Budget gaps in cities across Colorado have made it more difficult to experiment with basic income programs despite their benefits, and experts argue that lack of municipal support could stifle the growth of programs intended to give unconditional payments to people to help pay for basic needs. 

Last week, the Colorado legislature approved a spending package of more than $46.8 billion, and it includes deep cuts to Medicaid and other state services to cover a $1.5 billion budget shortfall. Cities like Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs have also had to pare back services and programs to cover budget shortfalls. 

Even so, Colorado’s economic conditions appear ripe for experimenting with basic income programs as the cost of living continues to soar. The Colorado Polling Institute’s April statewide poll shows that many voters agree with that assessment — more than 90% identified the cost of housing, healthcare, food and insurance as problems, with more than 44% calling each category a “very big problem.” 

“In a world of finite budgets, we need to figure out what works and move away from what doesn’t,” said Kaitlyn Sims, an assistant professor of public policy at the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs at the University of Denver. She and other experts convened for the Basic Income Programs in Denver and Beyond panel during Colorado SunFest 2026 on Friday.

What is basic income?

“Basic income” is most commonly known as a periodic, unconditional cash payment to all members of a community. 

That is different from “guaranteed income,” which refers to an unconditional cash payment to members of a specific group, such as students, new mothers or people who are homeless, even though the two programs are commonly confused for one another. 

Basic income is not a new idea, but it has gained steam since the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 1970s, former President Richard Nixon floated the idea of instituting a national basic income program to replace federal spending on social services. 

Today, there are more than 80 basic income pilot programs either active or planned, according to the Income Movement, a nationwide coalition of lawmakers advocating for basic income pilots. More than 75,000 participants across 35 cities have received cash through these programs. 

The idea behind the programs is that if people have help with basic income, it can bring stability in the workforce because people can afford to get to work and have childcare, housing stability, food security and better overall health with less stress about finances.

There are basic income-esque programs already in place across the country. In Colorado, the Family Affordability Tax Credit pays qualifying households $3,200 per child under age 6 and $2,400 per child between ages 6 and 16. 

Another example is the Alaska Permanent Fund, a public program that pays state residents an annual dividend from oil sales.  

Michigan’s Rx Kids program also fits the basic income mold. The program offers households an unconditional payment of $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 a month during the first year of a child’s life. 

How does basic income work?

Denver was home to one of the nation’s largest basic income experiments. Between 2022 and 2025, the Denver Basic Income Project distributed more than $10.8 million to over 800 people experiencing homelessness who were categorized into three groups. 

Group 1 received $1,000 per month for 12 months; Group 2 received $6,500 up front and $500 per month for a year; and Group 3, also known as the “active comparison” group, received $50 a month. Every participant also received a cellphone and a bank card. 

The funding was pooled from a variety of sources, including capital gains realized by program founder Mark Donovan’s investments and a $4 million investment from the city of Denver, funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act. 

The results of the program were “mixed,” according to Daniel Brisson, another Colorado SunFest panelist and the director of DU’s Center for Housing and Homelessness Research, but not in a “good or bad” kind of way. 

“There is so much happening in so many different directions,” Brisson said. 

All three groups improved housing outcomes, reduced the number of days they spent in hospitals and jails, and improved self-sufficiency, according to the program’s randomized control trial data. 

Perhaps most significantly, Brisson noted several subjective findings that point to the power of basic income. For instance, participants reported in surveys that they felt trusted, a rarity in traditional social services, which are often paternalistic. 

Some participants also reported spending their money to help friends and family in need, which speaks to how basic income can repair or strengthen relationships and foster a sense of belonging. 

“Many people took it as a sign that this meant something, and they were supposed to make something of it,” Brisson said. 

Despite the impact, the Denver Basic Income Project stopped issuing cash payments in September 2025 after Denver’s government decided not to reinvest in the program due to budget constraints. 

Other challenges

Basic income pilots also face headwinds outside of funding. 

The Foundation for Government Accountability, which advocates adding work requirements to social services, has urged local governments to ban basic income programs, arguing that they “discourage work and are a drag on the economy.”

Some state officials have also successfully used the courts to shut down basic income programs. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton convinced a local court in 2025 that Harris County’s basic income pilot violated the Texas Constitution’s prohibition on giving public money to individuals. The lawsuit forced the Harris County program to reallocate its funding.  

Some studies have also suggested that implementing basic income programs could increase poverty, since some proponents view them as a replacement for social services, thereby reducing the government workforce. Other studies suggest basic income could increase inflation by giving people more money to spend, similar to the pandemic stimulus checks. 

Sims noted that the potential disruptions to the government workforce are “concerning” and could lead to a significant increase in unemployment. She added that concerns about inflation are likely overblown unless a basic income pilot is paying participants a living wage. 

Right place, right time

Despite the challenges, basic income could help Coloradans navigate some budding economic issues, according to Scott Wasserman, a panelist and founder of the political consulting group Thinking Forward. 

Wasserman pointed to the latest Colorado Polling Institute data showing that 68% of Coloradans are concerned about artificial intelligence replacing their job. That’s compared with 63% of voters nationally who share the same concerns. Those pressures are being felt by high-income earners, like lawyers and doctors, and low-income earners in jobs like manufacturing. 

Meanwhile, Wasserman said many Coloradans support basic income programs that provide a “big dose” of help, especially for those living in poverty. He cited a privately funded poll that found 56% of voters support paying new parents, people experiencing homelessness and low-income households $500 per month. 

“There is political will,” Wasserman said. “I was a little shocked.”

Federal immigration agents arrested three times more people in Colorado per day on average last year compared with 2024, marking an aggressive shift in enforcement under President Donald Trump, according to new data.

About 12 people each day were taken to federal detention facilities in 2025, up from four in 2024. Even without high-profile enforcement surges like those seen in Illinois, Minnesota, New York and California, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested about 4,160 people in Colorado in 2025, an increase of 281% compared with 1,091 total people arrested in 2024. Arrests in Colorado reached their highest level in April 2025 and have since fallen slightly.

From Jan. 1 to March 10, ICE arrested about 12 people per day in Colorado, demonstrating that last year’s pace continues.

The surge in arrests as well as reports from groups that aid immigrants and track detentions show a heightened focus by ICE to not just arrest more people, but more immigrants living in Colorado. While Trump vowed to target people with criminal records, data obtained by the Sun shows that most people arrested in Colorado last year have never been convicted of a crime.

About 65% of the people arrested by ICE officers so far under Trump had no prior criminal convictions. And among those with criminal convictions, only 5% of those convictions were for what the Federal Bureau of Investigation designates as violent crimes (murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault).

Of those arrested with criminal convictions, the most common convictions are for driving under the influence, assault, and traffic offenses.

That’s despite Trump’s campaign promise to target immigrants who are violent criminals.

The data, obtained from ICE and published by the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law’s Deportation Data Project, illustrates the dragnet approach to arrests in Colorado during the first year of Trump’s presidency and the new landscape that immigrants in Colorado have been navigating. The Colorado Sun has been reporting on the data as it becomes available.

George Valdez, acting director of ICE’s Denver field office, declined to comment through a spokesperson. In a statement, the agency told the Sun “the Deportation Data Project is not accurate,” but did not cite any specific issues. The Sun provided ICE more than a week to review our findings, which relied on data obtained directly from ICE by the Deportation Data Project through the Freedom of Information Act.

ICE agents have arrested people driving to work and at their jobs, at their homes, driving to school and leaving state and immigration courts. 

Many have lived in Colorado for years and have deep ties to the community through family, friends and their jobs, according to advocates.

Andrea Loya, executive director of Casa de Paz, helps families of people who are detained at the ICE detention facility in Aurora.

Far fewer people are being released from the facility, Loya said, and more of those who are released now are Colorado residents, a shift that highlights ICE’s heightened focus on locals. In 2024, Casa de Paz helped 2,087 people released from the facility, most of whom were arrested in other states and brought to Aurora to be processed, Loya said. In 2025, Casa de Paz helped 610 people released from the facility, about 40% of whom lived in Colorado.

In March 2025, Loya saw young children waiting to visit family members detained at the ICE detention center in Aurora for the first time.

“Before it was only volunteers,” she said. “We were seeing so many kids, babies through teenagers, moms, dads, grandmas. That immediately told us it’s local folks who are being detained. We have shifted everything.”

ICE has made it more difficult for people released from detention to fly to other states, Loya said, complicating Casa de Paz’s efforts to assist people.

ICE will often take away a person’s driver’s license while they are in detention, Loya said, and it can take them a while to get their license back. ICE gives people released from detention paperwork showing they have recently been released that used to be sufficient to pass airport security, Loya said, but recently security officers have been confused about who can fly and who can’t. While Casa de Paz used to help people with plane tickets, they are now often resorting to long distance bus tickets, Loya said.

“There is this idea that there’s not a lot of ICE activity here because it doesn’t look visually like the other states,” Loya said. “It for sure is happening here.”

Hans Meyer, a Denver-based immigration attorney, said his typical client profile has shifted from someone who has a criminal history and has not lived in the U.S. for very long to “people who have lived in the country for long periods of time and virtually no criminal history with deep community and family connections.” 

Meyer is suing ICE in federal court to limit how the agency can use warrantless arrests. In November, the court sided with Meyer and granted a preliminary injunction in the case, but Meyer and lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and another Denver law firm allege ICE officers are violating the injunction by continuing to arrest people without first verifying they are undocumented and a flight risk.

ICE arrested one of Meyer’s clients, Dionisio Castillo, 53, at his construction job site in January without asking him questions about his background. Had they asked, they would have known he has lived undocumented in the U.S. for 30 years, has three U.S. citizen children and no criminal history. He spent 48 days at the ICE detention facility in Aurora. His family had to pay a $2,500 bond for his release.

“I was standing next to my truck and I turned to the right and I saw that the officers were walking toward me,” Castillo told the judge through an interpreter at a hearing last month. “They handcuffed me with my hands behind my back.”

Training hours for ICE officers at the Denver field office have been cut over the last year, according to Gregory Davies, the assistant field office director, and the office has hired dozens of new officers recently.

Meyer is hopeful the federal judge in the warrantless arrest case will continue to hold ICE accountable.

“The entire country, including the federal courts, are painfully aware that ICE is a pariah law enforcement agency and has lost all veneer of legitimacy,” he said.

Jordan Garcia, the program director for the American Friends Service Committee’s Colorado Immigrant Rights Program, said people are doing a lot more planning for themselves and their families, including putting another person on the title of the car, on the list to pick up the kids from school or day care, just in case they get arrested. More people are participating in workshops to learn about their rights and how best to protect themselves, Garcia said.

“We’ll continue to do the best we can,” he said. “People are trying to be cautious but they’re also trying to protect each other and be good stewards of the community.”