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Tag: Civil Rights

Bill Opening Door To Lawsuits Against Immigration Officials Clears Colorado Senate
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

Bill Opening Door To Lawsuits Against Immigration Officials Clears Colorado Senate

By Jacob Factor | KDVR DENVER (KDVR) — A Colorado bill that would open the door for lawsuits against immigration officials who injure people in the state passed the Colorado Senate Tuesday morning, moving one step closer to becoming law. Senate Bill 26-005, “Rights Violation in Immigration Enforcement Remedy,” states that it is meant to protect Coloradans constitutional rights during civil immigration enforcement. The bill comes amid heavily scrutinized federal immigration operations throughout the U.S., including a recently ended crackdown in Minnesota in which immigration officials killed two American citizens and injured more. SB26-005 creates a cause of action for people injured during civil immigration enforcement actions “by another person who, whether ...
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Parents allege school mistreatment of autistic child as Cherry Creek faces federal civil rights investigation
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Parents allege school mistreatment of autistic child as Cherry Creek faces federal civil rights investigation

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice In response to concerns raised by a family in Colorado about the treatment of their young son in kindergarten, the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into whether the Cherry Creek School District was in compliance with federal civil rights and special education law, a problem that is not new to the district.  The concern was raised after months of unanswered questions, the parents said. Special Education Changes the Parents Say Were Never Explained Ana and Brandon Lantz’s son started kindergarten in 2023. As time went on in the school year, records indicate that their son received special instruction outside of the general classroom. At first, it was ...
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Colorado Democrats Advance Immigration Accountability Bills After National Protests
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Advance Immigration Accountability Bills After National Protests

By: Colette Bordelon | Denver7 While a handful of bills have not been introduced yet, SB26-005 advanced out of its first committee hearing on Monday afternoon. DENVER — On the heels of protests that erupted across the nation related to federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota, Colorado Democrats announced legislation they contend will protect civil rights. On Monday, Democratic lawmakers from both the State Senate and House of Representatives rallied alongside community members and stakeholders to unveil a new package of bills that are intertwined with immigration in America. The new bills have not been introduced yet, but legislators said they will increase "accountability" and "transparency" through the enforcement of violations when personal i...
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ICE Investigating Use of Death Symbol Cards Left in Vehicles After Colorado Detentions
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

ICE Investigating Use of Death Symbol Cards Left in Vehicles After Colorado Detentions

By Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released a statement condemning the actions of those leaving ace of spades cards, or "death cards," in the vehicles of people detained in a county in Colorado's mountains. Immigration advocacy group Voces Unidas first reported the practice on Thursday, stating that the cards were left inside abandoned vehicles in Eagle County after the detainment of nine Latino community members this week. The cards feature an ace of spades with "ICE Denver Field Office" at the top of the card and the address and phone number of the ICE detention facility in Aurora on Oakland Street. They were later found by family members. Voces Unidas The practice of leaving an ace of spades as a calling card reportedly bega...
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Colorado’s systems have failed Tina Peters again and again
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s systems have failed Tina Peters again and again

By RMV Editorial Board On December 8, 2025, three events collided in Colorado that no honest observer can dismiss as coincidence. A federal judge dismissed Tina Peters’ habeas corpus petition, admitting she raised “important constitutional questions” about whether a state court punished her for her speech, then refused to consider those questions because of the Younger doctrine. Hours later, Colorado’s Department of Corrections moved Peters into Isolation Detention Observation: twenty-two hours a day in a concrete cell, lights on around the clock, no yard time and a single explanation—“this is for your safety.”  That same afternoon, the United States Department of Justice opened a civil-rights investigation into Colorado’s prisons and youth facilities, citing po...
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Federal Investigation Targets Colorado’s Prison Policies and Youth Facility Failures
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Approved, State, The Gazette

Federal Investigation Targets Colorado’s Prison Policies and Youth Facility Failures

By: Cleo Westin | The Gazette The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into possible constitutional violations of Colorado prisoners through inadequate treatment and transgender housing policy, according to a release by the agency. The department’s letter of notice to Gov. Jared Polis on Monday identified housing “biological males” in female units in violation of religious freedom, inadequate medical care, excessive force and inadequate nutrition in youth facilities as matters it will investigate. The Department of Justice’s action to investigate aspects of an entire state’s prison system appears to be the first of its kind in 2025. It comes following a 2024 settlement on the treatment of transgender prisoners and several reports of inadequate care at prisons and you...
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Family of Alleged DNC RNC Bomber Pushed DOJ for Racism Probe While Fighting Trump in Court
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Daily Wire, Approved, National

Family of Alleged DNC RNC Bomber Pushed DOJ for Racism Probe While Fighting Trump in Court

By: Luke Rosiak | The Daily Wire The father of Brian Cole, a bail bondsman for illegal immigrants, hired Trayvon Martin’s attorney in 2021. Brian Cole, Jr. worked for a bail bonds company run by his father that worked to free illegal immigrants from ICE facilities and sued the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security. Weeks before 30-year-old Cole Jr. allegedly planted pipe bombs at the headquarters of the Democrat and Republican parties on January 5, 2021, a court ruled against the company in its lawsuit attacking the Trump administration on immigration issues, The Daily Wire has learned. An FBI affidavit in the case notes that the suspect works for a bail bond company and lives with his mother. Later in 2021, the company held a press conf...
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ICE Denies Claims of Mistaken Detention, Calls Allegations ‘Absurd’
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kdvr.com, Approved, Local

ICE Denies Claims of Mistaken Detention, Calls Allegations ‘Absurd’

By: Heather Willard | KDVR FOX31 DENVER (KDVR) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is lashing back at statements made by Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, among others, who said that federal agents had mistakenly arrested a father and his two children and subjected the trio to verbal and physical abuse. The case centers around Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, 45, of Colombia, who was taking his 12- and 15-year-old children to school when they were all detained by ICE on Oct. 27. Immigrant rights groups, ICE disagree on status The Colorado Immigration Rights Coalition said that the family has a fully-documented, pending asylum case and has strong ties to the community, built over the last 18 months. ICE says Jaramillo-Solano came into the country without documentation...
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Judge Weighs Whether Colorado Can Restrict ICE From Warrantless Arrests
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Judge Weighs Whether Colorado Can Restrict ICE From Warrantless Arrests

By: Michael Karlik | Colorado Politics A federal judge heard testimony on Thursday from multiple noncitizens who were arrested by immigration officers in Colorado this year, and arguments from their attorneys that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is violating the legal standard for conducting warrantless arrests. The ACLU of Colorado and other law firms have asked U.S. District Court Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson to issue a preliminary injunction holding ICE to the requirement in federal law that warrantless arrests only occur when officers have probable cause to believe someone is in the country illegally and they are a flight risk. “Masked, militarized ICE agents with flak jackets and long rifles are terrorizing neighborhoods across Colorado, ignoring their du...
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Justices to hear Voting Rights Act case: Does Section 2 demand race-based districts?
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SCOTUSblog, Approved, National

Justices to hear Voting Rights Act case: Does Section 2 demand race-based districts?

By Amy Howe | SCOTUSblog The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday, Oct. 15, in Louisiana v. Callais, a challenge to the congressional map that Louisiana adopted in 2024 that may reshape the Voting Rights Act. It is the second go-round at the court for this dispute in less than a year; the justices heard arguments in the case for the first time in March, but didn’t decide it during their 2024-25 term. Here is a brief explainer on the long and complicated history of this case. How did this dispute start? The dispute began back in 2022, when Louisiana’s Legislature adopted a congressional map with one majority-Black district out of the six seats allotted to the state, although roughly one-third of the state’s population is Black. A group of Black voters ...
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