With President Donald Trump inaugurated on Monday, metro Denver immigrant communities and residents are now wondering how soon his policies — including proposed mass deportations — could be carried out locally.
So far, reports in recent days of potential raids targeting Denver’s immigrant communities by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are unconfirmed.
But The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, included Denver on a list of major U.S. cities where the government planned to launch raids soon — potentially beginning in Chicago as early as Tuesday, though plans were in flux over the weekend. The other places where immigrants without legal status could be targeted later were Miami, Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and San Antonio. The New York Times and the Associated Press later confirmed that Chicago was likely to be the starting point.
Here’s what we know.
Why is Denver being talked about?
The Denver area is on the radar in part because Venezuelan gang activity limited to a few derelict apartment buildings in Aurora attracted national attention during the fall presidential campaign, leading to Trump campaigning during a local stop on the promise of launching “Operation Aurora.”
Over the last two years, Denver has hosted more than 40,000 migrants who traveled from the southern U.S. border to Colorado. But since early last year, the flow of migrants has slowed significantly.
What has Trump said of his plans?
As of early Monday evening, it was not yet clear when — or if — these raids will come to fruition or which immigrants would be targeted. At times, Trump has talked about concentrating first on people without legal status who have been arrested for or convicted of crimes, while at others he’s broadened his focus to encompass other migrant populations.
Trump was sworn into office for his second, nonconsecutive term on Monday. In his inaugural speech, he announced several of his immigration priorities, including the declaration of a national emergency along the southern border where he’ll also send troops.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump said.
He plans to reinstate his “Remain in Mexico” policy — a 2019 directive that forced specific asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases were considered. He also says he will designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Trump aims to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to use federal and state law enforcement to snuff out foreign gangs and criminal networks in the U.S.
What is known locally?
What will happen next in Colorado is up in the air, particularly because the state’s sanctuary laws complicate coordination between local law enforcement and ICE.
ICE was unavailable on Monday to respond to questions about whether Denver is a city where immigration raids are expected to begin, what initial actions it plans to take under the Trump administration and when ICE enforcement is anticipated to start related to these new policies.
When asked before the inauguration what might change after Trump took office, Kelei Walker, the acting field director for ICE in Denver, said: “Anything that we would say now would be speculation. Our focus will continue to be on national security, public safety and border security. We have a resource we want to be judicial about, so our officers will continue to do that and focus on making the communities in Colorado and Wyoming safer.”
What have Colorado leaders said?
Local leaders have taken different approaches to Trump’s immigration proposals.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, has spoken out against them, saying that he and other Denverites would resist a federal attempt to deport immigrants here. Meanwhile, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, has signaled his general support for Trump’s plans, including the deportation of immigrants who violate certain laws.
“The city of Aurora is not and has never been a ‘sanctuary city,’ but we will do all that we legally can, under state and federal law, to assist the incoming administration with immigration enforcement,” he wrote in a statement last month.
Gov. Jared Polis’ stance falls somewhere in between.
In his recent State of the State address, the Democrat expressed hope that Trump would work with lawmakers to “secure the border, stop human trafficking, and stop the illegal flow of guns and drugs.” Polis also said he’d welcome federal aid to detain and deport “dangerous criminals.”
His support stopped short thereafter.
“But Colorado will not support efforts to deport American citizens, target those on pending legal status, or break up families,” Polis said, “creating orphans of American children whose parents are alive and who came to this country to build a better life for their families.”
Staff writer Shelly Bradbury contributed to this story.
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