Denver immigrant advocates say an elderly man with cognitive impairments was released from federal immigration custody early Monday and left to navigate the city on his own, in the heat, with almost nothing in his pocket.
Identified by supporters only as “Javier,” the man was reportedly dropped off from detention with barely any money and a plastic bag of belongings. Volunteers say he then spent hours wandering downtown before they could track him down, a sequence that has reignited long-running complaints about how and when migrants are released from federal custody.
According to The Denver Post, volunteers with the nonprofit Casa de Paz say Javier was released from the Aurora GEO detention facility before 8 a.m. on May 11. He then boarded a bus to downtown Denver and was lost for about five hours in what advocates described as sweltering weather before they found him near Stout Street and Broadway…