Voces Unidas holds Glenwood Springs rally in response to Garfield County’s non-sanctuary resolution
Glenwood Springs Post Independent
Andrea Teres-Martinez/Post Independent
On Sunday afternoon, approximately 60 people showed up at Sayre Park in Glenwood Springs to rally with Voces Unidas Action Fund in response to the Garfield County Board of Commissioners’ resolution declaring the county a “non-sanctuary county.”
“Today is the day that we show the Garfield County Commissioners that they are wrong,” Voces Unidas Regional Organizing Manager Alan Muñoz told the crowd. “That our community stands with immigrants. We celebrate our diversity here in Garfield County.”
Voces Unidas Action Fund is an advocacy nonprofit organization based in the Roaring Fork Valley that was created by Latinos to “build and grow our community’s political power in the central-mountain region.”
Many who were there for the rally held signs with statements that read, “We stand with immigrants,” “Promote unity, not hate,” “We all belong here,” and “Diversity is our strength.”
“We’re here to show that in Garfield County, all of us belong. Every single human belongs in this county,” Voces Unidas CEO and President Alex Sanchez said. “We want to send a message that division, that hate is not a value that the Roaring Fork Valley or Garfield County embraces. We are better than that.”
Sanchez listed the ways in which immigrants have, together, built up the Roaring Fork Valley “through their labor (and) through their love.”
“From Aspen, to Parachute, and the rest of the state,” Sanchez said in Spanish. “Every generation of immigrants … we’ve built the same park we’re standing on, the roads, the businesses, the hotels, all the homes, all the infrastructure, we’ve built it as people.”
Among speakers at the rally were members of the community and local elected officials, including State Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, Roaring Fork School Board Member Jasmin Ramirez, Garfield County Democratic Party Chair Debbie Bruell, and candidate for Garfield County Commissioner Steven Arauza.
“(Garfield County) couldn’t go on without immigrants, without our labor and our work and our sweat,” Velasco, the first Mexican-born legislator in the state of Colorado, said during the rally. “And it’s so important that the county commissioners know that this is a 30% Latino district … We are not going to leave anyone behind.”
“It hurts me as a mom to know that our commissioners don’t see us as the force that we are,” RFSD board member Ramirez shared during her speech. “This economy doesn’t grow without us … it won’t keep growing if they don’t give us the opportunity to … live without fear in this valley.”
Pastor Jeff Carlson with the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church also stepped up to speak during the rally.
“The people of God were migrants after the exodus in Egypt,” Carlson said. “God tells us that we once were immigrants and therefore we must welcome immigrants as well.”
Carlson addressed the crowd in Spanish, referencing that day’s gospel reading from the book of John, which he said shows God’s love of the whole world.
“That’s why it’s dangerous to think that one group is first … that one group is above others,” he said. “It makes us less when we do that.”
Next to speak was Arauza, District 3 candidate for Garfield County commissioner, whom Sanchez said has graduated from many of Voces Unidas’ programs. Arauza urged attendees at the rally to view the resolution as “a galvanizing moment” and to vote in local elections.
“I’m a Chicano parent, a taxpayer and a voter in Rifle,” Arauza said. “I’m here today because I’m sick of elected officials attacking the Latino community and having the nerve to claim that they do so in the name of Garfield County.”
“Vote like our rights depend on it, because they do,” he continued.
Sanchez criticized Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario for his proactive collaboration with immigration authorities to deport nine people currently detained in county jail for reasons unrelated to their immigration status, which Vallario shared during last week’s county commissioners meeting.
“The county government decided through their political process … that we as immigrants bring diseases, that we’re people that don’t deserve dignity,” Sanchez said in Spanish. “That’s the interpretation that we as a community took.”
Sanchez closed out the rally with a call to action, encouraging participants to vote in the November 2024 election.
Voces Unidas announce discrimination hotline, petition
Before announcing the rally, Voces Unidas had released a statement denouncing the commissioners’ non-sanctuary designation. Two days after starting a petition in opposition to the resolution, Voces activated a hotline for reporting instances of discrimination in Garfield County.
“Following its recent declaration as a ‘non-sanctuary county,’ Voces Unidas is formally recognizing Garfield County as a hostile government to immigrants and Latinos,” Voces Unidas’ post read. “We are alerting all members of the Latino community, regardless of immigration status, to be mindful that law enforcement in Garfield County may show prejudice towards our community and is proactively working with ICE to deport members of the Latino community at the county jail. Members of our community may also face discrimination while attempting to access public services in Garfield County.”
The post states that residents can call 970-340-8586 “to report any abuse or discrimination by law enforcement or when trying to access public services in Garfield County.”
