Anyone who’s ever watched an episode of Starsky & Hutch or Law & Order knows that an accused criminal has a right to an attorney and will be appointed one if he or she can’t afford representation.

What fewer people know is that people appearing in immigration court are facing civil, not criminal proceedings. Even though being deported to a country where you fear for your life may be a more fearsome penalty than a prison sentence.

According to a recent nationwide study of more than 1 million  cases between 2007 and 2012, only 14 per cent of detainees brought before an immigration judge had an attorney. Nearly half of those with representation got asylum and other relief, compared to only a quarter of those without, according to the study by the American Immigration Council.

Across the United States, activists and politicians fear the already unmet demand will grow under President Donald Trump. Amid his crackdown on immigration, local policy makers are responding with cash to provide immigration lawyers.

In my hometown of Denver this week, the city council approved an ordinance instructing local government employees not to ask people about their immigration status or tell federal officials about it, and barring Denver jails from allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents access to secure areas for inmate interviews without a warrant. While Denver will still notify ICE of impending releases of immigrants of interest, the federal agency says the new rules undermine public safety.

After the regulations were passed, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said he would soon sign an Executive Order establishing a legal defense fund and other measures meant to support immigrants.

I wrote about the issue from a national perspective for Equal Times.

A Vietnam veteran urged me several times to read “Warrior’s Return” by Edward Tick, a psychotherapist based in New York state who has worked with vets from several wars since the 1970s.

As America’s longest war grinds on, I’m glad I followed the advice of the vet who says Tick can help the rest of us understand what a tiny minority of our fellow citizens have taken on by going to war.

Tick writes with an academic’s thoroughness and grasp of history, with a humanitarian’s warmth and with great admiration for former warriors.

 With Mueller vs. Taylor, women who were victimized saw the prospect of being hauled into court and victimized again. Because singer Taylor Swift stood up to radio host David Mueller _ who groped her and then accused her of ruining his career by reporting him to his employers _ the singer  got the satisfaction of eight jurors hearing her truth. She also got an opinion from the judge that I am sure will be cited in any future such cases confirming that a victim cannot be accused of acting legally improperly for reporting a crime.

While it may seem a small step forward, perhaps the broader victory here is that a new conversation has been started in which behavior like Mueller’s is called what it is: criminal.

The death and mayhem brutal racists brought to a colonial college town in Virginia seems to cry out for a dramatic response.

Another kind of response is expressed in the quiet ways so many of us live our lives every day.

I started visiting the Denver Art Museum long before we moved to town in 2012. For years, I skipped the museum’s collection of paintings and sculpture celebrating the American West. I didn’t expect to connect to sunset vistas that, despite their expansiveness, offered a narrow view of our history.

But now comes the current DAM show, The Western: An Epic in Art and Film.

The show includes art and artifacts – a pamphlet guide for pioneers back when the migration debate was a bit different; Sergio Leone’s passport (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a favorite of mine); a sleek Harley from Easy Rider. It tells a story of 19th century artists’ depictions of the American West influencing 20th century filmmakers, and then painters, artists and directors maturing to address more complicated issues.

Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad” and Ben Winters’s “Underground Airlines” show how to look at history through imagination’s lens and come up with revelations about both our past and our present.

So, the concept was proven before the men behind “Game of Thrones” announced plans for an HBO series in which the South seceded and slavery survived to become a modern institution. “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are white, have assembled a multiracial team for their new venture, with Nichelle Tramble Spellman and Malcolm Spellman as co-writers and executive producers.

Still, I’m skeptical Benioff, Weiss & Co. can pull off what Whitehead and Winters did. And I’m a “Game of Thrones” fan. 

Marine veteran Jared Bolhuis detests the Fourth of July, a holiday that can evoke battlefield horrors with its celebratory reenactments of war: rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air.

Bolhuis is not alone. In 2014, a social media post on the subject of vets and the Fourth was shared widely. The post was simple: a photo of a veteran holding a sign that said, "Combat veteran lives here, please be courteous with fireworks."

In its story on the post, USA Today sought perspective from Barbara Van Dahlen, a Washington, D.C. area psychologist and founder of Give An Hour, which provides free behavioral health counseling to troops, veterans and their families.

“The sensitivity here is that if you know that your next-door neighbor served ... and you're planning to have a fireworks display in your backyard, it's probably the thoughtful thing to do to let them know," the psychologist told USA Today. She said emotional reactions to loud noises or sounds that bring memories of traumatic events can be very common among both veterans and non-veterans. The concern is not that the veteran might react violently, she said, but that he or she could experience "a very painful, stressful, emotional experience remembering a firefight or a buddy who was killed."