Kelly Wilson is a rarity in her native state of Colorado. Long one of the most popular states to move to, Colorado receives hundreds of thousands of newcomers each year. Wilson’s family, however, has owned and operated a business in the Centennial state for over 80 years. 

Now, this multigenerational legacy may come to an end thanks to the devastating effects of Colorado’s sanctuary state designation. 

“I never thought I would consider moving out of Denver, but I can’t tell you how many conversations we’ve had about moving to another state,” Wilson told IW Features. “I know a lot of other people who say, ‘Do we move to Arizona? Do we move to Florida? How do we get out of the vicious cycle that is putting us all in danger?’”

Colorado’s misguided sanctuary policies perpetuate the “vicious cycle” that has shattered the lives of American families like Wilson’s. In Colorado, law enforcement is prohibited from arresting illegal migrants on resident status alone – in other words, illegal entry into the U.S. is not a punishable crime in Colorado. 

What’s more, the 2020 budget cuts to Denver’s police force – over $35 million – ensured that even illegal migrants who commit crimes are rarely punished, and Denver police are severely limited in their ability to cooperate with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Unfortunately, the illegal migrant population in Denver is aware of this fact and fearlessly solicits residents for drugs and prostitution on city street corners, Wilson said.

“We certainly don’t feel comfortable calling Denver police for help because we know nothing’s going to happen,” she said. “Not necessarily because Denver police are bad, but because they don’t have the resources. All the public safety budgets have been cut to afford this immigration.”

Having lived in Denver her whole life, Wilson said she first started noticing increased numbers of illegal migrants towards the end of 2023. 

“When it really started getting bad was definitely spring of 2024, and by summertime, it was just out of control,” she said. 

Before that, the migrant population was mostly legal and consisted of honest, hardworking people. According to Wilson, those legal immigrants were among the first to be targeted by the exploding illegal population.

“There’s a large Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, that operates here,” she said. “There were some well known Mexican jewelers being very viciously and violently robbed by some of those people.”

Wilson said she began to be personally affected when illegal migrants started taking over busy intersections. 

“One of the main intersections that I use to take my daughter to tennis and school was just overrun by Venezuelan immigrants wanting to wash your window,” she said. “There are masses of them – you would see probably at least two dozen on the corner on any given afternoon.”

Their goal, she said, is to wash drivers’ windows and then demand payment. When people refuse, Wilson said, migrants can become aggressive, even jumping on cars.

In one horrible incident, migrants harassed her five-year-old daughter who was sitting terrified in the backseat. 

“One particular afternoon, after picking my daughter up, they approached me to clean my windows. I said, ‘No, thank you,’” she said. “They proceeded to go to my daughter’s back window and mocked her and imitated her as she was hysterically crying.”

“It’s a situation where it scares us as women alone, right?” Wilson continued. “It scares our children.”

Now, Wilson’s daughter is asking questions that no child should have to ask.

“She has had more fear over the last year in terms of, ‘Can somebody break into the house? How do I know I’m going to be safe tonight? How do I know we’re going to hear the alarm? What are we going to do?’” Wilson said. 

Despite the Trump administration’s progress in deporting Tren de Aragua gang members from her area, Wilson fears the broader illegal population will not be deterred and will continue to commit crimes – perhaps becoming even more aggressive if their Biden-era benefits are cut.

“I think some of them are just going to continue to take the risk, because they know darn well that Denver police are not going to go after them,” she said. “Unfortunately, if they don’t get what they want, or if they’re not getting free stuff, they’re going to come after us, and that results in scaring our kids and damaging our property.” 

Ultimately, Wilson said, the Denver community is reaching a breaking point. 

“We are sick of seeing our neighbors robbed, we are sick of being solicited for drugs when we drive to Target,” she said. “We’re losing what was once this really awesome community of Denver […] my parents grew up here when the busiest street was a dirt road. We go so far back, and it just doesn’t exist anymore.”