CIRC, CSU Share Alarming Report on ICE’s Impact on Immigrants

A new qualitative study depicts the mistreatment and disturbing conduct immigrants have faced by ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) in Colorado. Now, researchers, advocates and collaborators call on the state of Colorado to end state and local collaborations with ICE through Intergovernmental Service Agreements (I.G.S.A.), which permit local jails to house immigrant detainees for a daily fee.

For years, Colorado legislators have said they stand behind the immigrant community in our state and against the horrors our community faces. Now is the time for them to prove it by passing HB23-1100.”
Raquel Lane-Arellano, CIRC

The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) partnered with the Colorado State University (CSU) School of Social Work to conduct a study entitled “Lived Experiences of Federal Immigration Enforcement in Colorado.” The study involved 17 participants sharing their past ICE encounters with researchers, and among their answers, there was an overwhelming depiction of ICE agents’ behavior as “aggressive,” “authoritarian,” and “dehumanizing”.

Some participants shared stories of family members or friends being dragged out of their homes by ICE agents. Others discussed the broader themes of racism and dehumanization plaguing the ways in which ICE agents confront immigrant communities. CIRC Policy Director, Raquel Lane-Arellano said I.G.S.A. contracts should have no place in the state of Colorado.

“This report and the stories shared are resounding in their condemnation of the inhumane treatment by ICE and private immigration detention personnel,” said Raquel Lane-Arellano. “For years, Colorado legislators have said they stand behind the immigrant community in our state and against the horrors our community faces. Now is the time for them to prove it by passing HB23-1100, ending I.G.S.A. contracts that rent Colorado jail space to ICE and limits the future creation of private immigration detention facilities in our state.”

Isabel is a 36-year-old woman who has lived in the U.S. for seven years, shared her experience with researchers:

“From what I’ve seen with the people that ICE has detained around me, if you don’t cooperate with them, the worse it’ll be,” said Isabel. “If the police or ICE are detaining someone, this person is at a disadvantage, right? They have less power. If you butt heads with them, who’s going to be worse off? I mean, the one who has less power, right? If you hold on to this right that you have, believe me, the [officer] is going to go after you more.”

Professor Elizabeth Kiehne, Ph.D. at CSU led the recent study. Kiehne said she knew the immigration system needed an overhaul, but her findings revealed the realities of the enforcement system are far worse than she initially understood them to be.

“The issue is not just that the system rips apart families, destabilizes the basic unit of society, and needlessly incarcerates people, though that would certainly be enough to warrant overhaul,” said Dr. Kiehne. “The issue is also that how enforcement officers and detention facility personnel go about their job is senselessly inhumane, dehumanizing, and traumatizing. What we let fly under the radar in this country—through a lack of oversight—yet continued funding of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—leads to targeted, racialized persecution that our immigrant communities know well, but that policymakers and the public at-large remain willingly ignorant of. Through their willingness to recount in detail their stories of pain and suffering, participants in this research study vividly expose the ugly underbelly of the immigration enforcement system.”

In their report, CSU researchers additionally break down the mental health impacts on people living in the U.S. without documentation, and the treatment they have received by enforcement agents. As discussed in their policy recommendations, researchers from this study believe Colorado’s elected officials and elected officials should work to “limit ICE overreach in the state.”

“Colorado lawmakers have the opportunity this session to take the next step in ending the ties between local law enforcement and immigration, which have been proven to make our communities less safe for all,” says Siena Mann, CIRC Campaign Manager.