For five years, some Colorado lawmakers have been working against federal law, the state constitution and common sense to protect people who have come into this country illegally. Recently, leaders in three Colorado counties stepped up to challenge this madness.
On April 15, Douglas County filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jared Polis and the state of Colorado, saying that not only are Colorado’s sanctuary laws dangerous, they are unconstitutional. Then, the Board of County Commissioners in both El Paso and Mesa counties voted to join the lawsuit.
It’s high time.
In 2019, Colorado enacted House Bill 19-1124, preventing any law enforcement officer in the state from complying with federal immigration detainers. Detainers are issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to request that local law enforcement transfer custody of migrants who have committed crimes to ICE once their criminal detention ends.
This process, when it works, means that people who have entered the United States illegally and subsequently commit crimes remain detained while ICE pursues their removal from the country. Under Colorado’s law, however, local police release them. This means that federal immigration enforcement officials must arrest them in the community rather than in a secure location like a corrections facility. This often involves a lengthy search.
It shouldn’t be controversial to say that individuals who entered the country illegally and commit crimes ought to be removed, but Colorado doubled-down on its dangerous challenge to the enforcement of federal immigration law in 2023 with the passage of HB23-1100. This legislation prohibits a state or local entity from entering into a contract, receiving payment for, or paying an entity for an immigration detention facility within Colorado. In other words, Colorado wants to prevent ICE from detaining anyone who has entered the country illegally, not just those who commit crimes.
The devastating consequences of sanctuary policies are well documented and unfortunately predictable.
Proponents of Colorado’s sanctuary mandates claim that the enforcement of federal immigration law is dangerous because it discourages migrants in the community from reporting crimes. However, the idea that sanctuary policies keep communities safe is pure fiction. According to Chad Wolf, acting secretary of homeland security under former President Donald Trump, a 2019 enforcement operation in the Los Angeles area conducted by ICE led to 128 arrests. California has sanctuary laws similar to those of Colorado. Of those arrested, a staggering 96% had convictions or charges for serious crimes including homicide, sex crimes against children, domestic violence, and assault and battery.
To see the effects of sanctuary policies on Colorado, look no further than the case of Luis Guzman-Rincon. Guzman-Rincon, a gang member who entered the U.S. illegally, was convicted in Arapahoe County of attempted manslaughter after he shot and paralyzed a 16-year-old girl during an altercation with a rival gang member. He was sentenced to time served, at which point he should have been handed over to ICE for removal proceedings. Instead, he was released by the Colorado Department of Corrections. Guzman-Rincon was free for almost five years before ICE was able to locate and arrest him in Aurora.
Douglas and El Paso counties are right to challenge the notion that the state can compel them to obstruct federal agents’ apprehension of people who should be deported. And they should win their case.
Article 14 of Colorado’s Constitution provides that no constitutional authority exists for the state to prevent cooperation by local law enforcement with the federal government. Just as importantly, Colorado’s sanctuary laws run afoul of federal law, which explicitly prohibits the restriction of communication between federal, state and local law enforcement. Thanks to the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, even if Colorado changed its own constitution, this rule should prevail.
Advocates on the left may point to the Anti-Commandeering Doctrine, which prevents the compulsion of state and local governments into acting on behalf of the federal government. But that’s not what’s in question here. Douglas and El Paso counties are indicating that they want to voluntarily cooperate with the federal government to keep their communities safe. They’re not being coerced by anyone but Colorado’s state government, which has overstepped its authority in preempting the counties’ relationship with ICE.
Colorado is not the only state which has wrongly imposed sanctuary mandates on its communities. States such as California and Illinois have similar laws on the books. This lawsuit should encourage others to to push back. Communities under these unlawful and nonsensical mandates should follow the lead of Douglas, El Paso and Mesa counties and challenge state governments that interfere with commonsense law enforcement, endangering their citizens.
This piece originally appeared in Deseret News
