This is how it began. The picture is hard to look at. My daughter is a beautiful, strong, young woman. Seeing her like this, fighting for her life, it broke me. I’m hitting this hard right now, because elections have consequences. I honestly never paid attention to local politics, not realizing that local and state laws would impact us to a far greater degree than federal law. The initial investigator that called me, three days after the accident, explicitly told me Valeria, the Venezuelan illegal alien that hit Carissa, was a citizen. Did he lie? According to local laws, maybe, maybe not. LEO’s can’t ask about immigration status. If the person volunteers information, welp, that is how it is, even if it’s not true. We were initially told Valeria was in jail for “less than 48 hours”, deemed not a flight risk despite her fleeing once already and was released on a $500 bond. Later, we found out Valeria was in jail for about SIX hours, so before Carissa was even out of her life saving surgery. And that $500 bond was a PR bond, meaning, no cash was paid, just a signature. We did not find out for 6 months that Valeria was an illegal alien and even then, answers were vague, just that ICE had “entered the conversation”. Did they purposefully keep us in the dark? Maybe, maybe not. Local law enforcement cannot divulge that sort of information per state laws. We were told there would be 6 continuances. Valeria received 7, because her attorney needed time to consider how the plea deal would impact her immigration status. Despite all defense parties’ objections, the DA “had to” allow additional continuances or risk an appeal. Valeria was allowed to spend her holidays free, with loved ones, while Carissa remained a prisoner of her own mind. Charges were dropped, from 5 to one single class 5 felony as part of the plea. Attached to the plea was $15,000 restitution to Carissa’s friend, reimbursement for the motorcycle. The Victims’ Advocate, the DA, the public defender, no one knew Carissa’s medical condition, only the medical condition of Carissa’s friend: a broken collarbone and a messed up toe nail. I had to chase them down to inform them. The public defender didn’t know until I wheeled Carissa into the 7th arraignment. Carissa’s condition had zero impact on proceedings. Valeria pled guilty to the single felony, which carried a maximum of 3 year sentence. She would probably never see the inside of a prison cell. I filed a report with VOICE and had Valeria deported. They confirmed she was in Venezuela Feb 28th, 2026. The only Justice my family will see is the comfort that Valeria cannot hurt another American family. But with local laws being the way they are, if she DID manage to cross the border and make her way back to Colorado today, Colorado law would continue to protect her. Local and state elections matter. I learned the hard way that We The People must take our civic duties seriously. Vote red. It’s our best chance at ending so-called “sanctuary policies” in our state. Vote yes on 81. Make our communities safer by allowing local LEO’s cooperate with ICE.