When Adolfo Rom谩n Garc铆a-Ram铆rez walks home in the evening from his shift at a grocery store in this central Colorado mountain town, sometimes he thinks back on his childhood in Nicaragua. Adults, he recollects, would scare the kids with tales of the 鈥淢ona Bruja,鈥� or 鈥淢onkey Witch.鈥� Step too far into the dark, they told him, and you might just get snatched up by the giant monstrous monkey who lives in the shadows.
Now, when Garc铆a-Ram铆rez looks over his shoulder, it鈥檚 not monster monkeys he is afraid of. It鈥檚 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
鈥淭here鈥檚 this constant fear that you鈥檒l be walking down the street and a vehicle rolls up,鈥� Garc铆a-Ram铆rez, 57, said in Spanish. 鈥淭hey tell you, 鈥榃e鈥檙e from ICE; you鈥檙e arrested,鈥� or, 鈥楽how me your papers.鈥欌��
Silverthorne, a commuter town between the ski meccas of Breckenridge and Vail, has been Garc铆a-Ram铆rez鈥檚 home for the past two years. He works as a cashier at the grocery and shares a two-bedroom apartment with four roommates.
The town of nearly 5,000 has proved a welcome haven for the political exile, who was released from prison in 2023 after Nicaragua鈥檚 authoritarian government with the U.S. government to transfer more than 200 political prisoners to the U.S. The exiles were offered temporary residency in the U.S. under a Biden administration .
Garc铆a-Ram铆rez鈥檚 two-year humanitarian parole expired in February, just a few weeks after President Donald Trump issued an to end the program that had permitted temporary legal residency in the U.S. for hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, putting him at risk of deportation. Garc铆a-Ram铆rez was stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship when he came to the U.S. Just over a year ago, he applied for political asylum. He is still waiting for an interview.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 safely say I鈥檓 calm, or I鈥檓 OK, right now,鈥� Garc铆a-Ram铆rez said. 鈥淵ou feel unsafe, but you also feel incapable of doing anything to make it better.鈥�
Vail and Breckenridge are world famous for their ski slopes, which attract millions of people a year. But life for the tourism labor force that serves Colorado鈥檚 mountain resorts is less glamorous. Residents of Colorado鈥檚 mountain towns experience and , fueled in part by seasonal fluctuations in income that can cause stress for many in the local workforce.
The Latino communities who make up significant proportions of year-round populations in Colorado鈥檚 mountain towns are particularly vulnerable. A found more than 4 in 5 Latino respondents in the Western Slope region, home to many of the state鈥檚 rural ski resort communities, expressed 鈥渆xtremely or very serious鈥� concern about substance use. That鈥檚 significantly higher than in rural eastern Colorado鈥檚 Morgan County, which also has a , and in Denver and Colorado Springs.
Statewide, concerns about mental health among Latinos in recent years, rising from fewer than half calling it an extremely or very serious problem in 2020 to more than three-quarters in 2023. Health care workers, researchers, and community members all say factors such as language differences, cultural stigma, and socioeconomic barriers may exacerbate mental health issues and limit the ability to access care.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not getting regular medical care. You鈥檙e working long hours, which probably means that you can鈥檛 take care of your own health,鈥� said , a Stanford University assistant professor of sociology. 鈥淎ll of these factors compound the stresses that we all might experience in daily life.鈥�
Add sky-high costs of living and an inadequate supply of mental health facilities across Colorado鈥檚 rural tourist destinations, and the problem becomes acute.
Now, the Trump administration鈥檚 threats of immigration raids and imminent deportation of anyone without legal U.S. residency have caused stress levels to soar. In communities around Vail, advocates estimate, a vast majority of Latino residents do not have legal status. Communities near Vail and Breckenridge have not experienced immigration raids, but in neighboring Routt County, home to Steamboat Springs, at least three people with criminal records have been detained by ICE, according to news reports. falsely claiming local ICE sightings have further fueled concerns.
Yirka D铆az Platt, a bilingual social worker in Silverthorne originally from Peru, said a pervasive fear of deportation has caused many Latino workers and residents to retreat into the shadows. People have begun to cancel in-person meetings and avoid applying for government services that require submitting personal data, according to local health workers and advocates. In early February, some locals didn鈥檛 show up to work as part of a nationwide 鈥渄ay without immigrants鈥� strike. whether they will lose valuable employees to deportation.
Some immigrants have stopped driving out of fear they will be pulled over by police. Paige Baker-Braxton, director of outpatient behavioral health at the Vail Health system, said she has seen a decline in visits from Spanish-speaking patients over the last few months.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e really trying to keep to themselves. They are not really socializing much. If you go to the grocery stores, you don鈥檛 see much of our community out there anymore,鈥� Platt said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 that fear of, 鈥楴o, I鈥檓 not trusting anyone right now.鈥欌��
Juana Amaya is no stranger to digging in her heels to survive. Amaya immigrated to the Vail area from Honduras in 1983 as a single mother of a 3-year-old and a 6-month-old. She has spent more than 40 years working as a house cleaner in luxury condos and homes around Vail, sometimes working up to 16 hours a day. With barely enough time to finish work and care for a family at home, she said, it is often hard for Latinos in her community to admit when the stress has become too much.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 like to talk about how we鈥檙e feeling,鈥� she said in Spanish, 鈥渟o we don鈥檛 realize that we鈥檙e dealing with a mental health problem.鈥�
The current political climate has only made things worse.
鈥淚t鈥檚 had a big impact,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here are people who have small children and wonder what they鈥檒l do if they鈥檙e in school and they are taken away somewhere, but the children stay. What do you do?鈥�
Asad has studied the mental health impacts of deportation rhetoric on Latino communities. He co-authored , published last year in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that found escalated deportation rhetoric may cause heightened levels of psychological distress in Latino noncitizens and even in Latino citizens.
Asad found that both groups may experience increased stress levels, and research the negative consequences of a parent鈥檚 lack of documentation on the health and educational attainment .
鈥淭he inequalities or the hardships we impose on their parents today are the hardships or inequalities their children inherit tomorrow,鈥� Asad said.
Despite heightened levels of fear and anxiety, Latinos living and working near Vail still find ways to support one another and seek help. in Summit County, home to Breckenridge and less than an hour鈥檚 drive from Vail, have offered mental health workshops for new immigrants and Latina women. Building Hope Summit County and in Eagle County, home to Vail, pay for a set number of therapy sessions.
Vail Health plans to open a in May, and the Mobile Intercultural Resource Alliance provides wraparound services, including behavioral health resources, directly to communities near Vail.
Back in Silverthorne, Garc铆a-Ram铆rez, the Nicaraguan exile, takes things one day at a time.
鈥淚f they deport me from here, I鈥檇 go directly to Nicaragua,鈥� said Garc铆a-Ram铆rez, who said he had received a verbal death threat from authorities in his native country. 鈥淗onestly, I don鈥檛 think I would last even a day.鈥�
In the meantime, he continues to make the routine trek home from his cashier job, sometimes navigating slick snow and dark streets past 9 p.m. When nightmarish thoughts about his own fate in America surface, Garc铆a-Ram铆rez focuses on the ground beneath his feet.
鈥淐ome rain, shine, or snow,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 walk.鈥�
This article was published with the support of the Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS) Health Journalism Fellowship, assisted by grants from The Commonwealth Fund.
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