WASHINGTON (TNND) — Colorado’s sanctuary policies are drawing fresh scrutiny from a trio of Republican members of Congress who are demanding records and answers from officials in Denver and Boulder.

In a series of six letters sent this week, the lawmakers asked law enforcement agencies and district attorneys in both cities to turn over related materials, including communications with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and internal records tied to local immigration policies.

In a press release announcing the requests, the lawmakers wrote that Denver and Boulder sanctuary policies “prioritize criminal and illegal aliens over American citizens and threaten public safety.”

Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., told The National News Desk in an exclusive interview that Colorado’s sanctuary approach is contributing to broader public safety problems.

Colorado has only 2% of the nation’s population but 10% of the human trafficking in the nation happens in Colorado and so much of this ties back to the fact that Colorado and Denver are sanctuayr jurisdictions that do everything they can to erect barriers between state and local law enforcment being able to coordinate with their federal counterparts,” Evans said.

Evans also pointed to examples he said were raised in the letter to the Denver sheriff, including people he said are still at large in the community and wanted by ICE for crimes such as child abuse, dealing drugs and assault with a weapon.

“The reason they’re back out in the community is that the Denver Sheriff could not and would not honor a detainer from ICE to hold these people until ICE could go pick them up,” Evans said.

The Denver sheriff pushed back, writing in part, “We look forward to defending the policies, practices and things that we’re doing in Denver based on the laws that we follow every single day and protecting the citizens of the city and county of Denver and Americans in general.”

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, 17 states and Washington, D.C., have statewide sanctuary policies that shield criminal aliens, including Colorado, California, New York and Illinois.

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POCATELLO, Idaho — A federal jury has convicted a man of wire fraud, theft of government funds, and aggravated identity theft after prosecutors revealed he spent more than two decades posing as a California teenager who died in 1977.

Following a three-day trial before David C. Nye, jurors found the defendant, whose real identity remains unknown, guilty Thursday on multiple charges, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.

The defendant assumed the identity of Carlos Ramon Obregon, who was born in Los Angeles in 1963 and killed in a drive-by shooting at age 14, according to evidence presented at trial.

In 2000, 23 years after Obregon’s death, the defendant requested a replacement Social Security card using Obregon’s personal information. Obregon’s mother later testified the man is not her son and that she had never met him.

Prosecutors said the defendant used Obregon’s identity to collect approximately $283,000 in government benefits over more than 20 years. That includes $177,000 in Supplemental Security Income payments, $91,000 in Medicaid funds, $12,000 in SNAP benefits and $3,200 in COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments.

The defendant also obtained government-issued documents using Obregon’s identity, including a U.S. passport in 2012 that he used to travel to Mexico, and multiple Idaho identification cards. A 2024 passport renewal attempt was denied.

Investigators from multiple agencies contributed to the case as the U.S. Department of Justice expands its work through the newly formed National Fraud Enforcement Division.

Report by EastIdahoNews.com staff