MSN: U.S. citizens, asylum seekers and more: The real people affected by Trump's latest immigration raids

Full article here.

Mother Jones: Trump Disappeared Them to El Salvador. Now, They’re Being Erased by Immigration Courts.

Article here.

Mitú: The Trump Administration Just Cut a Program That Supported Immigrants with Mental Illnesses — And Immigrant Rights Groups are Suing

Article here.

Fox31: Immigrant detained by ICE after hearing in federal courthouse in Denver

Article here.

Denver Post: Feds detain immigrant family at Denver courthouse amid new Trump strategy

Article here.

ICE Arrests Families at Denver Court

Denver, Colorado, May 29, 2025—This morning, ICE arrested a family at the Denver Immigration Court family docket. RMIAN has a daily presence at the court, providing information, Know Your Rights presentations, and legal representation to children and families before the court. At the court this morning, a group of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers surrounded a family of three--their toddler was truly terrified. 

Emily Brock, RMIAN Children's Program Deputy Managing Attorney, was present during the incident. ERO officers refused to allow her to speak to the family before taking them away. This unconscionable act follows a trend playing out in other cities around the U.S. of individuals being arrested while they diligently try to comply with their immigration court hearing dates. This is an absolutely horrifying and traumatic situation for our Colorado community.

Emily Brock stated: "As a parent, I cannot imagine the terror these parents experienced as the officers surrounded them with their child in their arms and told them they were to go with them. As the officers got closer, the little boy's arms clung tighter around his father's neck. To take enforcement action against a family following the rules, attending their proceedings, is an attack on due process and serves only to instigate increased levels of fear in the community."

Read CPR News coverage of the incident here: https://www.cpr.org/2025/05/29/ice-detains-family-denver-immigration-court/

Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network Condemns Use of “Wellness Checks” Because They Threaten Community Safety in Colorado

Westminster, Colorado, June 5, 2025—Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) rejects the idea that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “wellness checks” have the intention of protecting children; they have the opposite effect.

The "wellness checks" being conducted by various federal law enforcement agencies claim to be about ensuring the safety of children. In reality, these visits are part of an ICE directive to locate and investigate unaccompanied children and their sponsors, threatening family unity for kids, many of whom have experienced abuse, abandonment, and neglect.

Dozens of families across the state have reached out to their attorneys at RMIAN detailing disturbing events where federal officers showed up at their homes unannounced, banged on their doors, and demanded information about children living in the home. Far from fostering trust and ensuring the safety of vulnerable children, these visits promote intimidation and terror that families will be separated, detained, and deported. This policy is damaging to vulnerable children, the families who care for them, and creates a deep distrust of law enforcement officials, which deters people from reporting crimes and makes our Colorado community less safe. RMIAN calls on ICE to immediately stop these harmful practices.

Nonprofits Sue to Stop Trump Termination of Program That Provided Attorneys for People in ICE Detention Deemed Mentally Incompetent

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Media Contacts:
Tara Tidwell Cullen, (312) 833-2967, ttidwellcullen@immigrantjustice.org
Erin Barnaby, 202-360-4248, media@amicacenter.org
ILCM Communications Department, communications@ilcm.org
Oliver Bernstein, American Gateways, Oliver@SteadyHandPR.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2025) — Nonprofit legal services organizations are suing the Trump administration to restore a critical national program that provided federal funding for legal representation for people deemed mentally incompetent who are detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

On April 25, the administration suddenly, and without explanation, terminated the nationwide provision of the National Qualified Representative Program (NQRP) in all but three states where it remains required by court order. The program, launched in 2013 by the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security in response to class action litigation, provided counsel to people in immigration detention who had been found by an immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals to be mentally incompetent and therefore unable to represent themselves in deportation proceedings. The cancellation came amid a slew of other Trump administration actions ending federal programs that provided access to counsel and due process for immigrants facing deportation. 

About 200 people were receiving legal representation under the program when it was terminated. 

Immigrants and asylum seekers who are deemed mentally incompetent to represent themselves, often on account of severe mental illness or cognitive disability, face extraordinary obstacles in navigating the immigration system, even more so when they are locked in isolated ICE detention centers with limited or no access to mental health care or the outside world. Access to qualified counsel gives individuals a fighting chance to exercise their due process rights under U.S. immigration law and to present evidence, cross-examine witnesses, and participate in a fair hearing. 

The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP are co-counsel in the case representing 9 organizations that provided legal representation under the program: American Gateways, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Estrella del Paso, Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project, NIJC, Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, Immigration Services & Legal Advocacy, and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the termination of the nationwide NQRP unduly interferes with plaintiffs’ existing attorney-client relationships and violates the Administrative Procedure Act. 

Co-counsel and organizational plaintiffs provided the following statements: 

Keren Zwick, director of litigation, National Immigrant Justice Center:
“Without NQRP, some of the most vulnerable people in our country have been left to fend for themselves in ICE detention and are at grave risk of removal without a court ever considering, or even knowing about, their circumstances or the harms that await them. This lawsuit joins a growing list of legal challenges seeking to stop the Trump administration from eliminating the right to due process for immigrants in our country.” 

Laura Lunn, director of advocacy & litigation, Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network:

“The government’s action in cutting funding for court-appointed counsel for people not competent to represent themselves in immigration court is not just heartless and cruel, but also discriminatory against people with disabilities. Without the assistance of attorneys, people will suffer in detention while their cases languish in legal limbo.”

Evan Benz, senior attorney, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights:

"The unlawful termination of NQRP is the latest attack from this administration against vulnerable immigrants. They have cut lawyers for unaccompanied children and legal orientation programs for adults in detention, and now they're trying to take away lawyers for detained immigrants with mental disabilities. These attempts to prevent immigrants at risk of deportation from exercising their rights can not stand. We demand that NQRP be restored nationwide so that we can continue serving clients with mental health conditions or developmental disabilities in immigration court, because no one else can or will."

Edna Yang, co-executive director, American Gateways:
“The sudden end of the NQRP leaves some of the most vulnerable people in our immigration system without any legal support. These individuals, often facing serious mental health challenges, are now left to navigate a complex system alone. At American Gateways, we know how crucial legal representation is for ensuring that everyone has a fair chance in court, especially when their futures are on the line.”

Robyn Meyer-Thompson, supervising attorney, Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota:

“Noncitizens in detention with mental health challenges and cognitive disabilities are among the most vulnerable in need of our assistance. The decision to end this program is devastating not only for our clients but also for due process.”

Ryan Brunsink, managing attorney for removal defense, Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center:

“The assault on due process for all persons in the United States remains front and center with the cut to the NQRP. Some of our most vulnerable clients are represented under this program — individuals with intellectual disabilities, severe brain injuries, mental illness, and other disabilities that impact their ability to meaningfully participate in their immigration hearings. Everyone deserves a fair shot to exercise their rights and to seek justice. Without appointed counsel, our NQRP clients cannot do so. It’s our belief in fundamental fairness that compels us to continue our fight through this litigation.”

Liz Hoefer, Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project (GHIRP):
“The NQRP termination is another devastating blow to due process for vulnerable immigrants.  For most individuals who are mentally incompetent, the task of presenting a claim for relief from removal on their own is insurmountable.  Without NQRP, detained immigrants with significant mental health concerns will go unidentified and unrepresented. They will be deported without even understanding the proceedings happening around them, and without the due process they deserve.  As recently as November, GHIRP obtained a grant of asylum for a man from West Africa who would have been subjected to torture in a so-called prayer camp because of his disability had he been returned to his home country. Termination of this program means people like our client will be deported without any meaningful opportunity to fight their case, and with no attorney by their side.”

Homero López, Jr., Legal Director, Immigration Services & Legal Advocacy:

“Our legal system is founded on the principle of due process, and NQRP embodied that value. The termination of NQRP effectively denies the most vulnerable individuals in immigration proceedings — those unable to represent themselves due to mental competency concerns — their opportunity at navigating our complex immigration system.”

Colorado Sun: Denver judge to decide fate of accused Venezuelan gang members facing deportation to prison in El Salvador

RMIAN and ACLU Colorado want a federal judge to order class-action status, which would protect hundreds of detainees from deportation without due process. Full article here.

Ira C. Rothgerber Jr. Conference: Keynote by RMIAN Founder Hiroshi Motomura

The Ira C. Rothgerber Jr. Conference on Constitutional Law is an annual Byron R. White Center event that brings scholars, lawyers, and leaders from across the nation to the University of Colorado Law School to discuss current Constitutional law issue. Topics have included the future of national injunctions, listeners’ First Amendment rights and litigation strategies that promote Constitutional change.

RMIAN Founding Board Member and UCLA Law Professor, Hiroshi Motomura, will provide the keynote address at the conference.

Conference and registration information can be found here.

Nonprofits File Temporary Restraining Order to Block Trump Administration’s Termination of Critical Legal Access Programs

For Immediate Release

MEDIA INQUIRIES 

Contacts: 
Jodi Vongsakoun, RMIAN Director of Development & Communications, jvongsakoun@rmian.org
Erin Barnaby, Amica Center, media@amicacenter.org
Greer Millard, Florence Project, gmillard@firrp.org, (602) 795-7407
Tara Tidwell Cullen, National Immigrant Justice Center, ttidwellcullen@immigrantjustice.org, (312) 833-2967

Westminster, Colorado, April 15, 2025—Nine immigrants’ rights organizations filed a renewed Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to block the Trump administration’s termination of critical legal orientation programs for immigrants, including the Family Group Legal Orientation Program, Counsel for Children Initiative, Immigration Court Helpdesk, Legal Orientation Program, and Legal Orientation Program for Custodians. 

An in-person hearing for the renewed TRO will take place Tuesday, April 15th, at 2:30 PM ET at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The renewed TRO is part of the lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ), Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and other defendants filed by the same organizations in January 2025, challenging a stop work order impacting the same legal access programs. These programs are the minimum safeguard of due process for immigrants facing removal from the United States, and the stop work order and subsequent termination of these programs obliterate even the semblance of fundamental fairness in our immigration system. 

Organizational plaintiffs in the suit include American Gateways, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Estrella del Paso, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, Immigration Services & Legal Advocacy, National Immigrant Justice Center, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, and Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN).

The DOJ’s decision to terminate these national legal access programs poses a significant threat to the rights of immigrant children, adults, and families, especially those detained by the government. These legal orientation programs are crucial, as they provide immigrants—the vast majority of whom are unrepresented, and many of whom are confused and traumatized, do not speak English, and lack any legal education—with essential information about their rights throughout the immigration process and deportation proceedings. Such programs have bipartisan support, and the oldest has been in place for over two decades.

The TRO aims to keep these essential programs in place as the litigation challenging the legality of their termination progresses through the courts, which is the bare minimum needed to ensure that people facing immigration proceedings have the basic information necessary to understand and exercise their legal rights.

Mekela Goehring, Executive Director, RMIAN, said:

“Terminating these programs is devastating for individuals in immigration court proceedings in Colorado and beyond. For the last 22 years, RMIAN has been providing legal orientation services to individuals at the immigration detention center in Aurora, Colorado. Through this work, as well as orientation programs at the Denver Immigration court, RMIAN has helped tens of thousands of community members understand their rights under U.S. immigration law. These programs are a cornerstone in ensuring basic protection for individuals in removal proceedings, where there is no right to court-appointed counsel, even for children, or for those in civil immigration detention. Eliminating these essential and life-saving immigration legal service programs is unconscionable.”

Edna Yang, Co-Executive Director at American Gateways, said:

"American Gateways proudly stands with our partners in seeking an immediate halt to the proposed reckless cuts to the Legal Orientation Program and the Immigration Court Helpdesk. These cuts would strip thousands of vulnerable immigrants from understanding and accessing their basic rights. These programs are often the only lifeline for people navigating an incredibly complex legal process without representation. We need to protect the integrity of our courts and ensure that everyone, regardless of status, has a fair chance to be heard."

Sam Hsieh, Deputy Program Director of the Immigration Impact Lab at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said:

"The government has yet to offer any legitimate reason for terminating these programs that safeguard the most basic due process rights for noncitizens on top of promoting efficiency. These legal orientation programs are as important as ever, given the Administration’s indiscriminate subjection of so many noncitizens to detention and removal. We look forward to the Court hearing our claims for the immediate reinstatement of the programs.”

Laura St. John, Legal Director at Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, said: 

"Without the LOP, hundreds of thousands of migrants will face the full force of the U.S. legal system without any sort of legal education or support, leading to disastrous and potentially deadly outcomes. The LOP is the bare minimum necessary to protect due process rights, and now the administration is slashing it at the same time it is massively expanding detention and deportation operations. To do both is cruel and a blatant violation of people’s due process rights, which is the bedrock of a just legal system and central to our core values. We joined our partners in filing for this Temporary Restraining Order to ensure that people in immigration detention in Arizona receive the legal education and support that is their right under the law."   

Lisa Koop, National Director of Legal Services at the National Immigrant Justice Center, said:

“This administration's renewed efforts to shut down the Immigration Court Helpdesk — after the previous attempt was stopped by a federal court just months ago — is one of the many ways this increasingly authoritarian administration is ignoring the courts and flouting the rule of law. It is no coincidence that this second attempt to shut down access to basic legal services for unrepresented individuals inside immigration courts happened just as local immigration courts have posted signs in their waiting rooms pressuring people to ‘self-deport.’ We will not stand by as this administration eviscerates due process and tramples on people's access to their fair day in court.”

To donate to RMIAN’s work to ensure legal representation for individuals in immigration proceedings in Colorado, please visit www.rmian.org/donate.

Venezuelan man from Colorado sent to Salvadoran prison without removal order or apparent criminal history

Full story here.

“They Don’t Care About Civil Rights”: Trump’s Shuttering of DHS Oversight Arm Freezes 600 Cases, Imperils Human Rights

Full story here.

Denver7: Trump administration cuts legal funding for unaccompanied immigrant children

Full Video Here

New York Times: Trump Administration Halts Funding for Legal Representation of Migrant Children

Full Article Here

USA Today: Migrant kids may have to face court alone, as Trump admin cancels legal contract

Full Article Here

RMIAN Decries Termination of Funding for Legal Representation for Unaccompanied Children

MEDIA INQUIRIES 

Contact: Ashley Harrington, aharrington@rmian.org, RMIAN Children’s Program Managing Attorney 

Westminster, Colorado, March 21, 2025—Today the federal government suddenly and without notice cancelled its contract to provide funding for legal representation to unaccompanied children. This order immediately stops all funding for legal representation of over 26,000 unaccompanied children across the country, including close to 200 children represented by RMIAN in Colorado.

“This brazen, heartless act endangers children’s lives,” says Ashley Harrington, RMIAN Children’s Program Managing Attorney. “RMIAN represents child survivors of trafficking, abuse and trauma, including children as young as two years old. Children cannot be expected to navigate the harsh and complicated immigration legal system without an attorney. This administration wants to force us to abandon them to face ICE and the immigration courts alone. But we will continue to stand in solidarity with these children and fight to protect their rights to legal representation.” 

These are stories of children RMIAN has recently helped through the Unaccompanied Children's Program:

• Growing up, Lydia* was beaten by her father almost daily. As a young teenager, she fled her home and came to the United States as an unaccompanied child. RMIAN will no longer receive funding from ORR to continue Lydia's legal representation, even though she is eligible to receive a green card and eventually become a U.S. citizen. 

• RMIAN represents three siblings ages 7-13 who came to the United States on their own last year after their parents were killed by gang members in their home country and they were left with an abusive uncle. RMIAN will no longer receive funding to continue the fight to prevent these siblings’ deportation.  

* Indicates use of a pseudonym. 

“The termination of this essential and life-saving legal work is a direct attack not only on the children and families who RMIAN represents, but also on the rule of law and fundamental fairness in the U.S. legal system. The cruelty of this decision could not be more stark: forcing vulnerable children and youth to represent themselves in adversarial court proceedings where their lives may be on the line. RMIAN rejects this cruelty. We will fight with and for our child clients, and for due process and fairness in our country,” says Mekela Goehring, Executive Director, RMIAN.  

Please follow this link to send a letter to your elected representatives and demand the administration resume this funding that provides life-saving legal support to thousands of children every year. 

To learn more about the unaccompanied children’s program and its critical legal services please register for a public webinar on Monday March 24, 2025 at noon MST.  

To donate to RMIAN’s work to ensure legal representation for individuals in immigration proceedings in Colorado, please visit www.rmian.org/donate. 

April 9th Hybrid Half Day CLE: Family Preparedness for Immigrant Families

AILA-Colorado, Colorado Bar Association CLE (CBA-CLE), Colorado Lawyers Committee (CLC), and Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) invite you to a half day CLE on April 9th, 2025, from 12:45 to 4:00PM (approved for 3 general credits). The CLE will be in person (bring your own lunch) at CBA-CLE with a virtual option.

Family Preparedness for Immigrant Families will cover the legal and practical aspects of preparing our clients for possible detention and/or deportation under the new administration. Our leading Colorado experts will present on the nuts and bolts of “family protection plans,” medical powers of attorney, financial powers of attorney, delegations of parental authority, testamentary appointment of guardian forms, the tools available within the Colorado courts to safeguard children, and how to navigate the current climate of fear and uncertainty with our clients. 

Panelists: Sulma Mendoza, JAMLAC; Christine Stroup, Brown Law Firm; Honorable Sara S. Price, Magistrate Judge for CO 17th Judicial District; Lisa Kunkel, LCSW, RMIAN

Register at: https://forms.gle/oxAdw41Ahjbqwhaw6  by April 4, 2025.

Cost is $50 for private attorneys and paralegals and $25 for non-profit staff.

Standard Fee Payment Link: https://secure.affinipay.com/pages/colorado-chapter-of-aila/half-cle-members

Non-Profit Staff Payment Link: https://secure.affinipay.com/pages/colorado-chapter-of-aila/discounted

Community Organizations and Elected Officials Demand Immediate Release of Jeanette Vizguerra Following Unjust ICE Detention

Full Press Release Here

RMIAN condemns Trump administration's executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act

MEDIA INQUIRIES 

Contacts: 
Mekela Goehring, mgoehring@rmian.org, RMIAN Executive Director
Monique Sherman, msherman@rmian.org, RMIAN Detention Program Managing Attorney 

Westminster, Colorado, March 16, 2025—Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) condemns the Trump administration’s March 15, 2025 executive order that invokes the Alien Enemies Act to trample fundamental principles of due process and rule of law in our country’s immigration legal system. RMIAN applauds a federal court’s order yesterday blocking the use of this executive order.

RMIAN’s founding board member and UCLA Professor of Law Hiroshi Motomura states, “Invoking the Alien Enemies Act is part of a larger, very disturbing pattern of painting all immigrants in the United States with a broad brush, calling them invaders or worse. The Enemies Act applies to foreign governments and their agents, not to individuals living and working in the United States. To declare "invasion" or "emergency" is a power grab that short-circuits due process, the rule of law, and any fair-minded attempt to fix an immigration system that virtually all agree is broken.”

RMIAN’s Executive Director Mekela Goehring states, “This executive order recalls some of the most shameful parts of U.S. history, and if allowed to stand will be used to absolutely trample any semblance of due process and civil rights for individuals from Venezuela in our community. We already have seen how allegations of TdA membership have been used to justify totally unrelated immigration arrests in Colorado. If allowed to stand, this EO opens the door to graver deprivations of due process, including the detention and removal of individuals (even those present in the U.S. lawfully) without any court process.”

RMIAN stands with our community and will fight against this injustice and attempts to strip away fundamental fairness and rights. We are closely watching the unfolding situation and are ready to mobilize to protect due process and ensure justice for immigrants in Colorado.

The ACLU and Democracy Forward filed litigation on March 15th:

• https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-court-temporarily-blocks-trump-from-removing-some-immigrants-in-u-s-using-alien-enemies-act

• https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-court-broadens-temporary-block-on-trump-using-alien-enemies-act-to-remove-immigrants-from-the-u-s

For additional background on this law, please see:

• https://www.axios.com/2025/03/14/trump-alien-enemies-act-deportations

• https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/alien-enemies-act-explained 

To donate to RMIAN’s work to ensure legal representation for individuals in immigration proceedings in Colorado, please visit www.rmian.org/donate.