After hours of debate that stretched into Tuesday evening, Colorado Democrats advanced a bill to extend protections for immigrants who may be subject to federal enforcement operations, while rejecting another measure that sought to regulate local law enforcement and federal agents. 

The two bills were introduced in the House last month as part of a legislative package in response to growing immigration crackdowns being carried out by the Trump administration. 

A third bill, introduced in the Senate on the first day of the legislative session, would allow federal immigration agents to be sued in state civil court. That bill passed the chamber in late February. 

The other measure lawmakers chose to advance on Tuesday, House Bill 1276, would expand existing limitations on how state and local officials interact with federal officers, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, as well as give more state oversight to detention centers. 

“We believe that, as we’re seeing attacks on our communities, that it’s important for Colorado to stand up and protect everyone that lives in our state,” lead bill sponsor Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs, said at Tuesday’s committee hearing. 

Both measures faced opposition from Republicans and law enforcement groups, who argued the bills would infringe on federal authority to carry out immigration enforcement and create public safety conflicts. 

“We recognize that these proposals come at a time of heightened public concern about federal immigration enforcement actions,” the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police wrote in a statement Tuesday. “However, the legislation could create new safety risks for our peace officers and place them in legally conflicting situations, while imposing significant unfunded administrative burdens on local agencies that do not control federal operations. The bills also could make it harder for agencies to work together.”

Lawmakers say ‘Yes’ to detention center oversight, more limits on data sharing 

HB 1276, also led by Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-Adams County, would give the state more authority to inspect food, water quality and other conditions at immigration detention centers. The centers would be required to pay for the inspections. Detention centers would also need to submit data annually to the state on the health outcomes of detainees and pass an environmental impact study.

The bill also bans local and state government transit services, such as buses, trains and state-regulated airports, from knowingly transporting immigrants for detention purposes. Violating any of those provisions would result in a civil penalty worth up to $50,000.

Additionally, the bill would hold local and state agencies, not just their employees, liable for breaching data-sharing protections with ICE or other federal immigration officials. It would also require state agencies to announce when they received a federal subpoena related to immigration enforcement, and require that if state agencies comply with a subpoena, they notify the individuals whose information has been shared. 

An amendment added to the bill Tuesday also stipulates that ICE is not allowed to enter secure areas of jails unless they have a judicial warrant. Proponents say those measures come in response to gaps in existing state law that were exposed last year. 

That includes an incident wherein Gov. Jared Polis tried to force the then-director of the state’s labor department, Scott Moss, to comply with a federal subpoena seeking the information of 35 adult sponsors who were housing unaccompanied immigrant children. 

While a judge ruled that Polis could not force Moss or the employees he directly supervised to comply, he did not outright prevent Polis from finding other ways to get the information from the agency, though the governor has since abandoned the effort. 

Immigrant advocates on the Western Slope have also raised concerns over what they say are instances of law enforcement complying with ICE to facilitate detainments, including by giving ICE access to secure facilities of jails and assisting federal agents in apprehending and transporting people for detainments, which allegedly occurred in Garfield County. 

Velasco, the first Mexican-born state legislator in Colorado, represents Western Slope communities with large immigrant populations, who she says are “living in fear right now.” 

“We’re seeing people hesitate to go to court or attend immigration appointments,” Velasco said. “Families worry that a loved one could be picked up at a work site or even the grocery store and not make it home, and communities are questioning whether public safety systems are there to protect them, or to harm them.” 

Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, said he understands that there are “many in our state who are fearful of federal immigration authorities knocking on their door and taking them in the middle of the night for deportation, heaven forbid, to a third-world country with absolutely no due process.” 

But Soper said he had concerns with the bill pitting Colorado against the federal government, which he said has “exclusive jurisdiction when it comes to immigration and immigration enforcement.” 

“I also want our law enforcement showing up to immigrant communities,” Soper added, “and I fear that if they were to show up and there happens to be ICE engagement going on at that particular time, that they would be chilled away from any sort of engagement to keep our friends and our neighbors safe.”

The House Judiciary Committee ultimately voted 6-5, mostly along party lines, to advance the bill to the House Finance Committee. 

Bill to regulate police interactions with ICE is rejected 

Lawmakers voted to kill a second measure, House Bill 1275, which would have required state and local law enforcement to arrest federal immigration officers who violate state law. 

Other provisions of the bill would have prohibited state and local law enforcement from concealing their identity in most circumstances and required that they receive training on state immigration law. 

Democrats who championed the bill said it was meant to hold federal agents accountable for unlawful and excessive conduct. They pointed to recent immigration operations in Minnesota in January, during which two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed by federal agents. 

“It’s not lost on me that it was the death of two U.S. citizens in the suburbs that was the catapult to our constituents begging us — crying out — for help and for justice,” said Rep. Meg Froelich, D-Englewood, who was a lead sponsor of the bill alongside Rep. Yara Zokaie, D-Fort Collins and Sens. Iman Jodeh, D-Aurora, and Mike Weissman, D-Aurora. 

The bill faced pushback from law enforcement groups, who argued it would put them in the crossfire of federal immigration actions. The Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police said the measure would put law enforcement in an “impossible constitutional conflict,” since federal officers operate under different legal authorities. 

One of the bill’s most controversial measures, which would have blocked current and former ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents from working as law enforcement officers in Colorado, was heavily amended in response to law enforcement concerns. 

Rather than including a blanket ban, the bill was changed to require current and former agents to submit records related to any internal investigations or use-of-force incidents, which may disqualify them from being hired under Colorado law. 

Republicans were uniformly opposed to the bill, and some Democrats also expressed concern that the requirements for local police to potentially intervene in federal enforcement could escalate, rather than reduce, conflicts. 

“I do not want armed confrontation between peace officers and federal agents in our streets,” said Rep. Chad Clifford, D-Centennial. 

Clifford and another Democrat, Rep. Cecelia Espenoza of Denver, joined all Republicans on the committee to reject the bill in a 6-5 vote.