Donald Trump

DeGette, House Dems introduce resolution to censure Trump over ‘both sides’ Charlottesville comments

DENVER – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., is co-sponsoring a resolution with three other Democratic members of Congress to censure President Donald Trump for his repeated condemnation of “both sides” at Charlottesville, in which white supremacists held a large rally and one of them allegedly killed a 32-year-old counter-protester.

DeGette is just one of more than 79 co-sponsors of the resolution, which was introduced at a Friday pro forma session in the House of Representatives. Its original sponsors are Reps. Jerrold Nadler of New York, Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey and Pramila Jayapal of Washington—all Democrats. Continue reading

Anthem staying in Colorado health insurance marketplace next year, a boon to market stabilization

DENVER – Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado is definitely staying in the state’s health insurance marketplace in 2018, the state Division of Insurance confirmed Wednesday.

The company had already tentatively committed to offering plans in Colorado next year when it submitted a rate request to the state in June, but Division of Insurance spokesman Vince Plymell told Denver7 Thursday the final commitment “actually came in the last week or so.” Continue reading

VDARE conference planned in Colorado Springs canceled amid uproar over white supremacists

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A conference of white supremacists and their sympathizers scheduled for April 2018 at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort has been canceled, the organization and resort confirmed Wednesday.

The cancelation came a day after Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers denounced white supremacy and said the city wouldn’t “provide any support or resources” to the event. Continue reading

Denver mayor, city council reach compromise with new immigrants’ rights ordinance proposal

DENVER – Denver’s mayor and city council have reached a compromise of sorts on an ordinance aimed at memorializing city policies they say are aimed at protecting immigrants and refugees in the city.

Mayor Michael Hancock and councilors Paul Lopez and Robin Kniech announced at a Wednesday afternoon news conference that they will be introducing the new ordinance directly to the full city council on Aug. 21—bypassing committee. The proposed ordinance is called the Denver Public Safety Enforcement Priorities Act. Watch the full news conference in the player below. Continue reading

White supremacy in the headlines: A look back at the time the KKK ruled Colorado

DENVER – As white supremacist organizations and the Ku Klux Klan are again in the news across the U.S. due to their emboldened resurgence over the past couple of years, we are taking a look back at the history of the Klan in Colorado—one of several western states that saw among the largest population of members in the early 1920s.

According to a 1965 article by James H. Davis published in Colorado Magazine called “Colorado Under the Klan,” John Galen Locke became the first Grand Dragon of the Klan in Colorado after it was founded in 1922. Other historians have written that Klansmen started organizing in Colorado in 1920. Continue reading

Colorado Springs mayor won’t commit city assistance to upcoming white nationalist conference

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – As President Donald Trump continues to stoke outrage over the white nationalist rally that led to the death of a young woman by failing to outright denounce the neo-Nazis who organized the event, the history and future of white nationalism in Colorado is coming under new scrutiny.

The mayor of Colorado Springs said Tuesday the city won’t provide any support or resources to a conference set for next year planned by “patriotic immigration reform” group VDARE, which also sympathizes with white nationalists, according to its website. Continue reading

Sessions to Hickenlooper: Marijuana still unsafe; task force report says crackdown unlikely

DENVER – U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions made clear in a letter sent to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper that the governor received this week that he still believes an Obama-era Justice Department memo does nothing to protect states with legal marijuana from being prosecuted by the federal government, but documents obtained by the AP show a federal task force on marijuana might think otherwise.

Hickenlooper and the governors of Alaska, Oregon and Washington sent a letter to Sessions and the Treasury Secretary in early April urging Sessions and the Justice Department to work with them and come see their states’ programs before changing any federal rules regarding marijuana. Continue reading

Denver council committee passes immigration ordinance proposal to full council

DENVER – A Denver City Council committee voted 6-1 Wednesday to pass a proposed ordinance to the full council that would change the city’s public safety priorities laws regarding immigration and law enforcement cooperation with federal agents, putting two different proposals in front of the city that hope to accomplish the same thing.

Hancock on Tuesday released a fact sheet on his proposed route for the changes: an executive order that would further strengthen some of Denver’s rules on how city and county employees interact with federal immigration authorities, and would also create a legal defense fund for immigrants targeted by authorities. Continue reading

Denver mayor drafts executive order to push back on Trump immigration policy

DENVER – Mayor Michael Hancock is drafting an executive order that would create a legal defense fund for immigrants as part of a series of new policies aimed at pushing back against the Donald Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

The legal defense fund would be in place through Jan. 20, 2021—the first day of the president’s current term—and would help pay for lawyers for people threatened with deportation, according to a fact sheet of the draft executive order provided to Denver7 Tuesday. The Denver Post reports the fund would be created mostly from donations.

The proposed executive order would put into official city policy some of the things that Hancock and the city council have pushed for in recent months as pushback to a new crackdown by Trump and his head at the Department of Justice, Jeff Sessions.

Namely, it would make it official city/county policy that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility and that city/county employees (especially the Denver Police Department and Denver Sheriff Department) won’t aid federal agents in arresting people without a warrant.

The draft proposal also would engrain into city rule that neither law enforcement agency would hold an inmate beyond their release time without a warrant—even if there is an immigration detainer in place. It would also prohibit federal agents from entering any secure areas of a law enforcement facility without a warrant.

The proposal would also establish the legal defense fund and establish a team to track federal immigration law and enforcement in regards to the city and county.

And it would continue to uphold the U-Visa program that gives visas to undocumented people who are victims of crime and aid law enforcement in the investigation.

As a final facet, the proposed order would help families who are in the process of being broken up due to deportation get connected with foreign consulates and help them plan for their separation.

The proposal comes amid a push by councilors Paul Lopez and Robin Kniech to address some of these same concerns via the council and an ordinance—specifically the legal defense fund and language regarding detainers on undocumented immigrants.

Hancock said that though both his proposed executive order and the councilor’s ordinance proposals are different means to address some of the concerns about Denver being a “sanctuary city,” that he thinks both of their efforts are worthwhile.

“The community can rest assured that their mayor and their city council are all working towards the same goals as this conversation continues,” the mayor said in a statement. “I am grateful to Councilmembers Robin Kniech and Paul Lopez for the tremendous amount of courage and vision they showed in bring forward these concepts we jointly care about. Our goals are shared.”

He said that whether it’s a city ordinance, as the councilors have proposed, or his executive order that ends up being finalized into memorial or ordinance, that Denver is standing with the immigrant community.

“This executive order is another step in this administration’s work to send a clear message to our refugee and immigrant communities that Denver stands with you and that you can place your trust in your city and law enforcement agencies that are working to ensure you and your families can live a safe, happy and healthy life here in Denver,” Mayor Hancock said. “We remain focused on enacting policies and actions that provide real protections to our immigrant and refugee communities, and does not give people a false sense of security.”

But one of Denver’s top immigration lawyers, Hans Meyer, said the mayor’s executive order didn’t go far enough and that he preferred the councilmembers’ ordinance.

“If Mayor Hancock wants to stand up for the principles he espouses and protect Denver’s immigrant community against the Trump administration’s deportation machine, then he should adopt all the substantive protections of the proposed ordinance and not simply cherry pick the parts that make for easy sound bites,” Meyer said. “Hancock’s proposed executive order fails to extract Denver probation officers, city employees, and jail personnel from colluding with ICE to deport immigrant community members.”

The councilmembers are set to discuss the ordinance proposal again Wednesday morning at a committee meeting.

5,300+ Colorado voters withdraw registration as state prepares to send info. to Trump commission

DENVER – More than 5,300 Coloradans have withdrawn their voter registration over the past month, new figures from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office showed Monday as the office prepares to send voter roll information over to President Donald Trump’s election integrity commission.

Secretary of State Wayne Williams will send the information over to the controversial commission by the end of business Monday, his office confirmed. Continue reading