by Jacob Richards
Over a year of work by a loose nebula of activists, researchers, moms, and workers now calling themselves the Daylight Community Collective, has resulted in another win.
On Wednesday, the Glenwood Springs City Council voted 6 to 1 to pullout of the SPEAR (Special Problems Enforcement and Response) taskforce. Collective members hope that this is the first domino of many yet to fall. If you live in the Garfield County or a municipality in Garfield County checkout their call to action: https://linktr.ee/dissolvespear
The municipalities of New Castle and Carbondale are also actively looking into and weighing their relationship with SPEAR.
At the end of February, the Collective’s research helped build the case against Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario used by Towards Justice to file a cease-and-desist letter. Their hard work, deep understand, and detailed research shaped the Revolutionist’s expose on Loophole Lou.
While the Colorado Attorney general cannot confirm or deny that they have opened an investigation into Vallario and his unauthorized serious crimes taskforce SPEAR, the AG’s office have been talking to and gathering documents in a manner that suggests that they have launched an investigation.
The Daylight Community Collective, has in recent months also brought to light that the ICE holdroom in Glenwood Springs has been operating on permits which expired in 2005, that the facility was never brought up to code for a detention center, The city is responding, but largely they are not addressing the core zoning, safety, and building code issues at the heart of the matter. Learn more at: https://linktr.ee/midlandcenter
“The people of Glenwood Springs deserve the raw documentation, the exact legal standards, and the City’s own words without editorial spin. We demand that municipal safety codes apply equally to every building and every occupant, regardless of who signs the lease,” said the Daylight Collective in a press release. Their expansive response to the City of Glenwood Springs, handling issue should give the citizens of Glenwood Springs serious pause about those at the helm of the administration. They leave no stone unturned, no half-truth uncorrected, no assertion not documented by the city’s own documents. Any community looking to dig into their local ICE holdroom should absolutely dig into this expansive report.
The collectives digging launched Logan Davis, with the Colorado Times Recorder to expose the network of little-known ICE hold rooms across the state and later the nation. Twenty-six Colorado lawmakers sent a letter to Pam Bondi, and a sitting congressman attempted an inspection of the Glenwood Springs facility.
Communities across Colorado have been seen how it was done by folks in Glenwood Springs, and now the nuts-and-bolts boring nuance of zoning, building code, and mandatory safety planning are being researched across the state. Already the city of Alamosa has found their ICE field office and hold room’s permitting lacking.
The Revolutionist, yesterday, filed a Colorado Open Records Request for the Grand Junction ICE hold room’s documents. Stay tuned to see what we find.
The old adage that ‘daylight is the best disinfectant,’ has never been truer.
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