A father and his children detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Durango last month say they want to return to their home country of Colombia.

Immigration officials admitted during a federal court hearing that Fernando Jaramillo Solano was not their intended target during the enforcement action in Durango on Oct. 27.  Jaramillo Solano was driving his children, ages 12 and 15, to school when they were detained.

The arrests prompted protests and a physical conflict between agents and demonstrators that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Customs & Border Protection are now investigating.

“Fernando the father, is exhausted after being held in detention for almost a month. His decision to stop fighting from inside detention isn’t about giving up, it’s about getting his children out of jail, where no child should ever have to languish,” said Matt Karkut, Executive Director of Compañeros Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center.

He said the detention and separation from the children’s mother, Estela Patiño, who remains in Durango, is devastating.

“This case is not an isolated incident but rather a trend, a worrying one of families across the country that are being pushed to abandon their legal rights because detention is so traumatizing, especially for children,” said Karkut.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin provided a statement addressing allegations of mistreatment of the family during their initial detention in Durango before being transferred to a family facility in Texas, and an update about their imminent return to Colombia:

“This is disgusting and wrong. Members of the media should really stop and ask themselves why these people ran directly to the press and activists to make such heinous allegations, rather than report it to any law enforcement authorities. The facts are that on October 27, ICE arrested Fernando Jaramillo Solano, an illegal alien from Colombia, during a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Durango, Colorado. 

Jaramillo illegally entered the country on June 24, 2024, near San Diego, California, and was RELEASED into this country [by] the Biden administration. He and his two children did not utilize the CBP Home program and are therefore do not qualify for its incentives. They were granted a voluntary departure by the immigration judge and ICE will facilitate their return.

 Additionally, no one was denied adequate food. It’s disgusting the  [Associated Press] is peddling these lies about law enforcement. This type of garbage is contributing to our officers facing a 1000% increase in assaults and a 8000% increase in death threats

“ICE does not separate families. Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement. Parents can take control of their departure with the CBP Home app and reserve the chance to come back the right legal way.”

Karkut said advocates will continue to work for the family’s release.

“This isn’t a family without a case by the way. Estela, the mother, is the primary asylum applicant and her claim is very strong. Members of her family have been killed by violence in Colombia that would threaten Estela if she returns. So she has a very legitimate reason to fear going back. And our asylum laws exist precisely for people in exactly her situation.” 

Colorado voters hold a dim view of national politics, with nearly 3 in 4 characterizing the political situation as “in crisis.” And further, nearly two-thirds of respondents to a new poll fear political violence will worsen over the next few years.

Overall, the results from the Colorado Polling Institute, with the results released in phases on Thursday and Friday, show a dour outlook dominating the Centennial State 10 months into President Donald Trump’s second term. The poll also was conducted a month into the recently concluded — and record-long — federal government shutdown, and less than two months since the assassination on a college campus of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.

Outside politics, 46% of Colorado voters said they think the economy will only get worse, while another 43% think it’ll only stay about the same — leaving a sliver of voters, just 12%, with a rosy outlook.

“I think it’s a general sense that there’s so many different issues that are weighing on them — they’re concerned about the economy, they’re even concerned about jobs today, it’s not just cost of living anymore. That just combines to be a real downer,” said pollster Lori Weigel, principal of New Bridge Strategy, the Republican half of the bipartisan team behind the poll.

Add in fears of political violence and an overall crisis of governance, Weigel said, and “how can you be sort of positive when you feel like that’s happening?”

Colorado voters are also reeling from the down economy more than the rest of the country, the pollsters found: 61% of respondents said they had cut spending on nonessential items compared to last year, versus 42% of the nation writ large, and 28% of Coloradans said their habits had remained about the same, compared to 43% of the nation.

The poll was in the field Nov. 1-5. The pollsters conducted online interviews with 622 registered voters that featured an over-sample of Hispanic voters to gauge that demographic’s views on certain questions. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Hits to politicians’ favorability ratings

Coloradans’ souring feelings on politics as a whole have bled over to state leaders, though the changes were often within the margin of error. Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, is now slightly underwater with voters in favorable feelings, at 45% favorable to 46% unfavorable, according to the poll.

It’s a noticeable slip from March, when a bare majority, 51%, of voters held a favorable opinion of the term-limited governor and 40% had an unfavorable view. More voters also hold a very unfavorable view of him now, at 33%, than earlier this year, when it was 26%.

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who is up for reelection next year, saw a similar slip, going from 49% favorable to 43% between March and this month. His unfavorable rating was 36% in March and 38% this month.

A yearslong effort to purchase two of the most powerful water rights on the Colorado River has cleared another hurdle after the state water board agreed to manage the rights alongside Western Slope water officials.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to accept the two water rights tied to the Shoshone Power Plant into its environmental flow program. The approval is a critical piece in the Colorado River District’s $99 million deal with the owner of the aging plant in Glenwood Canyon — Xcel Energy — but the deal has faced pushback from Front Range water providers that fear the change could impact their supplies.

Backers of the deal aim to make sure the water now used by the small hydroelectric plant — and then put back in the river — will always flow westward.

“The importance of today’s vote cannot be overstated as a legacy decision for Colorado water and the Western Slope,” Andy Mueller, general manager of the Colorado River District, said in a news release. “It secures an essential foundation for the health of the Colorado River and the communities it sustains.”

Colorado water officials hailed the decision as a monumental achievement for the state that will help protect the river and its ecosystem. The state’s instream flow program allows the Water Conservation Board to manage dedicated water rights for the health of rivers, streams and lakes.

“Acquiring the Shoshone water rights for instream flow use is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve and improve the natural environment of the Colorado River,” Dan Gibbs, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, said in a news release.

One of the main sticking points during the hourslong meeting Wednesday was whether the board should manage the water rights with the River District. That would include decisions on how and when to require upstream users — like Front Range utilities — to send more water downstream. Generally, the board is the sole manager of water rights in its instream flow program, which the Shoshone rights are now a part of.

Several Western Slope entities said they would withdraw their financial support from the purchase if the Colorado River District was not allowed to co-manage the right with the board. Local governments and other organizations across the Western Slope promised more than $16 million toward the purchase.

Front Range water providers argued that the statewide board is the sole authority that can manage such rights and should have final decision-making power.

The water board instead approved the co-management strategy, which means that the two authorities will decide together how to act when there is not enough water to meet the right’s obligations.

The Colorado River District — a taxpayer-funded agency that works to protect Western Slope water — wants to purchase the Shoshone rights to ensure that water will continue to flow west past the plant and downstream to the towns, farms and others who rely on the Colorado River, even if the century-old power plant were decommissioned.

A stream of Western Slope elected officials, water managers and conservation groups testified in support of the deal and the rare opportunity it presented.

“The Shoshone call is one of the great stabilizing forces on the river — a heartbeat that has kept our valley farms alive, our communities whole and our economies steady even in lean years,” Mesa County Commissioner Bobbie Daniel said, urging the board to approve the plan.