Denver-based immigration lawyer Hans Meyer sees Durango as one community of many nationally that has found itself responding to a “fight it didn’t ask for” in relation to immigration rights and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
“We’re seeing this sort of whole scale, just bulldozing (of) people’s rights, whether it’s in the car, or in the home, or in the workplace,” he said during the immigration rights training he led at the Durango Public Library on Tuesday evening. “We’re not dealing with law enforcement – we’re dealing with the JV squad that’s trying to cheat, and lie, and cajole their way into every nook and cranny of our lives.”
Dozens of community members, local business owners and employees, along with members of local and statewide immigrant rights groups, gathered for the event.
Meyer covered key constitutional rights in relation to ICE activity, such as the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and 14th amendments; employer and employee best practices when responding to ICE activity in businesses; key components of private versus public spaces; and the legal borders of administrative versus judicial warrants.
The event occurred during an especially contentious time for the Four Corners surrounding ICE activity and discussions of immigrant rights.
Earlier this month, immigration officers smashed the front windows of a man’s car during an arrest in a Safeway parking lot in Aztec.
In June, two people were reportedly detained near Bayfield by ICE during a traffic stop, according to Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center.
Further reports of stakeouts outside mobile home parks and a Durango workplace raid have only added to a sense of anger, distrust and fear toward ICE agents throughout the immigrant community.
The well-occupied room included people of all ages and backgrounds. Much of the talk and training shifted into open conversations between attendees and Meyer about their fears, uncertainties and worries surrounding recent ICE activity, both nationwide and throughout the Four Corners.
“How do we protect our kids and neighbors, and help keep them in schools?” one attendee asked Meyer.
“How do we get our local law enforcement, City Council and those in positions of power in on the cause?” wondered another.
“How do we leverage our own privilege?” inquired a third.
“And how do we protect ourselves?” a fourth wanted to know.
Meyer provided responses to the questions he could, and turned the microphone over to the immigrant rights advocates who helped organize the event in response to those he did not have answers for.
Event organizers sourced Meyers for the training. He told The Durango Herald he was happy to respond to a community he feels has led the way in Colorado in standing up for civil and constitutional rights.
“There’s fantastic organizing going on in this community – this community is super engaged,” he said. “People care about their neighbors and their friends, and they’re willing to turn that into action, and pass the policies that will protect people, including immigrants.”
Beatriz Garcia, Western Slope organizer for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, also spoke to the crowd, asking the community for support in responding to what the group feels are violations of civil and human rights by ICE.
“The idea here is that we plant some seeds,” she told the room. “Whether you do your part (by) volunteering, donating, talking to people, voting for people who actually represent and support immigrant rights, to actually speak(ing) and testify(ing) in public spaces where politicians are (listening) – all the actions that you do will matter. Like right now, it’s the fact that you’re here.”
Garcia encouraged the crowd to reach out to local representatives and city leaders with their concerns and frustrations, describing herself as “one little piece of sand,” and support from the community being what could create “a beach” of action.
“We’re talking about everyone’s constitutional rights, everyone’s civil rights,” she said. “We’re talking about racial justice, about equity in our community, and all that has been targeted in this town. We’re not going to wait until (the) federal government (does) something for us.”
Pushback against recent ICE activity in the region is not only coming from the immigrant community.
“I’m here because I care about using my privilege,” said community member Grace Morledge of why she attended the training on Tuesday.
For Meyer, a decision must be made by the community in response to the “assault thrust upon it by the federal government.”
“ICE is terrorizing people in this local community, (and) Durango and people who live here have to answer the question, ‘What do we do?’” Meyer told the Herald. “’Do we do nothing, or do we stand up and fight to defend the people of this community against what we know to be large scale unconstitutional immigration enforcement operations that violate people’s constitutional rights?’”
epond@durangoherald.com
