that would restrict local and state government entities from getting into agreements with ICE to detain immigrants suspected of civil immigration violations.
The researchers’ analysis pinpointed seven themes that emerged across people’s experiences with federal immigration enforcement.Detainees were coerced to voluntarily leave the countryTreatment within the immigration system was neglectfulBefore embarking on the project, Kiehne said she knew that immigration detention separated families. But she said she learned during her research that ICE makes it a point to be cruel and inhumane during arrests and in detention.
“This would go along with the theme that we call ‘racism fuels human rights abuses,’ where participants also articulated themselves that they feel that the reason why they’re allowed to be treated like this is because they’re people of color, because they’re brown,” Kiehne said. “Their very humanity is in question.”Fabbricatore, who oversaw ICE operations in Colorado and Wyoming before retiring in July, started working in Denver in 1999.
When he worked as director in Denver, Fabbricatore said about 80% of the people held in the Aurora detention center were convicted of crimes, but that percent likely has fluctuated with more asylum cases coming up from the border. “GEO has a long-standing track record of providing high-quality services to those entrusted to our care and has safely and humanely managed the Aurora ICE Processing Center for more than three decades,” the private prison company said in its statement. “Unfortunately, these efforts by the Colorado legislature are part of a long-standing, politically motived and radical campaign to attack ICE’s contractors, abolish ICE and end federal immigration detention by proxy.
Six or seven months after his return, Hilda said her husband received a formal notice of deportation, and out of fear, they cut off his ankle monitor. In 2020, Hilda’s husband was deported again. He’s now working in Mexico under a pseudonym and is effectively undocumented in his own country, she said, because of his fears of the cartels.Lorena Barreras, another Coloradan living in the country without authorization, frequently thinks about those conditions after her son’s time at the Aurora detention facility.