Aurora City Council Narrowly Rejects Two Immigrant Protection Measures

Aurora City Council narrowly rejected two measures on Monday night that would have given protections to undocumented residents in the form of a legal defense fund for immigrants facing deportation and the creation of “safe spaces” in the city where apprehension by federal authorities would largely be off-limits. The 6-5 vote on both measures came after more than two hours of debate and vigorous public comment, with dozens of residents calling in on both sides of the issue. Mayor Mike Coffman was the deciding “no” vote in each tally. Things got emotional among the council members before the vote, with Councilman Juan Marcano recounting how people directed ethnic slurs at him when he was a child growing up in Texas. “We need to be better than that as a country,” he said, imploring his colleagues to pass the measures. Councilwoman Allison Hiltz encouraged her colleagues to also vote yes, saying Aurora’s large and dynamic immigrant community deserved to have places in the city to go to without fear of being confronted by immigration officials. “I don’t understand why providing a basic sliver of dignity is so difficult because we are still complying with federal law,” she said. The dual measures were put forward by Aurora councilwomen Crystal Murillo and Alison Coombs. In an interview with The Denver Post before the meeting, they said they recognize that some critics will cite passage of the ordinances as tantamount to turning Aurora into a “sanctuary city” — a term ascribed to cities and towns that give added protection to immigrants by refusing to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. But Murillo, who is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and was elected to the council in 2017, said deportation leads to too many families being split apart.