Crystal Villa, a Cedar Run Apartments resident, awoke Wednesday morning to federal agents knocking on her door, one of many people targeted in a series of raids across the Denver metro area.
In a ring camera video she shared with Denver7, agents can be heard asking Villa if she has drugs at home. She told them, “No.” Then they ask if they can enter. She answered, “No.”
“It’s a scary situation. You answer the door, you see that, and you immediately think, ‘What did I do?’ But I did nothing. I knew I had done nothing. So, as I previously stated, why would I let them into my home? Yes, it is a scary situation. I was shaking immediately after closing the door. Let me tell you, I was shaking like a leaf when I shut that door,” Villa admitted.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the property owner Gelt Venture Partners stated that they were “approached about 18 months ago by Denver officials to help with the immigration crisis.”
“Through the city’s program, we were assigned a number of people to our apartment complex and paid for their move in fees and several months’ rent,” a spokesperson said. “However, our attempt to help the city has resulted in numerous challenges, including suspected gang activity, unpaid rent and widespread, significant damage throughout our complex.”
A spokesperson for the City of Denver denied these claims, stating that the city has been working to reduce crime in the area for ten months.
Denver7 Investigates has been looking into the Cedar Run Apartments for weeks, after tenants expressed concerns about the complex’s conditions and the landlord’s lack of response. Denver’s mayor declared it a crime hot spot nine months ago, promising resources to combat the problem.
Hans Meyer, an immigration lawyer, discusses the rights of individuals who are approached by federal agents.
He stated that everyone, documented or not, has the right to refuse law enforcement information if they arrive without a warrant.
Meyer’s firm’s phones have been ringing nonstop, as have those of other lawyers Denver7 has spoken to.
“So we have a lot of people contacting us right now smartly to engage in some planning,” Meyer told reporters. “Because although some people may be able to be detained, many of them do have rights in the immigration system and have opportunities to be able to ask to stay in the country.”
What happens next in the court system is where things get tricky for undocumented people.
“There’s no right to counsel for people who are detained in immigration court,” Meyer informed the audience. “That in turn, depends on pro bono resources and non-profit organizations.”
However, those free resources may lack the manpower to represent everyone in need.
On the other hand, the American Immigration Council claims that the government will always be represented by an attorney who will argue that deportation is necessary.
An immigration lawyer claims that undocumented immigrants do not have the right to counsel.
