Author: Blair Miller
Another Denver undocumented mother in sanctuary at area church; sanctuary network aims to expand
DENVER – Jeanette Vizguerra made national headlines Wednesday when she sought sanctuary at a Denver church after finding out she’d be deported. But another Denver woman in a similar situation has been in sanctuary at a different area church since last fall.
Ingrid Encalada LaTorre, 33, has been living at the Mountain View Quaker meeting house in Denver since the end of November.
She sought sanctuary at the church after learning she could be deported last fall. The mother of two, from Peru, used false papers to work at an area nursing home.
LaTorre requested a deportation stay Nov. 24 with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but still hasn’t received one.
“I am doing this to not only stop my own deportation, but also to raise awareness that there are thousands of others like me – people whose only offense was to work and pay into the social safety net, and whose only desire is to live safely with our families,” LaTorre told Denver7 last year.
Like Vizguerra, LaTorre has children who were born in the U.S. and are American citizens.
And Mountain View is one of nine churches statewide currently participating in a sanctuary network, though officials hope to eventually increase that number to about 60.
“We’re mostly feeling to respond to the human situations of families being broken up, parents with citizen children, and are in general a recognition of the very positive role that immigration plays in our nation’s history,” said Eric Wright, an activist working to expand the sanctuary network.
The Washington Post reports that the nationwide sanctuary network has expanded to about 800 participating churches and community centers over the past year.
Since President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to deport some of the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. illegally last month, ICE agents have arrested hundreds of people nationwide — some of whom have committed minor offenses, like Vizguerra and LaTorre, but others without criminal records.
LaTorre says she is staying in sanctuary for her family’s sake.
“We cannot stand idly by and let our government threaten the integrity of families,” a spokesman for Mountain View, David Poundstone, told Denver7. “We feel called upon to engage in civil initiative to invoke the tradition of sanctuary to protect those under threat of harm.”
Vizguerra’s attorney, Hans Meyer, and staffers from Rep. Diana DeGette’s office visited with her at First Unitarian Thursday.
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Bill extending concealed-carry rights to all Colorado gun owners passes committee vote
DENVER – A bill that would extend concealed-carry rights to gun owners in Colorado without a permit cleared its first hurdle in a Senate committee Wednesday.
Senate Bill 116 passed the Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee by a 3-2 partisan vote, with the committee’s three Republicans voting to pass the bill to the Senate Finance Committee.
Though Colorado law prohibits gun registration in the state, local sheriff’s offices are currently in charge of issuing concealed weapons permits. A concealed-carry permit is not necessary when a person is in a private car.
In Denver, the sheriff’s department requires people to complete an information packet and several other forms, and must show deputies a handgun training certificate showing they are trained in proper gun usage.
People must also have a valid Colorado ID and must pay a $152 fee for the permit in Denver, which has to be approved by the sheriff’s department.
Under the proposed law, anyone aged 21 and over with a legal gun would be able to conceal their gun in public without having taken a training class or obtained a permit.
However, the same rules that concealed-carry permit holders have to operate under would apply to everyone under the law, meaning unless they are permitted to do so, people would not be able to carry the concealed weapon on K-12 campuses.
The bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee.
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Undocumented Colorado mother of 3 U.S. citizens on deportation fight: ‘It will not end today’
DENVER — The fight of one undocumented mother living in Colorado escalated Wednesday after she fled to a Denver church to avoid immigration officials who are now seeking to deport her.
“It will not end today,” Jeanette Vizguerra proudly said to the applause of her supporters. She spoke in her native tongue of Spanish to explain why she is fighting to remain in the U.S., despite efforts to deport her. Continue reading
Adams County inmate accused of beating cellmate to death
ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. – An inmate at the Adams County Detention Facility faces first-degree murder charges for allegedly beating his cellmate to death last week.
Deputies found Kyle Yoemans, 26, unconscious on the floor of his maximum-security cell around 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 8 with blood pooling around his head.
Che Jason Bachicha, his 28-year-old cellmate, was allegedly sitting on the floor of their cell with blood on his hands. Yoemans was revived and taken to an area hospital, but was pronounced dead.
Bachicha is scheduled for his preliminary hearing on the first-degree murder charge on April 14.
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Man killed in avalanche in northern Garfield County
GARFIELD COUNTY, Colo. – A man was killed in an avalanche in northern Garfield County Tuesday afternoon south of Sheriff’s Reservoir.
Rio Blanco County dispatchers were first notified of the avalanche just after noon Tuesday, the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office said.
Routt County search and rescue teams and air medical teams were deployed, and Garfield County was notified when teams discovered the avalanche had actually happened in that county.
Search and rescue crews found a man dead and nearby found another person, who the sheriff’s office says was uninjured.
The sheriff’s office says Classic Air Medical helped the rescue teams off the mountain just after 5:30 p.m. and that the man’s body would be recovered Wednesday morning.
Steamboat Today reports the victim was from Routt County, but did not name him. He was riding a dirt bike converted for snow with Sean Searle, a Franktown man, when the avalanche happened.
The paper reports that Searle had dug his friend out and performed CPR, but his friend succumbed to his injuries.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center says this is the ninth avalanche death in the U.S. so far this season, but the first in Colorado.
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Colorado Attorney General sues Boulder County over oil and gas moratorium
BOULDER, Colo. – The Colorado Attorney General’s Office sued Boulder County and its board of commissioners Tuesday after weeks of threatening to do so if the county did not repeal a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in unincorporated parts of the county.
Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and the state of Colorado are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which Coffman had threatened since last month if the county didn’t repeal its moratorium by Feb. 10.
Boulder County put the moratorium in place in 2012 and has extended it eight times, most recently in December, when county commissioners voted to extend it to May 1.
But the suit filed Tuesday points to a 2015 Colorado Supreme Court case that went against Fort Collins’ moratorium on fracking and a Longmont moratorium, and said that local governments cannot regulate the oil and gas industry.
The 2015 case’s ruling said that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Act gives the state sole power to regulate oil and gas development and operations within the state.
In both rulings, the court said that even temporary moratoriums, which Boulder has argued its is, “deleteriously affects what is intended to be a state-wide program of regulation.”
In Tuesday’s filing, Coffman and the state ask for the court to declare that Boulder County’s moratorium is pre-empted by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Act, and also for it to put in place a permanent injunction that would keep the county and board from enforcing the moratorium. Coffman and the state also ask for court costs and other relief justifiable by the court.
Boulder County and state officials responded swiftly Tuesday afternoon.
“The Colorado Attorney General sent a special valentine to the oil and gas industry today against Boulder County for our working to safeguard our community from the industrial impacts of oil and gas development,” a news release from the county said.
But it maintains, as it did when Coffman first threatened to sue, that its moratorium is “of a materially shorter duration and is consistent with Colorado law.”
The county said its board of commissioners will meet as planned on March 14 and March 23 to review the county’s new oil and gas regulations for unincorporated parts of the county.
“It’s our right and our responsibility to protect our residents and to protect our world-class environment from the impact of oil and gas development, which is very industrial…” said Commissioner Elise Jones.
Five Democrats who represent areas of Boulder County in the state House lambasted Coffman’s suit, saying she was suing on the behalf of a private industry.
“The Attorney General has decided to wield the power of her office for the benefit of private companies at the expense of local communities,” said Majority Leader KC Becker, D-Boulder.
But Colorado Oil and Gas Association President and CEO Dan Haley told Denver7 that Boulder’s five-year old moratorium is illegal.
“We support the Attorney General’s decision,” he said. “For us, it’s very clear. It’s about the law. It’s not about fracking, It’s not about drilling. It’s not about pipelines. It’s about whether, or not, we have a rule of law in Colorado.”
Rep. Jared Polis, the Democrat who represents the 2nd Congressional District and is the Vice Chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, slammed Coffman’s lawsuit Tuesday.
“We should all be outraged that the Colorado attorney general has chosen to use public tax dollars to bully Boulder County on behalf of the oil and gas industry,” Polis said in a statement. “The oil and gas industry is more than equipped to bring their own lawsuits, and I suspect they have opted not to sue Boulder County because they know Colorado law allows for a short term fracking moratorium. What the attorney general has done today is a purely political waste of money, and it is not legally sound.”
State Sen. Matt Jones, D-Louisville, also criticized Coffman’s perceived ties with the oil and gas industry in a statement.
“This is disgraceful. After seeing the Attorney General’s and Oil and Gas industry’s press releases about the lawsuit sent out almost at the same time, I think it’s safe to assume the Attorney General is using the powers of her office and using tax dollars to intimidate and sue taxpayers at the behest of special interest industries,” he said. “The question I have for the Attorney General is this: how many oil and gas corporations did she consult with before sending out her threat letter to Boulder County on January 26?”
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Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner talks Flynn resignation, new administration, ‘paid’ protests in interview
DENVER – Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner has been among the most-scrutinized politicians in Washington in recent months.
Gardner is a Republican in a state won by Hillary Clinton, but which has strong Republican and independent factions as well. But he has drawn the ire of many Coloradans after voting in favor of President Donald Trump’s nominees and measures every chance he’s had so far, and caused a stir with a comment about protesters at his offices in Colorado being paid.
Gardner on Tuesday sat for an interview with Denver7 to explain his voting record with the new administration, his thoughts on the protests and the fallout from National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation Monday night.
Watch the full interview in the player embedded below.
GARDNER ON FLYNN’S RESIGNATION
Gardner had not previously commented publicly on swirling allegations that Flynn had discussed sanctions on Russia with its ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak.
But on Tuesday, in the wake of Flynn’s Monday resignation, Gardner said it was right for Flynn to step aside.
“The right thing happened with General Flynn stepping down. That’s the right decision he made and right for the country,” Gardner said. “But I also think it’s important to recognize that the intelligence committee, which is already carrying out an investigation into Russian hacking and other activities with Russia, is going to be looking into the matter of General Flynn.”
He said that he would wait for the FBI to determine the route of any possible further investigations into Flynn. That came as several other high-ranking Republican Senate members called for an investigation into ties between Trump and Russia and called for Flynn to testify.
“Every administration has the ability, the right, to choose their personnel – particularly their national security adviser,” Gardner told Denver7. “I disagreed with the [national security adviser] from time to time under the last administration. But I think what we have to do is find out the facts here, learn from the FBI what exactly happened, and make our decisions going forward.”
GARDNER ON HIS CONFIRMATION VOTES
Gardner maintains that Democrats on the Hill are causing much of the political divide by objecting to and delaying some of the new administration’s confirmations.
“This is unprecedented levels of political obstruction in the Senate,” Gardner told Denver7. “So far, all that we’ve been allowed to do, thanks to unprecedented levels of obstruction, is try to do the basic job of filling out a cabinet for this president.”
And though several Senate committees delayed committee votes on some of the cabinet picks and Democrats used Senate rules to hold the floor for nearly 24 hours in an effort to vote down Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, the GOP line that there is “unprecedented obstruction,” which has also been used by many other Senate Republicans, does not completely hold water.
After Republicans won back the House and Senate, they in 2013 boycotted a committee vote on prospective EPA administrator Gina McCarthy and famously failed to meet with President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.
But all of President Trump’s nominees have so far been confirmed, and that is likely to continue since Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Gardner says he has a positive outlook on the administration’s future.
“Regardless of what party people are, regardless of whether they voted for President Trump or voted for Hillary Clinton, we would always do our best to make sure our days ahead of us are better than the ones we just went through,” he said.
GARDNER ON OPPOSITION
Thousands of people displeased with Gardner’s votes and alignment with President Trump have flooded his phone lines and email inboxes voicing their lack of satisfaction. They have also taken to his offices in Colorado to protest.
“I want to hear from you. I continue to encourage my constituents to reach out to me to share their opinions – whether through meetings, phone calls, email, or social media,” Gardner said in a statement to Denver7 Monday.
On Tuesday, he addressed the insinuation he made last month that some people protesting him and calling his office were paid protesters. He clarified that he believes there are organizations that are working to connect politically-active people across the country with various lawmakers in Washington, citing a conversation his wife had with one organization.
“We have a number of Coloradans – a large percentage, if not a huge percentage of the people calling our office who are Coloradans. [They are] people who are concerned about nominations, people who are concerned about the price of their health care,” Gardner said.
“But we do have people from out of state calling the office. In fact, just the other day, my wife was contacted by an organized survey effort. She answered the survey and was immediately connected to my very own office.”
“She was not paid to do that, but somebody was paid to make that connection happen not knowing that was my wife,” Gardner said.
He says he and his staff appreciate the input from his constituents, and points to his and other Republicans’ urging of Trump to impose a strict policy toward Russia and increase cybersecurity.
“I’ve always said we need more Colorado in Washington and less Washington in Colorado. When somebody reaches out to the office, I take every one of those concerns seriously,” Gardner said. “Somebody may want you to vote ‘yes;’ somebody may want you to vote ‘no;’ and obviously if you vote ‘yes’ when somebody wants you to vote ‘no,’ that means someone feels like their voice wasn’t heard. But the bottom line is every single one of their voices matter.”
Gardner will next be up for re-election in 2020.
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Despite circulating petitions, US Constitution does not allow for recall of members of Congress
DENVER – No, you cannot recall a U.S. Congressman.
Despite the handfuls of petitions circulating online for the recall of Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner over the past several weeks, the Constitution does not allow for the recall of any senator or representative.
Some Coloradans have been angry with Gardner over his support of some of the cabinet picks in the new Donald Trump administration, as well as his insinuation that some protesting his offices in recent weeks were paid to do so. Sixteen people were cited for their actions while protesting outside of his office in late January.
A handful of petitions on change.org and an editorial in the Boulder Daily Camera all called for constituents to recall the senator, and his office voicemails and email inboxes were flooded by tens of thousands of calls and letters.
But the U.S. Constitution allows for the removal of a senator or representative only by a two-thirds vote from either house, and usually only in the case of treason or a criminal conviction relating to that Congressperson’s official duties.
There was a provision considered while the Founding Fathers were writing the constitution in 1787 that would have allowed for the recall of members of Congress, but it was not included in the final version.
Some may have been confused, thinking that a Colorado law that allows for a petition to be agreed upon by a certain number of voters to recall a state senator or representative also applied to those elected to U.S. Congress.
But that petition process, which requires verified signatures from 25 percent of voters in the previous election, applies only to state officials.
Gardner will next be up for re-election in 2020; Colorado’s other senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, will be up for re-election in 2022, but has said he will likely retire. You can still reach them the old-fashioned way to voice your pleasure or lack thereof with their actions by writing them or calling their offices. The same goes for Colorado’s representatives in the House.
In the meantime, Gardner issued a statement to Denver7 Monday evening saying he welcomes continued efforts by constituents to reach him and his office:
“Like most Congressional offices, my office continues to receive a very high volume of phone calls and emails. Just this afternoon, the Senate Sergeant at Arms notified all senate offices that the Senate’s voicemail system was down for a significant period of time. This is unacceptable, and I know how frustrating it is. That is why I am working to find new and innovative ways for Coloradans to contact me directly. I want to hear from you. I continue to encourage my constituents to reach out to me to share their opinions – whether through meetings, phone calls, email, or social media.”
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Colorado Congressmen call for Flynn’s resignation if he misled administration over Russia call
UPDATE (9:15 p.m.): Gen. Michael Flynn resigned as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Monday night, saying he “inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador.”
The full text of his resignation letter is embedded below, via TIME’s Zeke Miller: Continue reading
Former top White House official under Reagan has harsh words for Trump, administration
DENVER – Linda Chavez, who was the highest-ranking woman in the Reagan White House as Director of Public Liaison, has harsh words for the Trump administration and the executive order on immigration still in limbo in federal court.
In a Friday interview with Denver7 for Politics Unplugged, Chavez slammed the haste in which the administration put together the order that has left visa holders from certain countries in limbo despite them being legally in the country.
“President Trump is shooting from the hip,” Chavez said in an interview with Anne Trujillo for Politics Unplugged. “When he drafted the order, it didn’t go through the normal process.”
Chavez lives in Boulder and is a Fellow in Immigration Policy and the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University.
“What he’s done is basically changed the rules in the middle of the game. That’s not the American way,” Chavez said Friday. “We don’t pass a law with certain conditions and then decide, ‘Oh, we’re going to rewrite that, and if you happen to be out of the country, even if you have a valid visa and are a permanent resident, we’re not going to let you back in.”
She also authored a story published in Townhall Friday in which she said she had never “felt as alienated from politics” as she does now, going into detail on her issues with the manner in which the Trump administration has handled its first few weeks in the white house.
“We live in a constitutional system,” she said. “You’re not free to throw out the rules and you’re certainly not free to ignore due process.”
Chavez talked at length Friday about the immigration order and several other aspects of the new administration and its differences from when she worked in the White House. The full interview between Chavez and Trujillo will air at 4 p.m. on Denver7’s Politics Unplugged.
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