Democratic lawmakers plan package of bills to further regulate federal immigration enforcement in Colorado
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This story first appeared at coloradosun.com.
DENVER — Galvanized by the violence at the hands of federal immigration agents in Minnesota in recent weeks, Democrats in the Colorado legislature are planning to introduce a package of bills to regulate how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates in the state and further limit cooperation by local law enforcement.
DENVER — Galvanized by the violence at the hands of federal immigration agents in Minnesota in recent weeks, Democrats in the Colorado legislature are planning to introduce a package of bills to regulate how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates in the state and further limit cooperation by local law enforcement.
One bill, already introduced, would allow people to sue federal immigration officers in state court if they feel their constitutional rights have been violated. Two other bills are being drafted that would tighten the state’s rules around sharing information with immigration officials, increase state oversight of immigration detention facilities, limit immigration enforcement action at places like hospitals, and require all law enforcement officers to show their faces.
Additionally, a resolution expected to be debated Monday would call on the federal government to uphold “humane enforcement practices.”
The bills, set to be unveiled Monday at a news conference, were already in the works before the killing of 37-year-olds Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota last month. But their deaths and the scale of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities have brought new urgency to the efforts.
“Don’t believe anyone who says there’s nothing else we can do, because there’s always something we can do,” said state Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-Arapahoe County, a sponsor of one of the forthcoming bills.
Colorado has so far been spared from the kind of federal immigration enforcement operations seen in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Minneapolis. Still, immigration arrests in Colorado have skyrocketed since President Donald Trump took office a year ago.
ICE arrested at least 3,522 people in Colorado from Jan. 20, 2025, to Oct. 15, 2025, according to the most recent data obtained from ICE and published by the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law’s Deportation Data Project, up from 843 during the same period in 2024.
Most of the people arrested by ICE in Colorado did not have prior criminal convictions, according to the data.
By comparison, 37% of those arrested by immigration agents in Colorado from Jan. 20, 2025, to Oct. 15, 2025, had prior criminal convictions, down from 61% in 2024.
Sometimes, ICE agents in Colorado have been quick to draw their weapons and smash out car windows, including when children are in the vehicle. ICE’s arrest tactics have often included detaining people about whom the agency appears to have little or no information before the arrest, like 19-year-old University of Utah student, Caroline Dias Goncalves, who federal agents arrested on June 5 in Fruita, and Carolina Suarez Estrada, arrested by federal agents while at a court complex in Salida on Aug. 19. Suarez’s 7-year-old son, Luciano, was detained later that day in Alamosa.
Some of these incidents have inspired Senate Bill 5, which would give people the ability to file civil lawsuits against federal immigration officials in state court for alleged constitutional violations.
The bill is similar to a law recently passed in Illinois after Chicago faced a surge of immigration enforcement in September.
Colorado’s proposal goes further than Illinois’ by stripping any immunity from prosecution federal agents may have under other laws.
“The point is to open the courthouse door,” said state Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, a sponsor of the bill with Democratic Reps. Yara Zokaie of Fort Collins and Javier Mabrey of Denver. “Because we are seeing federal officials run rampant in the streets of this country with utter disregard for the constitutional rights of its residents.”
The Trump administration is already suing to block the Illinois law even as more states are considering similar measures.
The Trump administration is already suing to block the Illinois law even as more states are considering similar measures.
More work to keep personal data private
Another proposal expected to be introduced in mid-February would expand on a law passed last year that prohibits state officials from sharing personal identifying information with immigration authorities unless it is being used in a criminal case. It would prohibit state and local agencies, not just individual officials, from sharing the information.
The proposal is a reaction to a lawsuit brought against Gov. Jared Polis in June by Scott Moss, the former director of the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics at Colorado’s Department of Labor, who alleged he was directed by Polis to comply with an immigration subpoena from ICE requesting the personal information of 35 people serving as sponsors for unaccompanied immigrant children.
The judge in that case has so far sided with Moss, blocking Polis from ordering Moss, but not the agency, to hand over the information.
The bill would require subpoenas received from the Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE, to be made public and would require individuals who have had their information shared with federal officials to be informed, according to proponents.
It would also require new detention centers to pay for state environmental and health inspections and provide yearly reports to state health officials. It would ban municipal airports, buses and trains from transporting detainees and limit immigration enforcement actions at health care facilities, schools, child care centers, court buildings and religious establishments.
“We are coming forward with a package of bills that are addressing all of these different components, and in hopes that when they pass, Coloradans will have just a little bit more tools in our toolbox to be able to combat the authoritarianism that’s coming from the federal government,” Garcia said.
Another forthcoming bill would make it illegal for law enforcement officers to wear masks and require that they display identification. It would also require training for local law enforcement officers on Colorado’s immigration laws, paid for by a $350 million fund created through a voter-approved initiative in 2024, and prohibit former federal immigration agents from becoming certified as state or local law enforcement officers, according to Zokaie.
State Rep. Meg Froelich, D-Englewood, traveled to Minnesota last week for a gathering of state lawmakers from 27 different states. There, she said, she heard about similar legislative work across the country.
“It’s a weird space for liberals to be in where we are touting state’s rights,” she said. “That’s a whole interesting lane that we’re going down.”
At a hearing Thursday at the Minnesota state Capitol, Froelich heard from residents who have been affected by ICE’s recent crackdown. A software engineer spoke of being arrested while driving with his wife even after explaining to federal immigration agents that he had a work visa, Froelich said. He spent a weekend in a cell with 50 people and without a way to tell his wife where he was, Froelich recounted.
Froelich heard about people being sent to detention centers out of state within hours of their arrest. A group of Native Americans spoke about not knowing the whereabouts of three of their members.
“There’s nothing you see on TV that can convey to you what it’s really like for a person to be living in a neighborhood in Minneapolis right now,” Froelich said.
Froelich said as her constituents have watched the violence on TV over the past several weeks, many have asked her what they can do to make a change. The package of bills Froelich and others plan to introduce in Colorado are aimed at better protecting people, she said.
“It’s really a response,” she said “to the violence being inflicted on our neighbors across Colorado.”
KUNC Reporter Lucas Brady Woods contributed to this story.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.