RMIAN Staff Attorney Natalie Petrucci recently spent a week volunteering with families detained in Dilley, Texas. Here she provides a reflection of her time in Texas and the ways in which family detention has lasting effects on the families RMIAN works with here in Colorado.

RMIAN’s Ashley Harrington will be presenting at two upcoming events. Details below.

Colorado Bar Association/Denver Bar Association lunch training on Friday, September 21. Intersections Between Family Law and Immigration Law: Special Juvenile Status (SIJS) Training

The Office of the Child’s Representative Fall Conference on Monday, September 24: Beyond the GRID: Integrating Law & Social Science to Improve Outcome for Children, Youth & Families

Save the Date! The Rocky Mountain Conference on Immigration & Naturalization Litigation will be held on Friday, October 12, in Denver. This year’s conference features expert advocates and academics from across the country providing cutting edge advice on litigation. Register here.

The University of Denver Sturm College of Law will hold an event in its Crimmigration Law & Policy Series on Monday, September 17, in Denver. The event is free and open to the public and runs from 12:00-1:00pm. More information can be found here.

RMIAN’s Executive Director, Mekela Goehring, will participate in a panel discussion following four short films about immigration detention at the Sie FilmCenter on the evening of Tuesday, September 11. The event is part of a Social Change Through Film initiative coordinated by GoodCinema. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.

Representatives from RMIAN and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) will be providing a training on Immigrant Law & Policy next Friday, August 31, in Greeley. The event is sponsored by Centennial BOCES. More information on the training can be found here.

Local activists organized an event on Sunday, August 12, entitled Act Global, Stay Local that helped to raise $3,000 for RMIAN and the clients it serves. The event was held at Improper City in Denver and featured food, drinks, games, live music, and a silent auction. Thanks to the venue and organizers for the support and for executing such a great event. See event photos here.

RMIAN, along with the Immigration Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association, will host a full-day CLE in Denver on Wednesday, September 26. The training will provide attendees with the keys to zealous immigration advocacy and dive into immigration enforcement, detention and bond practices, protections  for immigrant crime victims, asylum law, special immigrant juvenile status, and working with experts to build your case. Information here.

On the first Friday of every month, Open Media Foundation holds a free community event, Open Music Sessions (OMS), at the Denver Open Media studios (near the Santa Fe Art Walk) that spotlights local performance groups, comedians, musical acts, and nonprofit organizations. On August 10th, RMIAN’s Jessica Burnett spoke about RMIAN’s work at OMS. Thanks to The Denver Foundation and the Open Media Foundation for the opportunity to highlight RMIAN and its work in the community.

RMIAN is honored to be named a recipient of a Spring Intercultural Champion Award, presented by the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning. The annual award ceremony celebrates the rich cultural, social, and economic contributions that immigrants and refugees bring to Colorado. The award ceremony serves as a fundraising event for the Spring Institute and is open to the public. The event will be held on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, in Denver. Register to attend here.

RMIAN’s Laura Lunn discusses the trauma her clients endure and RMIAN Board Member & psychologist Donna Peters speaks to the high levels of trauma family separation causes with PBS FRONTLINE.

RMIAN’s Laura Lunn discusses navigating her clients and other parents being moved to Texas over the weekend. “It’s treating them like they’re not human, and shipping them around the country from place to place is disorienting especially once they have set roots here, where we have been able to connect them with so many people that are willing to help.”

Photo: Sarah Jackson

Over the weekend, dozens of immigrant parents who were held in a federal detention center in Aurora after being separated from their children at the border under the recent “zero tolerance” policy were transferred to Texas. These parents include dozens who are working with RMIAN attorneys and volunteers who now find themselves located far away from the “lawyers who know their cases and are fighting for them to stay in the United States.”

Asylum-seekers are fleeing chilling violence and threats. They deserve help, not inhumane, sometimes terrifying treatment at family detention centers.

Founded in 2014, Changemaker Chats is a non-for-profit organization that equips women with the networks and know-how to be more effective at work, at home, and in their community. Changemaker Chats' staple event is its off-the-record “chats” with female leaders, ranging from C-suite professionals to entrepreneurs, to writers, artists, and more. 

RMIAN Executive Director, Mekela Goehrng, will be the guest of a Changemaker Chat in Boulder on Wednesday, August 15, 2018, from 6:30pm-8:30pm. Register here.

In response to the humanitarian crisis involving adult immigrants and unaccompanied immigrant children in Colorado and the dire need for pro bono legal representation for this vulnerable population, the Colorado Lawyers Committee, RMIAN, the Immigration Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association, and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP will present a free training on adult and children asylum on August 10th, 2018 from 8:00 until 12:00 at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP. This training is designed for lawyers with no immigration experience. The training is free to any individual who agrees to take a case screened by RMIAN.

RMIAN estimates that roughly 20 of the parents we have worked with have been released from the detention center in Aurora, and only two of them are with their children again. “Each one of them talks to me about how it feels like torture,” says RMIAN’s Laura Lunn. “Each one of the mothers I’m working with has complained about not being able to eat, not being able to sleep, feeling incredibly anxious and depressed and worried about the wellbeing of their children.”

RMIAN, along with the Immigration Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association, will host a full-day CLE in Denver on Wednesday, September 26. The training will provide attendees with the keys to zealous immigration advocacy and dive into immigration enforcement, detention and bond practices, protections  for immigrant crime victims, asylum law, special immigrant juvenile status, and working with experts to build your case. Information here.

RMIAN’s Ashley Harrington and Laura Lunn speak to the Boulder Weekly about the administration’s policies and migrant families.

Photo: Matt Cortina/Boulder Weekly

RMIAN's Sarah Plastino speaks with NPR’s Michel Martin about the administration's plans to detain immigrant families and children longer than 20 days and about the challenges her clients face in reuniting with their children.

Local artists, led by event organizer, Kaitlyn Tucek, held an art auction and fundraiser for RMIAN on Friday, June 29th, in Denver. Over 100 artists donated 240 pieces of art to the event, which raised over $13,000. This funding allows RMIAN to help parents in Colorado experiencing family separation.

From 6 to 9 p.m. tonight, June 29, Artists for Immigrant Families, an art auction organized by Kaitlyn Tucek at the McNichols Building, will raise money for RMIAN. Admission is $5 (you can get tickets in advance here).

Image: "Choices" by Molly Bounds, silkscreen prints.

Vice quotes RMIAN’s Laura Lunn: “Everyone seems to be very confused, not just the people who are being detained and imprisoned. Across the board I haven’t heard anybody who has concrete next steps about how they will be reunited with their children.”

Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

RMIAN is hiring a Director of Development

A group of Denver artists, led by Kaitlyn Tucek, are coming together for a one night only art sale and auction benefiting RMIAN. Join us at the McNichols Civic Center Building in Denver this Friday June 29th, from 6pm-9pm during their advocacy event Giving Voices and donate to support RMIAN's efforts to reunite separated families.

RMIAN Executive Director, Mekela Goehring, and Dr. Janine Young on the lasting, irreversible consequences of family separation.

Photo: Seth Robbins/AP

Colorado Public Radio speaks to a RMIAN client who was separated from her daughter for two months in 2016, leaving lasting negative effects on her child. “It hurts to see what is happening right now. No parents should have to go through this.”

Photo: AP/Eric Gay

Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., along with Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., visited with migrant mothers at the immigration detention facility in Aurora yesterday. The Trump administration separated the mothers from their young children at the southern border in May, and has detained them ever since, now in Colorado.

Fort Collins immigration attorney, Kim Baker Medina, tells the stories of her asylum-seeking clients. “These people are real. I know because I represent or have represented each of them. But what is not real are the stories our president tells about them.”

An immigrant from El Salvador and RMIAN client shares her story of being separated from her daughter at the border.