Standing behind a lectern in the Colorado State Capitol building, State Rep. Naquetta Ricks reflected on the harrowing conflict that forced her to leave West Africa for Aurora. Her family escaped the civil war in Liberia after her mother’s fiance was murdered by a firing squad.
“Behind every undocumented person is a human story: a parent striving to provide for their children, a person trying to flee violence,” Ricks, an Aurora Democrat, said Wednesday. “No person should face intolerance based on their immigration status.”
Behind her, more than two dozen Coloradans — immigrants, advocates and elected officials — gathered on the steps of the west foyer’s staircase in opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, which are expected to include mass deportations.
As the new Republican administration in Washington, D.C., handed down orders, community leaders argued that the effects would include suffering by communities in Colorado. It’s a state with over 570,000 foreign-born residents as of 2021, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
During Trump’s first few days in office, he’s started tackling immigration through a series of executive orders. He declared a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border and designated cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Trump elevated the construction of the southern border wall to a higher priority, along with the detention and removal of people without legal status.
Unconfirmed reports of potential ICE raids in major American cities, including Denver, have circulated before and after Trump’s Monday inauguration. But as of Wednesday afternoon, no large-scale operations had been reported yet in any city.
Trump also proclaimed sweeping limitations on birthright citizenship, which is extended to children born in the U.S. in spite of their parents’ legal status. That move was soon challenged with lawsuits, including cases filed by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and over 20 other states.
For State Rep. Junie Joseph, a Boulder Democrat and Haitian immigrant, Trump’s proposals would come at both economic and social costs, particularly because mass deportations could separate children from their parents.
“The prospect of mass deportation not only threatens the stability of immigrant families,” Joseph said Wednesday, “but also it creates a crisis for children who may lose one or both parents.”
If that happens, an “overwhelming” influx of children would enter Colorado’s child welfare system, which Joseph described as “already under significant strain,” pointing to a state budget shortfall of more than $670 million.
Trump’s policies also could hurt families with mixed legal status, like Cristian Solano-Córdova‘s. Born in Mexico, Solano-Córdova was brought across the southern border at 3 years old by his mother, with his younger sister in tow.
All three are immigrants without legal status, though Solano-Córdova qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) since he arrived in the U.S. as a child. He went on to graduate from Metropolitan State University of Denver, where he served as the student body president.
But as the family members worry about their fate, Solano-Córdova also wonders what will happen to another sibling: the youngest daughter, who is an American citizen since she was born on U.S. soil.
Considering the future, Solano-Córdova said: “She might need great strength to overcome great threats.”
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