This weekend, History Colorado will launch a new group founded and led by refugees and immigrants

This weekend, a brand new coalition of refugees and immigrants will gather to celebrate their achievements in Colorado and educate the community against falling for myths and misconceptions about why they came here.

Never mind that the group currently only has four members; they hope to grow with a kickoff and celebration event at History Colorado on Sunday afternoon.

“I will be sharing some of the updates and ways people can meaningfully engage, from a more national and international perspective, and also provide some actual context to what we heard,” said NgaVương-Sandoval, founder and president of Refugees + Immigrants United (RIU) .

In recent months, allegations have circulated both locally and across the country that members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had allegedly taken over part of Aurora. (Although some alleged gang ties have been arrested in the city, law enforcement says the gang’s size is small compared to other U.S.-based gangs.) In recent years, many Colorado cities, including Aurora, have publicly identified themselves as non-sanctuary cities that are unable to help new immigrants.

Vương-Sandoval said the attention on these topics overshadows who individual immigrants and refugees are in Colorado. Her group hopes to interrupt this narrative.

Courtesy of Nga Vương-Sandoval

“This message of unity is really important for RIU – to dispel some of the discord and all of the, I think, fabricated friction that is going on,” she explained.

Her goal for the weekend is to bring “this beauty together so that we are under one umbrella showing this united front because of why we left, why we are here and what we hope to do,” she said in an interview with Piątek. “We’re not just interested in the traumatic stories and journeys that brought us here. We are more than that.”

Courtesy of Refugees + Immigrants United

During Sunday afternoon’s “Launch and Celebration” event, he hopes to hear about actions Colorado has taken to honor people born in other countries. The group will be encouraged by the fact that Colorado recently made Lunar New Year an official holiday and is one of the few states in the country to do so.

The event will consist of information and performances from around the world.

“We will have Japanese taiko drummers. We will have Vietnamese fan dancers. We will have a Spanish flamenco guitarist as well as South Asian mudra dancers,” she said.

James Horan, president and CEO of the regional chapter of Lutheran Family Services, one of the state’s largest refugee resettlement organizations, will help explain what’s happening around immigration and refugee resettlement across the state.

“(He) will provide updates on what we are seeing, some of the things that are happening, what we should expect in terms of arrivals and inflows, and what the LFSRM is doing,” she said.

Colorado Supreme Court Justice Carlos A. Samour, who immigrated from El Salvador, will deliver the keynote address and will also be honored with the inaugural award.

“I’m very excited about this because it shows others in our community and beyond: Look at the tremendous achievements of our community all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court,” Vương-Sandoval said.

Founding members of the refugee-led, all-volunteer group include a Senegalese immigrant; immigrant from China; a refugee from Burma and Vương-Sandoval, who stated that she was a refugee from Saigon, Vietnam.

“We are a small but powerful and dynamic group because we are new and everyone in our group has a day job,” she said. “We do this because we are passionate about it and we feel there is a huge need to bring our perspective, experiences and expertise to the table.”