Workers’ rights, defending immigrant communities, and protecting Colorado’s environment are among the top priorities for the state’s Latino Democratic Caucus as the 2025 session hits the midway point. The Latino Democratic Caucus unveiled these priorities, including the protection of illegal immigrants, during a Tuesday press conference.

The 13-member caucus includes Democratic Senators and Representatives from across the state and is co-chaired by Sen. Julie Gonzales of Denver and Rep. Elizabeth Velasco of Glenwood Springs.

‘Defending our community’

Rep. Yara Zokaie of Fort Collins, the state’s first Iranian American legislator, spoke of the caucus’ priority to defend the immigrant community.

“We are seeing a rise in discrimination, in hateful, extremist rhetoric, and in policies that are designed to exclude rather than to uplift,” she said.

As the daughter of immigrants, Zokaie said that while she has experienced firsthand the barriers and discrimination immigrants face, she has also witnessed the resiliency of immigrant communities in the face of adversity.

“I know the strength of families like mine, who work hard, contribute to our communities and refuse to be pushed aside. Our communities are not just a part of Colorado; we make Colorado, and our communities are not a scapegoat. We are the backbone of this state, and when people endanger our community by using harmful rhetoric that falsely links crime and immigration, we will call it out, no matter who it comes from. We will not stay silent while our constituents are vilified for political gain.”

Zokaie also called for the release of Jeanette Vizguerra, an immigrant rights activist in the Denver area who was detained by ICE on Monday, allegedly without a legal deportation order.

Zokaie said Vizguerra was “forcibly detained” from her workplace without reason.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston called the detention “Soviet-style persecution of political dissidents under the guise of immigration enforcement.” Gov. Jared Polis criticized ICE’s lack of transparency with his office regarding arrests and detentions.

“I have met with and know Jeanette Vizguerra,” Polis said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “Jeanette is a mother and grandmother, has spent decades in our country, helping the community, has a job, has no history of violence, is not a threat to the community, and above all else, deserves due process pursuant to the law. I continue to urge President Trump and ICE to focus their actions on violent offenders and be more transparent with states they are operating in, including being transparent about the cost and impact of detentions, raids, and the cost to taxpayers.”

Immigration bill ‘coming soon’ 

Talks of a Democrat-backed immigration bill have been floating around the Capitol following Donald Trump’s election. While that measure has not yet been introduced, Gonzales said it’s “coming soon.” 

“We have been working for months on this policy, and as we continue to grapple with the ever-evolving actions of the Trump administration,” she said. “We also know, recognize and understand that there is tremendous work for us to do here in Colorado in order to ensure that we are protecting every Coloradan’s civil rights, particularly given the fact that Donald Trump continues to allow ICE officers to act with abandon and to flout the rule of law.” 

Protecting air, land and water

Rep. Matthew Martinez of Monte Vista spoke of an issue that has impacted his community for seven decades: a sixteen-foot-long, eight-foot-tall fence on the Costilla County ranch of a wealthy Texas oilman.

Martinez said the fence is threatening the livelihoods of San Luis Valley residents. He is sponsoring a bill that would prevent further fence construction, which he said has torn up the surrounding landscape and created floodplains.

“This is something that we feel passionately about as a caucus, because the rural voice matters as well, and our rural Latinos matter in this conversation,” Martinez said. “If we can protect our water in the San Luis Valley, we can protect it all throughout the state and we can show that the Latino voice does matter in this state and we can push back, and we can fight back, and we can be successful in making sure that we protect the quality of our land, air and water throughout this state.”

Higher wages and safe workplaces 

Rep. Javier Mabrey of Denver said workers’ rights and workplace safety have long been priorities of the caucus. However, he said Democrats need to do more to retain working-class voters’ support as some of them are switching parties.

“An increasing number of working-class voters are voting for Republicans, and I think it’s incumbent upon us as Democrats to demonstrate loudly that we are the party of the working class,” he said.

Mabrey and fellow Latino Democratic Caucus member Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez of Denver hope to secure the labor community’s support for Senate Bill 005, which they call the Worker Protection Act.  

The bill repeals the second election requirement of Colorado’s Labor Peace Act, making Colorado a “right to organize” state for labor unions.

“Since the New Deal, we have had one silver bullet in this country for growing the middle class in the face of excessive corporate power, and that is the power of unions, the power of working people to come together and exercise the only leverage they have in an economy that is rigged against them,” said Mabrey, adding that Latino union members are more likely to see wage increases than members of any other race. “This basic principle of fairness and workplace democracy will make it easier for workers to form and sustain unions, and it will help us grow our middle class here in Colorado.”

Affordability 

Denver Rep. Lorena Garcia is sponsoring House Bill 1296 with Zokaie and Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora. The bill makes adjustments to the state tax expenditures, including eliminating obsolete tax credits. 

According to Garcia, tax credits are the easiest way for the state to save families money because the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) prevents “being able to budget responsibly and invest in the social good of our society.”

“I’m excited that we are able to take this step and I’m excited that this is just simply part of the package that many of us in the Latino Caucus are bringing forward to truly address the challenges of our fiscal state,” Garcia said.