As President Donald Trump’s administration continued to spend its first days pursuing aggressive new limitations on both lawful and unlawful means of immigrating to the United States, Colorado lawmakers and community advocates rallied at the state Capitol to warn of the dire consequences Trump’s agenda will have for immigrants and non-immigrants alike.

“We must protect and uplift immigrant families, not tear them apart,” said state Representative Junie Joseph, a Boulder Democrat, as she stood alongside other leaders at the event Wednesday. “I call on President Trump to reconsider his policies that will devastate families, harm children and weaken our economy. Instead of mass deportation, we must work to build a system that values dignity, family and the incredible contribution that immigrants make to our society.”

Image

In his second term, Trump has vowed to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.” By his own estimation his “deport them all” agenda would apply to more than 20 million people, though independent estimates put the country’s true undocumented population at around 12 million. No exceptions are to be made for undocumented parents or other relatives of underage U.S. citizens, Trump’s “border czar,” former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan, said last month.

Joseph, a Haitian immigrant and child welfare attorney, said such a policy would cause unimaginable harm to families and result in an “overwhelming influx of children” entering Colorado’s foster care system, which is already under a “significant strain.”

“These children are American citizens, and they have a right to life with their families,” Joseph said. “But the reality is that many will face the horror of becoming orphans, separated from their families and plunged into a system that is already overburdened.”

Democratic state Representative Naquetta Ricks, a Liberian immigrant who represents Aurora — a community that has been singled out by Trump for immigration enforcement operations — noted that 11.4 percent of Colorado’s workforce is made up of immigrants and that undocumented workers are instrumental in construction, agriculture and other important industries in the state.

“As a state, we have set ambitious goals to build more homes, create good jobs, reduce the cost of living, and create thriving, safer, resilient communities,” Ricks said. “We know that immigrants and their contributions to our communities are key to realizing these goals.”

Ricks described fleeing her native country of Liberia during a civil war in which her friends and family members were killed. Her family joined relatives in Colorado and — like many current immigrants from Venezuela and elsewhere — sought political asylum, a legal process that the Trump administration has moved to swiftly and drastically restrict.

“My mom, my sister and myself had to flee our home, and we were able to come to Aurora to seek refuge,” Ricks said. “Aurora is a place that is very, very diverse … We know that diversity is all around us, and that diversity makes us rich.”

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com.