Copyright Westword
Most Colorado Latinos view Immigration and Customs Enforcement unfavorably and don’t want the federal agency to have more power, according to the latest Latino Policy Agenda poll. The esults, which were released on Thursday, November 6, also pinpointed a desire for Congress to check President Donald Trump’s power ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The Latino Policy Agenda is an organization founded by two of the state’s major Latino advocacy groups, Voces Unidas and the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. It conducts polls throughout the year to gauge how Colorado’s 1.3 million Latinos are feeling about the political environment. A more extensive poll by the Latino Policy Agenda whose results came out in August found that a fifth of the 1,700 Colorado Latinos it surveyed were fearful for their rights amid ICE arrests and raids. The latest poll results revealed that 62 percent of the 400 Latinos surveyed in Colorado think their rights and civil liberties have become less secure under Trump. “Some of the largest [ICE] raids have happened in Colorado, whether it’s Colorado Springs or Aurora,” said Alex Sanchez, the president of Voces Unidas, during a November 6 media briefing. “We’ve seen more than 400 people kidnapped in their communities.” The poll was conducted over the phone, via text invite and online from October 8 to 22, in both English and Spanish. A national poll was also conducted simultaneously with 3,000 Latino voters, including the 400 polled in Colorado. The national results were similar to those in Colorado, indicating that most Latinos don’t like ICE or Trump’s tactics and policies. “Almost half of Latino and Latina registered voters have someone in their immediate family who may be undocumented or who may be in danger of being targeted by this administration,” Sanchez said. “I think that’s always what’s connected us to immigration, and we’ve seen President Trump come to Aurora, use Aurora as a platform for hate.” After the November 4 election, the poll was designed to get a feel for the midterm mood, so the questions focused on Congress and the national issues. On this poll, one of the fifty questions it asked Colorado Latinos was whether Congress is doing a good job keeping Trump’s power in check, and more than 81 percent responded that it is not. About 65 percent of Colorado Latinos polled said they view ICE unfavorably. Even more, 77 percent, were opposed to the idea of allowing ICE agents to enter homes and workplaces without warrants; 71 percent,were opposed to ICE being allowed to arrest someone based on their appearance, whether they spoke Spanish and if they were in manual work. Concerns about the government sharing data and personal information have grown louder recently, with Denver residents decrying the use of Flock cameras because of fears of surveillance by ICE and the Trump administration. The poll asked if government agencies should be allowed to share information provided for taxes and health care with other agencies. Most of the Colorado Latinos in the poll, 67 percent, responded that information should be “very limited” or prohibited from sharing. The Colorado Latinos polled were also worried about Trump’s deployment of the military to cities to tame crime and help with immigration enforcement. About 56 percent said they opposed the military being used that way — a smaller percentage than those who viewed ICE unfavorably. In short: The way 72 percent of those polled see it, the country isn’t going in the right direction, and 67 percent disapprove of Trump’s job performance so far. About 61 percent blame Trump and other Republicans for the ongoing Congressional shutdown as well. Despite this, the poll found that of the 140 Colorado Latinos polled who said they voted for Trump, 80 percent would vote for him again. At the national level, 78 percent Latinos polled said they’d vote for Trump again, if they have the chance.
