{"id":130577,"date":"2026-05-26T08:12:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T14:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/at-bus-stops-across-durango-these-volunteers-try-to-shield-families-from-ice\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T08:12:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T14:12:32","slug":"at-bus-stops-across-durango-these-volunteers-try-to-shield-families-from-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/at-bus-stops-across-durango-these-volunteers-try-to-shield-families-from-ice\/","title":{"rendered":"At bus stops across Durango, these volunteers try to shield families from ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Children
Children wait for their school bus with E.B., a volunteer who arrives at dawn to watch for immigration officials as the kids head off to school in Durango on April 6. (Josh Stephenson\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The sun has not yet spilled onto the roads winding through the Animas Valley as elementary school children, oversized backpacks on their small frames, gather at the bus stop at the edge of their mobile home park.<\/p>\n

In the low light, it\u2019s easy for dark, unfamiliar cars to lurk in the shadows.<\/p>\n

At 6:10 a.m., E.B. \u2013 a woman trained to spot those vehicles \u2013 pulls up to the bus stop, just outside downtown Durango. She is a volunteer, arriving at dawn to watch for immigration officials as the children head off to school. It\u2019s her first stop along a 30-mile loop where trained volunteer \u201cconfirmers\u201d stand with children until the bus arrives and wait for them when they\u2019re dropped off after school.<\/p>\n

There are about 30 such volunteers in La Plata County, joining the ranks of people across the state whose concerns about often seemingly random immigration enforcement have led them to stand with children, watch as their parents walk them to school or keep a lookout amid the otherwise mundane rhythms of everyday life.<\/p>\n

On a fraught national landscape where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel have cast a wide net to detain and deport immigrants, and where their tactics have triggered protest and violence, the volunteers push back against the incursion into their community.<\/p>\n

Four months have passed since masked immigration officials pulled three Colombian asylum seekers \u2013 a father, his 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter \u2013 from their car while on their way to school. ICE has detained at least 42 people in Durango and neighboring towns of Ignacio, Cortez and Pagosa Springs since January 2025, according to local immigration advocates. Twelve have been detained since the start of this year.<\/p>\n

Since the start of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, the network of volunteers alerting their community to ICE activity in Southwest Colorado has steadily grown. Now, the confirmers, part of a broader immigration response effort, stand watch at bus stops in the bitter cold and through late-season storms, filling a role the children may not fully understand but that is rooted in a shared sense of unease.<\/p>\n

\"A
A trained confirmer holds a sign in protest while monitoring activity outside the ICE facility in Durango. (Josh Stephenson\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

E.B.\u2019s bright yellow vest cuts through the dim morning as she flicks on the interior light in her car to study a list of vehicles that other volunteers have flagged as possible immigration enforcement. A Durango resident of 20 years, she asked to be identified by her nickname because she fears retaliation \u2013 not only from immigration officials but from neighbors who oppose her efforts in the town of 19,000 that has become a hotbed of friction between ICE agents and local activists.<\/p>\n

A whistle hangs around her neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the abductions are outside city limits,\u201d she says before driving north, farther into the valley.<\/p>\n

At her school bus stops, she greets the children with a smile and asks about their weekend plans. But her attention keeps returning to the road \u2013 scanning for cars without license plates, windows tinted too dark, listening for the low hum of an idling engine along a private drive.<\/p>\n

Unlike volunteers who respond to reports of ICE activity after sightings are called in, the volunteers at the bus stops take a more proactive approach. They monitor areas where parents and children may be vulnerable while documenting enforcement activity, informing people of their constitutional rights and connecting them with community resources.<\/p>\n

For many, the role is as emotionally taxing as it is practical.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s both literal grieving \u2013 obviously so many people have died in detention \u2013 but also an ambiguous grieving, not only for the people that have been kidnapped, but also for loss of community and loss of safety and feeling safe in our community, as both confirmers and our targeted community,\u201d said E.B., a former multilingual teacher. \u201cIt used to be a very safe family place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the \u201cNeighborhood Watch\u201d group started keeping vigil in the mornings and afternoons, ICE sightings have become less frequent, she said. Once the children climb onto the bus and nothing seems amiss, she texts her Signal group \u2013 \u201cAll clear\u201d \u2013 then pulls back onto the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tell everybody a lot that this job is pretty boring and just 99% of the time, we\u2019re like, all the bus stops are clear,\u201d she said. \u201cWhich is good, right? That\u2019s what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

The volunteer response network is driven by a pervasive anxiety reflected nationwide. In 2025, more than 1 in 7 adults in immigrant families with children said immigration concerns were increasing their children\u2019s emotional distress, according to the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank. The burden is especially heavy in mixed-status households, where 25% reported heightened stress, but it extends beyond them \u2013 affecting 15% of families with a mix of green card holders and citizens, and even 8% of families made up entirely of citizens.<\/p>\n

That anxiety can quickly become tangible when enforcement hits close to home. A single detention can ripple through a community, said La Plata County volunteer Anna Lauer Roy, who has heard from parents who kept their children home from school out of fear after ICE activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen any detentions happen in any of the neighborhoods \u2026 since we started doing this,\u201d said Lauer Roy, a psychologist who works full time with asylum-seeking refugees in her day job. \u201cObviously, we can\u2019t say why that is, but it feels good that\u2019s the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each morning, she walks up and down the streets of a community where parents escort their children to school, turning back once she reaches the crossing guard. She knows she can\u2019t stop an ICE arrest but hopes volunteers who \u201cwatch them like hawks\u201d \u2013 and videotape them \u2013 encourage agents to follow protocols.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think that education is the key \u2013 and so (we\u2019re) trying to make sure that kids know that we want them to go to school,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re right there with them, waking up when it\u2019s time for them to go to school, walking to school if it\u2019s cold out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauer Roy and the other confirmers are carrying out that work as ICE faces renewed scrutiny in Colorado over warrantless arrests. Last week, a federal judge ordered the agency to retrain officers after finding they had violated a previous court order limiting arrests without judicial warrants.<\/p>\n

The last day of school is today, May 22, but volunteers say their watch will continue through the summer to keep an eye on the roads as parents head to work and shuttle their children to camps, practices and other small rituals of daily life.<\/p>\n

\"A
A trained confirmer holds a sign in protest while monitoring activity outside the ICE facility in Durango. (Josh Stephenson\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
An up-close view of the whistle and anti-ICE pin adorned by Enrique Orozco-Perez, co-executive director of Compa\u00f1eros. (Josh Stephenson\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Detained on the way to school, work<\/div>\n

Among the 42 people detained by ICE in Durango, all but two were detained without a judicial warrant, according to data from Compa\u00f1eros, Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. Advocates said a document was presented before one detention, though they are still investigating what it was. Data for the remaining person was not available.<\/p>\n

Only about 10% of those detained had criminal histories, said Aye Maldonado, a legal services specialist for Compa\u00f1eros \u2013 and even those were limited to misdemeanors, often from years or decades ago. In a separate case, she said, a woman applying for citizenship ran into complications because of a drunken-driving arrest from when she was in her 20s, nearly two decades earlier. No one detained had been charged with any felonies.<\/p>\n

Even a minor history of brushes with the law can deter people from seeking legal protection. Applying for relief means sharing personal information with the government \u2013 information that can be used against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could say, \u2018We\u2019re not giving them a visa. We\u2019re going to detain her because she\u2019s a criminal,\u2019\u201d Maldonado said.<\/p>\n

The risk extends to some of the very protections designed to help vulnerable immigrants. Under the Violence Against Women Act, survivors of domestic violence can self-petition for legal status without their abuser\u2019s knowledge. But advocates say those safeguards are faltering.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re submitting applications for visas that are supposed to protect victims, and it\u2019s now doing the opposite,\u201d said Enrique Orozco-Perez, co-executive director of Compa\u00f1eros. \u201cThat\u2019s the scary part. We\u2019re going back to a time where reporting becomes a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than half the 42 detainees \u2013 23 people \u2013 were detained while leaving their homes, while five were on their way to work, at work or returning home, and five were on their way to school, data from immigrant advocacy groups show.<\/p>\n

None were arrested at a bus stop, but some parents were detained not far from them, while driving their children to and from school \u2013 prompting volunteers to add more bus stops to their daily monitoring locations.<\/p>\n

\"Enrique
Enrique Orozco-Perez, co-executive director of Compa\u00f1eros, far left, meets with volunteers, clockwise from top, M Carrasco-Songer, Tirzah Camacho, Spenser Snarr, and Jay Conlon while speaking with a reporter in Durango on April 6. (Josh Stephenson\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cICE is looking for the hard workers, the people who are working in the restaurants or the cleaning companies or in construction,\u201d said Lady Carolina Diaz, legal services manager. \u201cThey are not looking for criminal immigrants, like drug trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re finding ways to kind of get our community members out in the open to detain them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly said that immigration enforcement efforts under his administration would prioritize immigrants accused of violent crimes.<\/p>\n

In a response to several questions from The Colorado Sun, a spokesperson for ICE said in an email that its officers \u201cuse many determining factors when investigating immigration crime and making targeted immigration arrests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removed from the United States,\u201d a spokesperson who did not provide their name wrote. \u201cWhile ICE is not subject to previous restrictions on immigration operations at sensitive locations, to include schools, churches and courthouses, ICE does not indiscriminately take enforcement actions at these locations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agency denied The Sun\u2019s request to accompany immigration agents in the field.<\/p>\n

A Department of Homeland and Security spokesman disputed the data from immigration advocates and claimed that since January 2025, agents made 69 arrests out of the Durango office, with 48 of those arrests involving people charged or convicted of a crime including sexual assault, domestic violence and driving under the influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE does not target schools,\u201d a DHS spokesperson wrote. \u201cThis is just another false narrative to try and demonize our brave ICE law enforcement. \u2026 ICE does NOT target children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"U.S.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers remove protesters after they linked arms and sat in front of the ICE field office driveway Jan. 2 in Durango. (Shane Benjamin\/Durango Herald file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
On the front lines<\/div>\n

Orozco-Perez steers his truck toward an industrial park on the edge of Durango, where the local ICE field office sits inside a converted car wash, enclosed by a chain-link fence. Most days, volunteers walk the perimeter, tracking which cars are parked inside and noting vehicles as they pass through the gates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time of day \u2013 when everyone\u2019s heading to work \u2013 is when I\u2019m most anxious,\u201d Orozco-Perez said, driving through town on a Monday morning. \u201cIt\u2019s when we have the fewest people available to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

That tension is part of what has prompted a broader, coordinated effort that includes weekly protests outside the facility and a volunteer network that accompanies immigrants to court hearings and responds in real time to ICE activity.<\/p>\n

Doing this work in a small, rural community carries risks. Many confirmers are known to immigration officials and encounters can quickly turn tense, with a toll that is both mental and physical.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t look at any cars at all the same way, where we have this lens of scanning, scanning, scanning,\u201d said Tirzah Camacho, a confirmer with the Southwest Rapid Response Network. \u201cDoes that look like an agent? Every call you go on is a nervous system beating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Enrique
Enrique Orozco-Perez, co-executive director of Compa\u00f1eros, looks to see what vehicles are present at the ICE facility in Durango on Monday, April 6, 2026. (Josh Stephenson\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A confirmer writes \u201cICE KIDNAPS KIDS\u201d with chalk outside the ICE facility in Durango. (Josh Stephenson\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Some volunteers said ICE agents have followed their cars to work. One volunteer was charged with stalking, though a judge later dismissed the case. At a protest last fall, others were pepper-sprayed at close range and dragged across pavement. Volunteers also face pushback from community members who oppose their efforts.<\/p>\n

An immigration officer was charged last month with third-degree assault and criminal mischief after the Colorado Bureau of Investigation opened a case into the treatment of a protester seen being put into a chokehold outside the facility in Durango where the Colombian father and his children were being held.<\/p>\n

A DHS spokesperson said ICE officers were trained to use the minimum amount of force to resolve dangerous situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAssaulting and obstructing law enforcement is not only a crime but also dangerous,\u201d the spokesperson said via email.<\/p>\n

For immigrant community members involved in the work, those risks carry an added layer of personal exposure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult for me as an immigrant to actually be in the front lines like they have been,\u201d said Beatriz Garcia, the Western Slope regional director for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, which has more than 3,000 volunteers statewide. \u201cAnd I do as much as I can, but I have a lot of limitations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a rural region, where a report of ICE activity might come from 50 miles away, a \u201crapid\u201d response network looks different than it does in metro parts of Colorado \u2013 but it is no less committed, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see that there are a lot of people that have been putting themselves in very dangerous situations,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

For some, the personal cost is weighed against what is at stake. The feeling of burnout is small when compared to the risk of detention, another confirmer Spenser Snarr said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have the privilege to show up and confront an officer and stand up for folks and still go home at the end of the day, it\u2019s worth it for all of us to take that on,\u201d Snarr said. \u201cIt\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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