ICE is still making unlawful arrests in Colorado
Federal judge orders more training for federal agents
ICE is still making unlawful arrests in Colorado, a federal judge ruled in an order requiring the agency to give agents additional legal training.
The judge ruled this week that ICE agents in Colorado aren’t complying with an order he issued last year telling them to stop making arrests without a warrant if they couldn’t prove the person was a flight risk according to the judge’s interpretation of federal law.
The order also required ICE to document its arrests so the court could monitor the agency’s compliance, but the judge said ICE hasn’t been doing that either – probably because most of the 200 ICE agents in the Denver field office haven’t received any training on the order and don’t know how to comply with it.
This issue of inadequate training for ICE officers has gained prominence over the past year because ICE has been on a hiring spree, more than doubling in size as it ramps up immigration enforcement in Colorado and across the country.
Some of the Colorado officers who didn’t understand the judge’s order had been on the job for years, raising questions about the adequacy of ICE’s training. During the recent hiring surge, training schedules for new ICE recruits were shortened from 72 to 42 days and whistleblowers claimed that standards were loosened to get more agents into the field making arrests.
Officials have insisted the training remained rigorous, but ICE recently said it would return to the longer, 72-day training schedule.
Need to Know
📚 Voters will have to decide this fall whether to allow the state to spend more tax money on education rather than returning it to taxpayers. Lawmakers passed a measure to include the question on the November ballot. It could provide hundreds of millions of dollars in additional education funding over the next ten years, though taxpayers might have to give up thousands of dollars in returns. (CPR, Denver Gazette, read the bill)
🧑🧑🧒 A state tax credit aimed at reducing child poverty will stop this year after Gov. Jared Polis threatened to veto a bill that would have funded the credit by raising taxes on corporations. Funding for the credit was disrupted by changes to the federal tax code that affected Colorado taxes. Lawmakers said Polis refused to sign the bill unless it included income tax cuts. (Denver Post, Colorado Sun, Colorado Newsline)
🧑⚖️ Law firms would be be barred from making financial deals with businesses not owned by attorneys under a bill that passed the legislature this week. The idea is to ensure that lawyer’s ethical duties to their clients don’t conflict with outside business pressures.(Sum & Substance, read the bill)
Feedback, tips or questions? Reply to this email or send a WhatsApp, Signal or text message to 720-355-1474.
Something Good
🤳 I probably wouldn’t describe social media as “something good” in a general sense, but if you’ve been enjoying this newsletter, you’ll probably like The Blanket’s social media accounts. We post most days on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and X. Help spread the word by following us, and liking and sharing our content!