The Denver Bar Association Condemns Government Actions
that Undermine the Rule of Law

Denver Bar Association leadership is gravely concerned about the impact of recent federal immigration enforcement operations within the United States that have devastated communities across the country, including right here in Colorado. The rights to free expression and peaceful assembly, along with the guarantees of due process, equal protection, and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures must never be abridged by agents acting under color of federal authority.

For many, particularly Black and Brown communities, the rule of law has too often been applied unevenly and enforced selectively. For generations, communities have sounded the alarm about what happens when abuses of power are tolerated, normalized, and excused. We should have listened. We are now witnessing tactics long used to surveil, intimidate, and silence marginalized people being broadened to target anyone who speaks up, bears witness, or demands accountability. When lethal force is used indiscriminately by agents of the government and enforcement tactics chill lawful speech, assembly, and observation, public trust erodes. We must raise our voices and demand accountability from those who govern, lest the rule of law become nothing more than a promise in name only.

The DBA therefore calls for full, fair, and independent investigations into all deaths at the hands of federal officers and any related uses of force during U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol operations, with full and complete cooperation between federal and state authorities. We also demand concrete measures that advance transparency, accountability, and factual public reporting regarding the basis for each incidence of use of force against the people.

This deadly assault on our core freedoms impacts each of us, and the rule of law requires that government power be constrained by clear, just, and fairly applied laws. Most importantly, all government actors must be held accountable when force is used or rights are infringed.