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Released and reloaded: Montrose bond records show cracks feeding Colorado’s criminal underworld
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Released and reloaded: Montrose bond records show cracks feeding Colorado’s criminal underworld

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice When a Montrose County woman was released on a $0 personal recognizance bond after skipping court in late 2023, it wasn’t her first time facing charges. It wouldn’t be her last either. Within nine months, she was arrested again – this time for second degree assault, harassment and criminal attempt. Her story is not an outlier. It is a warning. “There’s a revolving door with criminals or serious crime,” said Montrose County Sheriff Gene Lillard in a recent interview with RMV. “Last month we picked up one person five times – they were released on PR bond. There’s no consequences.” To illustrate how Colorado laws are contributing to rising crime and lawlessness, Sheriff Lillard prepared and shared a document showing just one small snapshot in ti...
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Activists protest deportations at Aurora ICE facility
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Activists protest deportations at Aurora ICE facility

By Vicente Arenas | Fox31 AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — A group of people marched late Monday to the GEO Group’s contract holding facility in Aurora, contracted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to show their solidarity with ICE protests in Los Angeles.  Several groups called for people to gather for what they called an emergency march and protest. The organizations made their way to the GEO ICE facility, a little less than a mile from the march’s starting point. That’s where they held a vigil for immigrants who have been detained, including activist Jeanette Vizguerra. Several different Colorado organizations say they want to call attention to the immigrants being detained in Los Angeles. Araseli, an Aurora resident, said her husband is detained in th...
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10 most dangerous states to live in revealed: Colorado comes in at #2
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10 most dangerous states to live in revealed: Colorado comes in at #2

By Elliott Davis Jr. | U.S. News & World Report These states rank lowest for public safety based on property and violent crime rates. American Crime Both violent crime and property crime declined in the U.S. in 2023, according to estimates from the FBI, with the rate of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter dropping by about 12% and the burglary rate down by roughly 8% year over year. The rate of vehicle theft, meanwhile, rose by 12%. But the prevalence of crime – along with the perceptions and rhetoric surrounding it – can vary from state to state, shaping residents’ quality of life along with the futures of politicians and other officials charged with ensuring public safety. As part of the 2025 Best States rankings, U.S. News factored ...
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Police Chief Todd Chamberlain’s first 8 months bring sharp drop in Aurora crime
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Police Chief Todd Chamberlain’s first 8 months bring sharp drop in Aurora crime

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The City of Aurora is seeing a significant drop in crime in 2025, a shift that many attribute to the leadership of Police Chief Todd Chamberlain. Since his appointment on September 9, 2024, Chamberlain has implemented a series of reforms aimed at targeting violent crime and increasing public trust. Property crimes have fallen by 25% year-to-date as of May 18, according to an announcement on the Aurora Police Department’s X account.  https://twitter.com/AuroraPD/status/1926716100806352912 The drop includes a 38.5% reduction in motor vehicle theft, 31% in burglary and nearly 16% in larceny. Monthly crime data from the Aurora Transparency Portal shows an average of 871 incidents per month in 2025, down from 1,260 du...
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SB276 would fine deputies $50K for helping ICE—Sheriff Mikesell says enough is enough
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SB276 would fine deputies $50K for helping ICE—Sheriff Mikesell says enough is enough

By Pat Hill | Pikes Peak Courier via Denver Gazette Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell is so concerned about the effects of Colorado Senate Bill #276 he appealed in a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week. The bill, if signed by Gov. Jared Polis, prohibits law enforcement from sharing information with the federal government about illegal immigrants who have committed crimes. At issue is the bill’s interference with Mikesell’s 287(g) agreement with ICE. The only sheriff in Colorado to have signed the agreement, Mikesell was sued over the issue by the ACLU in 2019. After a series of wins, losses and appeals by both parties, in February, Mikesell retained his ability to work with ICE to detain illegal immigrants who commit crimes. However, if the governor do...
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Polis open to signing bill restricting local ICE cooperation as Colorado sanctuary debate heats up
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Polis open to signing bill restricting local ICE cooperation as Colorado sanctuary debate heats up

By Luige Del Puerto | Colorado Politics Gov. Jared Polis said that while he had "major problems" with an earlier proposal that sought to inoculate immigrants from federal policies, the bill now includes "workable language," thereby signaling his intent to sign it. The governor reiterated he is still reviewing the proposal, which underwent several changes before its final passage during the 2025 legislative session. At its core, Senate Bill 276 reemphasized existing state law that precludes local law enforcers from detaining an individual based on an "immigration detainer." An immigration "detainer" is a notice issued to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies informing the latter that agents intend to assume custody of an individual no longer subject to the former's dete...
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18 flagged for deportation after Colorado Springs nightclub raid, 86 remain in ICE custody
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18 flagged for deportation after Colorado Springs nightclub raid, 86 remain in ICE custody

Denver Gazette A spokesperson with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed that 18 people who were taken into custody on April 27 as part of a major raid on an unlicensed Colorado Springs nightclub had previously been ordered to be deported. According to the ICE spokesperson Thursday, 18 of the 104 individuals detained in the raid were “subject to a final order of removal.” The ICE website states: Once an individual receives a final order, ERO facilitates the individual’s safe return to his or her country of origin in accordance with U.S. immigration laws, as well as international commitments and any bilateral agreements which may be in place. The ICE spokesperson declined to say whether the 18 had been deported, or if they had been sent to their country of origi...
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Trump prioritizes Venezuelan gang crackdown, while Colorado and other sanctuary states resist
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Trump prioritizes Venezuelan gang crackdown, while Colorado and other sanctuary states resist

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette As millions of immigrants fleeing the economic and political chaos in Venezuela used social media to navigate the journey north, Tren de Aragua (TdA) operatives embedded in their ranks and exploited these same platforms — particularly WhatsApp — to coordinate extortion, smuggling and violence. Venezuela’s economic and political chaos made the rise of an enterprising criminal organization like TdA almost inevitable, according to Ronna Rísquez, a Venezuelan journalist who's been investigating the gang. “The heads of the Tren de Aragua identified the massive and forced Venezuelan migration as a goldmine of business opportunities,” Rísquez wrote in her book, “El Tren de Aragua: La banda que revolucionó el crimen organizado en América Latina” (The...
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Six Colorado Springs nightclubs under police investigation for years, public just finding out
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Six Colorado Springs nightclubs under police investigation for years, public just finding out

The Denver Gazette Six nightclubs around Colorado Springs have been investigated for potential illegal activity since 2022, according to Colorado Springs police. Police said New Havana Bar and Grill off North Academy Boulevard, an unnamed after-hours club on Palmer Park Boulevard, and La Terraza on South Circle Drive were all shut down through the public nuisance process. Police said Babilonia Bar and Grill on East Platte Avenue, Nova Nightclub on South Nevada Avenue and El Huracán on South Academy Boulevard were evicted by their property owners. A Police Department spokesperson told The Gazette some of these clubs were licensed and some were unlicensed. The spokesperson said each of the locations had multiple calls for service, which started a police investigation an...
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DOJ sues Colorado and Denver over sanctuary policies ‘tying hands of law enforcement’
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DOJ sues Colorado and Denver over sanctuary policies ‘tying hands of law enforcement’

By Heather Willard | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of Colorado and the city of Denver for laws and statutes the federal government says are “sanctuary laws.” The federal government alleges in its lawsuit, filed in Colorado District Court on Friday, that the laws are designed to “interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law.” The lawsuit specifically mentions the troubled Aurora apartment complexes that went viral after a video showing armed men in a stairwell was first reported on by FOX31’s Vicente Arenas. The men in the video were later connected to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that’s been publicized during recent immigration efforts under President Donald Trump. The laws...
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