VOLUME 36 | ISSUE 15
WEEK OF APRIL 11, 2024
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Mixed immigrant families plead for help Latino health
tour comes to Commerce City
Ed Markowitz, U.S. citizen and AFU board member shared his story of being married to his wife, Rocio, who is a dual citizen of Canada and Mexico, and the challenges they have faced in trying to reunite their family after they were separated due to immigration policies. “After meeting, falling in love, and marrying, we faced an unknown and uncertain future dictated by the hurtful and ineffective immigration law,” Markowitz said to the participants
On the heels of President Joe Biden’s prescription drug law, which aims to bring financial relief to people on Medicaid and Medicare, U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo of the 8th Congressional District and Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, held a conversation at Kids First Health Care in Commerce City on Wednesday, April 3, about the affordability of healthcare and prescription drugs. The conversation comes after Biden reunited with his former Democratic primary rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, to push for affordable prescription drugs such as inhalers on April 2. “What drove me into politics was the kind of conversations that we have every day around prescription drugs and how difficult it is to get insurance to cover them,” Caraveo, who is a pediatrician, said to open the discussion. “(Also) how big of an impediment it is to take care of the health of children and adults in our community and how we need that experience to be transmitted to Congress so that we put the patient and the healthcare provider at the center of health care.” Becerra is on a “Latino Health Tour” that promotes bringing health services and care to Latino communities who might otherwise be unable to gain access to such care. He highlighted the Affordable Care Act, which he said has helped more than 40 million Americans have their own health insurance coverage.
SEE HELP, P4
SEE HEALTH TOUR, P3
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• Vestas to lay off 200 employees
BUSINESS
BY JACKIE RAMIREZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Judy, a volunteer with American Families United, speaks at a livestreamed discussion held on March 27, 2024, by AFU and American JACKIE RAMIREZ Business Coalition Action in front of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s office in the Cesar E. Chávez Memorial Building in Denver.
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•27J Schools moves online-only Dec. 1
BY JACKIE RAMIREZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
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LOCAL OBITUARIES LEGALS CLASSIFIED
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
LOCAL
In 2021, Colorado had 19,000 undocumented people who were married to U.S. citizens, most who have lived in the country for an average of 18 years, according to the bipartisan political organization, FWD.us’s analysis of American Community survey data. On March 27, the organizations American Families United and American Business Immigration Coalition Action visited Sen. Michael
Bennet’s Denver office to discuss expanding work authorization for Colorado families. They also offered suggestions as to what employers can do to support federal solutions to address challenges that undocumented people face in the workforce and emphasized the importance of keeping families together. If those 19,000 Coloradans were to become citizens,$293 million would be added to the economy and an additional $88 million in taxes would be collected in Colorado, according to a FWD.us survey.
OBITUARIES: PAGE 4 | PUZZLE: PAGE 8 | CLASSIFIEDS: PAGE 9 | LEGAL: PAGE 11
COMMERCECITYSENTINEL.COM • A PUBLICATION OF COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
HELP FOR SURVIVORS
Commerce City, Brighton promote app for assault survivors P2