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MorningMagazine_2025-02-20 Gabrielle Mendoza
Immigrant children could lose attorneys under Trump’s order
Roughly 160 immigrant children who have been separated from their parents could lose their attorneys.
That’s because of an order from the Department of the Interior, which ends funding for legal services in the Office of Refugee Resettlement unaccompanied children’s program.
The order was sent to the Acacia Center for Justice, which funds around 90 legal services across the country that represent over 26,000 children in immigration court proceedings.
The Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, who is funded by the Acacia Center, is now prohibited from operating inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora, as well as the immigration courthouse in downtown Denver.
According to The Colorado Sun, over 85% of immigrants in Colorado fighting deportation and seeking asylum or permanent legal stay in the U.S. have no attorney.
Donald Trump issued a similar order in January through the Department of Justice – that one halted legal services for adult immigrants. But, legal service providers sued the Trump administration over the order. The administration eventually rescinded the order – at least temporarily – and providers have since returned to work.
CSU students protest in support of DEI
Hundreds of students gathered in Fort Collins yesterday to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The protest was organized by the Colorado State University CSU) Student Coalition for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Demonstrators gathered at CSU student center on-campus, then marched to the administration building. Students claimed the university has begun eliminating DEI programs, and called for the reinstatement of these programs. That’s according to 9News.
CSU’s President Amy Parsons responded to Trump’s federal directives, including his threats to DEI programs, through a letter posted online two days ago. That letter can be found on CSU’s website, and linked at kgnu.org.
Two Colorado hospitals will resume gender-affirming care for youth
Two Colorado hospitals will resume gender-affirming care for people ages 18 and younger, after stopping those services following an order from Trump. KGNU’s Pam Johnson has the details.
Children’s Hospital Colorado and Denver Health had stopped providing certain forms of care for transgender and gender non-conforming youth earlier this month, after Trump threatened to pull federal funding if hospitals provided that care to minors.
Trump’s order from late January said QUOTE “It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another.” That order was followed by federal attempts to block funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming surgeries or nonsurgical care like hormone therapy.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined a lawsuit last week filed in Washington state seeking to block the order. The judge in that case issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration. According to The Colorado Sun, Colorado hospitals will likely fall under the protection of that order due to the state’s new involvement in the case.
Gender-affirming care is legally protected in the state of Colorado, under its benchmark health insurance plan.
Children’s Hospital said in a statement that it plans to resume providing gender-affirming care on Feb. 24, so long as the judge in Washington extends the restraining order to Colorado.
Denver Health said its patients 18 years and younger will now be able to continue receiving hormone therapy and treatments, and that they’ll once again start accepting new patients.
Senate passes bill that would make it harder for books to be banned
The Colorado Senate has passed a bill that would make it harder for certain books to be banned from school libraries.
Senate Bill 25-063, or the “Library Resource Decision Standards for Public Schools” bill, would provide more protections for books with themes or characters related to classes of people protected under anti-discrimination laws. That includes stories about people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and more.
This bill would require school districts in Colorado to write up specific policies that outline a clear process of how books and other materials would be removed. The policies would be up to the school to create, but they must follow anti-discrimination laws.
The bill also requires that requests to remove books be made public. Anyone filing removal requests must have a student at that particular school.
The bill will be headed to the House Education Committee.
