy operatives from Russia meddled in the U.S. election last November seems to be expanding as additional evidence comes to light. Facebook has come under scrutiny after it was revealed that the social-media company sold and displayed over 3,000 political advertisements related to…

A tip and a year’s worth of reporting later, Westword‘s sister paper the Phoenix New Times caught the nation’s attention when it published a story on September 13 detailing two Phoenix-area Motel 6s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Documents reveal arrests of undocumented immigrations at courthouses in Denver are more common than anyone, including the City of Denver, suspected.

Immigration enforcement is an especially contentious issue right now, and it should come as no surprise that Denver’s recent decision to pass an ordinance that limits the city’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement has divided Denver residents.

Mark Williams doesn’t try to sugar coat his minimal experience in politics. The newest candidate for Colorado’s 2nd Congressional district even points to his lack of experience with pride.

A member of the Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists says alt-right individuals or organizations are impersonating her group and others like it in order to falsely portray the antifa movement in general as ultra-violent and morally bankrupt. She adds that the fields of battle include the Internet, where a bogus Colorado Springs Antifa Facebook page remains online at this writing, and the streets, via methods such as fake fliers, bogus letters and dubious graffiti intended to rile up and confuse both the mainstream media and the citizenry as a whole.

Today, September 13, the State of Colorado announced that it will join a lawsuit originally filed by New York challenging President Trump’s plan to pull the plug on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, shorthanded as DACA. In a statement about his reasons for taking this action, Governor John Hickenlooper said, “President Trump’s decision to end the DACA program is outrageous and risks the futures of more than 17,000 Coloradans.”

When the ACLU of Colorado heard that Iraqi detainees being held inside Aurora’s immigrant detention center – a 1,500-bed facility run by the private prison company GEO Group – were being singled out and harassed by the facility’s guards, ACLU attorneys and staff members went to investigate.

An Erie animal sanctuary got a jolt on Thursday, August 31, when agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations arrived to allegedly inquire about the status of two pigs — Lucy and Ethel — who were “rescued” by animal rights activists from a Utah factory farm in early July.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would consider whether Denver’s Masterpiece Cakeshop discriminated against a gay couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, by refusing to make them a wedding cake just over a year after the case was rejected by the Colorado Supreme Court. Now, the administration of President Donald Trump, as represented by the Department of Justice, has weighed in, filing an amicus brief that sides with baker Jack Phillips, who says the denial was based on his religious beliefs.

On Wednesday, September 6, Fair Districts Colorado filed three ballot initiatives with the Secretary of State’s office that will attack what they believe is widespread gerrymandering of election districts.

President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA, prompted the walkout of more than a thousand Denver students on September 5. Among the demonstrators making their feelings heard was Marco Dorado, whose story we shared in a March post headlined “Meet Marco Dorado, Exhibit A in What’s Wrong With Trump’s Immigration Policies.” But yesterday, someone else told Dorado’s tale: Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, who used him as an example of why eliminating DACA is cruel and counterproductive during a speech delivered on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

The students came from schools all across Denver. Many marched miles from their respective campuses in long lines that stretched along streets and boulevards. Some chanted. Some held signs. But they were all headed to one location on Tuesday morning: the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria Campus, to protest President Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

As President Trump reportedly considers ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Mayor Michael Hancock had a message for the White House on Thursday, August 31: “Mr. President, leave our DACA children alone.”

Standing behind a podium at a welcoming ceremony on August 23, Araceli Velasquez, a young mother of three U.S.-born children, holds back tears as she surveys a crowd gathered on her behalf in a large worship hall. The building, and many of the faces, are still unfamiliar to her, but they won’t remain so for long.

Victor Mitchell, a successful entrepreneur and onetime state legislator, is seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Colorado in 2018. In the following in-depth interview, Mitchell details his unexpected personal story, his rise to business success and proposals that he sees as differentiating him from other candidates.

With the support of Mayor Hancock and a majority of Denver City Council already secured, the bill, called the  “Public Safety Enforcement Priorities Act,” went to a vote before Denver City Council on Monday night, August 28.

Erica Chenoweth can tell you that the average nonviolent protest movement achieves its goal in just three years, three to four times shorter than violent campaigns. The University of Denver professor is also quick to cite her finding that nonviolent campaigns have double the rate of success of their bloody counterparts.

“Why do we do this?” asked Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute and host of the annual Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Party, at the August 26 event. “Only one reason. To piss off people on the left.”

Organizers of Denver Go Topless Day 2017, which took place August 26 in downtown Denver, call the event a rousing success. The number of participants was estimated at more than 1,000, and no reports of negative interactions from folks on the 16th Street Mall and Civic Center Park have surfaced at this writing. Moreover, the Denver event is making its mark internationally, as it was highlighted by GoTopless.org alongside similar gatherings that took place across the globe.