Overview:
Raquel Lane-Arellano from the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition joined us on the podcast to talk about their efforts.
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids continue to unfold across the state, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) has been working tirelessly to advocate for immigrant communities.
Raquel Lane-Arellano, communications manager and Colorado rapid response volunteer, has been on the frontlines of these efforts. For the February episode of the “Bucket List Community News Podcast,” we spoke with Lane-Arellano to understand the ongoing impact the new administration’s policies have had on Denver’s immigrant communities since its inauguration.
“What we do is try to pass local, state and federal policies to make it so that all our families can be together,” Lane-Arellano said. “Wanting to make sure that everybody who calls Colorado home can get a good job, can stay with their families—don’t have to be afraid when they go out into the world, because they are being pursued by a broken immigration system that hasn’t been fair to families for a long time.”
CIRC collaborates with 80 organizations, like the American Immigration Lawyers Association and American Civil Liberties Union, to pass laws that benefit immigrant communities and foster an inclusive and equitable society. Following the recent ICE raids in Denver and Aurora, the coalition reevaluated its priorities, focusing on the question, “How do we keep our communities whole right now?”
To push back against these efforts, CIRC began offering its “Know Your Rights” training program across the state. They are also expanding their Colorado Rapid Response Network, which provides communities with critical updates on ICE sightings, immigration raids and other urgent matters.
“The way that the rapid response line works is, if somebody thinks they see ICE, they call the line and they tell us the details,” Lane-Arellano said. “The dispatcher takes the call and sends volunteers to that area. We’re training people to go and confirm if it’s ICE. They’re not there to interfere, but they are there to ask questions, document, and understand if ICE is present—if so, what kind of information can they tell us? Do they have a warrant signed by a judge? Are they coming for one person? Some of that we won’t get from asking them; we’ll get that from observing.”
The expansion of ICE activities in the state has instilled fear and anxiety in the immigrant community. People are living in fear and avoiding outings. Local businesses are seeing a drop in business and parents are keeping their children home from school. Denver Public Schools reported that attendance in certain schools dropped 66% on Feb. 5, the day of the ICE raids in the Denver metro area.
“There was a principal who called us because she and multiple teachers had seen what they thought was an ICE staging outside of the school,” Lane-Arellano said. “When I came up to the school, I saw parents with their kids still in the car—people afraid to walk from their car into the school. It was just the police; they actually had a search warrant for a home. [It] illustrates the level of fear for the community.”
“I think that’s the level of anxiety people have—teachers want to protect their students, pastors want to protect their congregations,” Lane-Arellano continued.
“People are now more afraid to go places. You should be able to go to a hospital without being afraid that you’re not going to see your family again, and be able to go to school without being afraid that your kid isn’t going to come back to you after.”
United with other advocates, CIRC is rallying Coloradans to stand in solidarity against deportation. It has organized weekly meetings with over 1,000 attendees and coordinated protests throughout the state to raise their voices.
“It feels really comforting and inspiring,” Lane-Arellano said. “What I’m most inspired by is the youth—particularly the students who are children of immigrants or who have parents who don’t have status at this moment. Seeing the next generation saying, ‘We’ve had enough. This is not okay. How dare you try to do this to our community?’ That’s been giving me hope and energy.”
On Feb. 12, the network confirmed the sighting of ICE detaining three individuals outside the Denver Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse. The agents, claiming to be members of a task force, refused to present warrants for their detainees and violated a state law that prohibits arrests outside of courthouses. Lane-Arellano believes knowing your rights and having legal representation is critical at this time.
“It’s hard because we tell people what their rights are, but ICE is likely not going to respect their rights,” Lane-Arellano said. “Some of the things for people to know is when ICE comes to your door, you need to ask for a warrant … through the window, slide it under the door and try to identify that it’s actually signed by a judge and it’s not a Department of Homeland Security warrant, because a Department of Homeland Security warrant is a civil warrant. It does not give them access to your home unless you invite them in. If you have an attorney, say, ‘I would like to call my attorney; they’re going to be here soon,’ that’s the strongest thing that you could say.”
During this critical period, allies can assist immigrant communities by monitoring and reporting any ICE activity by calling the hotline at 1-844-864-8341 to report incidents, including the location, time and agent description. If possible, collect photos and videos to help verify activity.
“We are not advocating for anyone to actively interfere,” Arellano said.”But we do think it’s important to inform people of their rights. You can yell out, ‘Don’t open the door unless they have a warrant.’ Sometimes, just creating the pressure on them will cause them to leave—that can help end active ICE activity in the moment. For those folks to become part of the hotline and to know that they can also help be purveyors of that information in those moments is extremely helpful.”