Festival Las Americas returns to Sopris Park

Food, crafts, music, dance and fun for the kids are all in store for the 13th annual Festival Las Americas, put on by the Roaring Fork Rotary.

But the festival isn’t just a party — it’s a party with a cause ...

“It’s for people to come down and socialize,” Carter said. “It’s primarily attended by Latinos, but it’s really to celebrate all of the Americas.”

According to the 2010 census, almost 30 percent of Garfield County is Latino. However, Carter said, the Latino community is still underrepresented in leadership positions ...

“The festival gives the Latino community a chance to celebrate their heritage .... No way do we look at it as political; it’s humanitarian.”

he Festival Las Americas began with community member Jackie Morales, who ran one of the first Latino outreach programs in the valley. When Morales died from breast cancer, the Roaring Fork Rotary took over what was once called Latino Fest and started Festival Las Americas. Morales is honored every year through awards given to people in the Latino community who are unifying the valley ...

CAIRCO Research

Map: Sanctuary Cities, Counties and States
 July 2015

Location: Garfield County, Colorado
Date Enacted: May-14
Policy: County Sheriff's Office Decision
Criteria for Honoring Detainer: Will not honor ICE detainer

More than 200 cities, counties, and states across the United States are considered sanctuaries that protect criminal aliens from deportation by refusing to comply with ICE detainers or otherwise impede open communication and information exchanges between their employees or officers and federal immigration agents. These state and local jurisdictions have policies, laws, executive orders, or regulations to this effect. These sanctuary policies obstruct federal law authorizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to administratively deport illegal aliens without seeking criminal warrants or convictions from federal, state, or local courts. Although federal regulations plainly require cooperation, the federal government has never sued nor sanctioned a sanctuary jurisdiction, nor denied federal funds ...