🪧 Famous immigration activist freed from ICE detention

📹 Protests of Surveillance Tech Giant Grow

Several dozen protesters made noise outside Palantir’s empty Cherry Creek North offices over the weekend, as pushback grows against the data company known for its contracts with the IDF and ICE. This comes after an activist posted a copy of a 2020 letter from Gov. Jared Polis inviting CEO Alex Karp and his company to move to Denver. [City Cast Denver 🎧]

• In other Palantir news: Karp recently purchased a former monastery atop 3,700 acres of land outside Aspen for $120 million. [Westword]

🧑‍⚖️ Famed Immigration Activist Released from Detention

Jeanette Vizguerra was released on bond yesterday after a U.S. immigration judge determined that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was unable to justify her detention. Vizguerra — who became famous during the first Trump administration after she took sanctuary in a Denver church to avoid deportation — has been in ICE custody since March, after she was picked up during her lunch break at Target, even though she was attending all regularly scheduled immigration check-ins. [CPR]

• Where it gets complicated: While Vizguerra has been released from detention, her lawyer says the “underlying challenges to her removal” remain pending.

🏠 Local Landlord Criticizes State Housing Voucher Program

The owner of an apartment building in Congress Park is alleging former tenants placed there through the state’s housing voucher program were abusing dogs, destroying property, and using drugs inside their units. The owner claims she struggled for months to get the issues with the renters addressed. For its part, the Community Economic Defense Project — the nonprofit in charge of placing these particular tenants — argues the landlord never responded to requests for documentation of the incidents, but instead shared the photos and video with news outlets. [BusinessDen 🔒]

• The state of the rental market: We sat down with Zach Neumann, co-founder of the Community Economic Defense Project, in October to learn more about why Denver rents are trending down but evictions are up. [City Cast Denver 🎧]

🌎 The Mile High Misses the Mark on Climate Goals

While Denver reached its target to plant 4,500 trees this year, the city is nowhere near making its many other lofty climate goals set by Mayor Mike Johnston. Critics of the mayor blame a lack of funding devoted to climate issues and say Johnston’s moves to relax policies that favor business interests have come at an environmental cost. Johnston acknowledged the missed targets, but says Denver has made progress despite a federal government that is “stepping back on a lot of the aggressive commitments on climate.” [Denverite]