Denver saw a dramatic spike in reports of domestic violence last year, but city officials had to drop four cases in late January and early February because the victims were too afraid to testify. As undocumented immigrants, they worried if they came to court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would be waiting to pick them up.
"Our prosecution team was incredibly disheartened. We have worked very hard for many years now to establish trust with the immigrant community," said Denver city Attorney Kristin Bronson, who took on the role in October 2016. "It's a real challenge as prosecutors to keep women cooperating with us, and the deportation fear makes them even more scared."
Under the Obama administration, ICE agents prioritized arresting undocumented immigrants with criminal records, sometimes making pointed arrests at courthouses. But since President Donald Trump signed executive orders on January 25 instructing ICE to ramp up its deportation efforts, the agency's protocol has become more unpredictable, sowing fear in the immigrant community and hindering local prosecutors who depend on those immigrants to testify in court, especially in cases of domestic violence.
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