FEB 6, 2025 | NEWS | By Isabelle Rosewater
Communities throughout Colorado and the nation are bracing for rising risks of detainment and deportation of undocumented individuals.
This issue weighs heavily in the hearts of Colorado College students, some of whom have family and community members who are at risk.
Under the new administration of President Donald Trump, previously defined sensitive locations, including churches, hospitals, schools and funerals, will no longer be protected from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity, according to a recent statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
While more arrests have been made so far in Aurora and Denver Colo., areas with plans for larger scale operations to take place, Colorado Springs, Colo., has been seeing the beginnings of an ICE presence, reportedly spotted at local carnicerías and other community businesses.
One member of the Colorado Springs Latino community reported seemingly empty shopping centers and community spaces, even including a church. They believe this stems from fear some have to leave their homes, even for essential reasons, including going to school or work, reflective of a phenomenon reported nationwide and on social media.
On the CC campus, some students have been speaking out.
“We take advantage of our unprotected neighbors,” said one student during an emotional speech at a recent event. “I want my siblings to live in a fair world.”
This student, who asked to remain anonymous for safety concerns and whose mother is undocumented, fears for his safety and stability.
“Me and my family have an action plan right now where if something happens to my mom, I would now be ready to apply for guardianship of my siblings,” the student said. “I would have to drop out of school.”
In other Colorado Springs learning institutions, leadership is responding.
Superintendent Michael Gaal of Colorado Springs School District 11 communicated to parents on Jan. 30 about how the district would handle federal immigration policies.
The email detailed the district’s legal obligation to cooperate with government and law enforcement agencies but reiterated that it does not “inquire into or collect information about the immigration status of our students or their families.”
Every child, the email read, “regardless of immigration status, has the right to a free public education.”
William Ashford is a volunteer with a local immigration service and with Aprender Mediante Amistad, a student club working to provide language and academic support to ESL students at a local high school within District 11.
“We’ve had students express to us in a joking way but in a very serious way at the same time about concerns about being sent back themselves or about family members being sent back,” Ashford said.
“So it’s absolutely an issue that is on the front of a lot of residents of Colorado Springs’ [minds], at all ages,” he added. “The fears and kind of emotional trauma that these anti-immigrant initiatives are causing is very much real and very much felt.”
At CC, students and faculty have organized events to protect and support campus community members, raising awareness of the issues and providing educational and emotional support resources for students impacted by Trump’s new policies.
The CC Office of Institutional Equity and Belonging College Diversity Officer sent a Jan. 22 email to the campus community about community members who may be at increased risk due to new federal policies. The email detailed the legal protections and rules in place to safeguard the privacy of personal information at CC.
“As you know, immigration is a focus of new executive orders and other legislation,” it read.
The email explained the protections of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, known as FERPA, which “prevents employees from providing any identifying student information to entities outside the institution except under very narrow circumstances, such as a subpoena.”
According to the email, the college “cannot confirm to an unauthorized party outside of CC that a person is a student. If you receive inquiries about a student from a person who is not an employee of the college, do not provide any information. Instead, direct all inquiries to the registrar, who will coordinate a response on behalf of the institution.”
The email also urged caution with outside requests for information, even advising students to check with a purported requestor if someone asks for a letter of recommendation. “As a private institution, we are not subject to laws that compel public institutions to share such information upon request,” the email read.
Furthermore, it stated, “if a person claiming to work for a government agency comes to your office or classroom… please direct them to Campus Safety.”
As for in-person events, the Office of Institutional Equity and Belonging recently joined with the Colorado Immigration Rights Coalition for a “Know Your Rights Workshop” on Jan. 29. The workshop focused on how to handle interactions with immigration enforcement and sought to empower individuals with knowledge to increase their sense of security, to protect themselves and their families, and to strengthen their communities.
The workshop included information regarding constitutional rights for everyone living in the United States (including immigrants) and the difference between judicial warrants and ICE warrants. The organization has more resources available on its website, including family preparedness planning, data and privacy information, legal protection resources and more.
For some CC students, the current political and social climate has added increased pressures during an already tumultuous time.
“Being Latino in general on this campus … if any of those conversations come up [about immigration-related current events] … people turn to look at you,” said Johanna Villegas ‘25, a member of Advocates for Immigrant Justice.
“People who are already privileged…they’re not going to be worrying about this stuff,” Villegas added.
“You also have to go to work or you also have to, you know, put on a face to the rest of the world … they’ll never really get it,” she continued, “Unfortunately, a lot of people are already coming from less privileged places. We were already juggling all these things and trying our best and now I have to add this into the pile and juggle that too… we have a whole other thing to worry about.”
Some CC students participated in a nationwide boycott on Monday, Feb. 3, known as “Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes” (A Day Without Immigrants).
The protest included not going to school or work or spending any money to stand in solidarity with those afraid to leave their homes or to speak out for fear of being detained. The strike was also meant to demonstrate to the broader community the empty space of a life without immigrants.
Senaida Vigil ‘28 participated in the boycott and spent her time during the protest identifying immigrant-owned businesses she could support and keeping up with news updates. She was glad to do something to support her impacted community members.
“I’m really fucking angry about it,” Vigil said. “I’m angry, and I’m scared.”