Dusti Gurule
Posted on April 2, 2026
At COLOR, our work is grounded in a simple truth: Latines deserve care without barriers.
That means access to health care that is not determined by immigration status, income, or political convenience. It means building a Colorado where all families can live, parent, and thrive with dignity.
Colorado made a clear policy commitment in 2022 through House Bill 22-1289, known as “Cover All Coloradans,” to ensure that children and pregnant people could access health care regardless of immigration status. And today, that commitment is being reconsidered under the framing of budget constraints.
Current proposals would limit health care access for immigrant children and pregnant people, communities that are overwhelmingly Latine, immigrant, and already navigating systemic barriers to care. But this is not just a budget conversation. It is a lesson in how racism adapts.
Framing care for immigrant communities as “cost overruns” or “unsustainable” revives a long-standing and harmful myth that immigrants are a drain, a burden, or less deserving of investment. This narrative has been used for generations to justify exclusion, even as immigrant communities contribute to and sustain the very systems they are accused of straining.
And regardless of intent, the outcome is racialized harm.
Colorado is facing real fiscal challenges, and there are alternatives. Lawmakers could examine structural revenue constraints, corporate tax expenditures, and broader system inefficiencies. Instead, proposals are advancing that place the burden on immigrant children and pregnant people. That is not inevitable. It is a choice.
And these decisions are being shaped by a small group of policymakers, led by Governor Jared Polis, whose commitment to caring for ALL people in Colorado is not holding. Budget decisions are never neutral. They reflect priorities, values, and who is considered worthy of care. We are already seeing those priorities play out in real time. This same week, the Department of Corrections and the Governor’s office returned to the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) after lawmakers rejected a request for 941 additional prison beds and expanded their ask.
They are now seeking funding for those same 941 beds, along with an additional $200 million to purchase the long-shuttered Huerfano Correctional Center, proposing to draw from emergency reserves and take on long-term debt that will ultimately cost the state more. These are not neutral trade-offs. They are choices about what the state is willing to fund, expand, and sustain.
Many people in Colorado will not lose their health care because of these decisions. But immigrant families will. And right now, too many people are comfortable with that.
Our communities are not a budget problem to solve. Our bodies are not bargaining chips. We deserve a Colorado where care is not conditional, and where immigrant children and families are not the first to be targeted when systems are strained. Hard decisions reveal who we are. Will we balance Colorado’s budget on the backs of immigrant families, or will we choose a just path?
Everyone in this state should be paying attention. These are our neighbors, our communities, and some of Colorado’s most vulnerable. When we treat access to health care as someone else’s issue, we allow harm to happen in plain sight.
There is a future Colorado where care is not conditional, and where our Latine communities are not sacrificed when systems are strained. Where the values our elected leaders claim to hold are actually upheld when it matters most.
Dusti Gurule, President and CEO of COLOR Action Fund.
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