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MorningMagazine_2025-04-16 Gabrielle Mendoza
BoCo Climate Action Statement
Boulder County Commissioners have issued a statement reiterating their right, and their commitment, to protecting the county’s environment and people from the climate crisis.
The statement, issued yesterday, came in response to several of Trump’s executive orders that, in the Commissioners’ words, “directly attack the rights of Colorado and local governments to protect our air, water, and people from the climate crisis.”
Those executive orders restrict states from adopting clean energy and climate regulations, undermine environmental justice protections, weaken air and water quality standards, and favor fossil fuel development over public health.
The three Boulder County Commissioners – Claire Levy, Marta Loachamin, and Ashley Stolzmann – said they stand firm in their belief that Colorado and Boulder County are within their legal rights to address climate change locally, and that the federal government does not have the authority to block state laws and lawsuits with its executive orders.
A media liaison for the Commissioner’s office told KGNU that yesterday’s statement is in line with their message of commitment to value, respect, and support all individuals, issued on February 6th of this year.
Alien Enemies Act Deportations Halted For Colorado Detainees
A federal judge in Denver has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to stop using a centuries-old law to deport detainees currently held in Colorado.
U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte Sweeney’s order temporarily prohibits the forced removal of “all noncitizens in custody in … Colorado who were, are, or will be subject to Trump’s order” that invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. That Act allows the president to detain or deport any “non-citizens” in the U.S. – but it pertains specifically to times of declared war between the U.S. and any foreign nation or government.
Trump invoked the Act on March 14, claiming that the United States is under “invasion” by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Last month, federal officials deported over 200 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, where the U.S. government is paying them to be held.
About 90% of deportees have no criminal record, and only a handful have been charged with serious crimes.
The judge’s order comes after lawyers for two Venezuelan nationals, who are being held at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Saturday. Those two men have allegedly been falsely accused of association with the Tren de Aragua gang and face removal to CECOT under Trump’s executive order.
The Trump administration had said that detainees could be given 24 hours of notice before removal and deportation, which leaves plaintiffs and other detainees in Colorado at “imminent risk of removal” according to the lawsuit. That suit is seeking a temporary restraining order, or TRO, to give the court more time to intervene.
Sweeney’s order protects the defendants in question, as well as those in similar situations, from being deported until the Trump administration responds to the motion for a TRO. The administration must respond by Thursday.
That’s all according to Colorado Newsline.
Griswold Complaint To Be Dismissed
A campaign finance complaint against Secretary of State Jena Griswold is slated to be dismissed next month.
The complaint was filed in January the Public Trust Institute, along with four other complaints – all of which have already been dismissed.
The complaint alleges that Griswold intended to run for governor without filing a candidate affidavit or a required personal financial disclosure statement. Their main piece of evidence was a website called “jenaforgovernor.com.”
The Attorney General’s office handled the investigation against Griswold, and concluded that there is insufficient evidence to support claims that the Secretary of State violated state campaign finance law. They found that the website itself was purchased by Griswold’s brother Chris, and that he is to blame. Apparently, he didn’t know the site was visible to the public. He’s since deactivated the website.
Last week, Griswold announced that she is running for attorney general, not governor.
The complaint will be officially dismissed on May 7.
That’s all according to Colorado Politics.
Sand Creek Massacre Memorial
A new memorial depicting one of the darkest moments in Colorado history is due to go on display at the State Capitol in Denver next year.
State House and Senate lawmakers have unanimously approved a resolution to create a new statue memorializing the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre in southeastern Colorado.
The Denver Post says that the statue will show the Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs Black Kettle and Left Hand, along with a Native American woman and child. It will be placed on the western steps of the capitol building next year.
A Northern Cheyenne tribal representative told The Post the statue’s location is at the spot where an annual 200 mile “healing run” comes to an end. Otto Braided Hair added that the two Nations recognize the unanimous support of the House and Senate, and that he is delighted by the new memorial.
An estimated two hundred Cheyenne and Arapahoe were slaughtered in the unprovoked Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, 1864.
The statue will replace a memorial of a Union soldier, which was toppled during the 2020 protests sparked by the brutal murder of George Floyd.
RMNP Free Saturday
Rocky Mountain National Park will mark the beginning of National Park Week this Saturday by waiving its usual entrance fees.
Those entry fees are normally thirty-five dollars per motor vehicle, and fifteen dollars for anyone entering the park on foot or bicycle.
The free day Saturday comes in spite of uncertainty over staffing. The Trump administration rescinded job offers to over 5,000 seasonal park service employees back in January, though later reversed course and told parks officials they could hire even more seasonal employees than they did last year. That’s according to The Denver Post.
Park officials say they expect to have a similar number of resources as in past years to support the week’s events.
The Post says that Rocky Mountain National Park, just outside of Estes Park, is the fifth-busiest in the National Park system, with more than four million visitors last year.
While entry fees will be waived Saturday, all other administrative fees will remain. National Park Week runs through April 27th.
