New Colorado Law Enhances State Protections for at-Risk Immigrants

The Washington Post

14:34 JST, May 24, 2025

Colorado strengthened its protections for immigrants on Friday, adopting legislation that reinforces its unwillingness to cooperate with the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign even as the president wields lawsuits and funding cuts in bids to bend blue jurisdictions to his will.

The bill was signed with no fanfare by Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat who has walked a careful line during Donald Trump’s second term when it comes to illegal immigration, arguing for legal pathways while saying he welcomed federal help to deport dangerous criminals. Among other measures, the legislation prevents jails from delaying a defendant’s release for the purpose of immigration enforcement and prohibits local governments from providing individuals’ personal information to federal immigration authorities.

“To be clear, state and local law enforcement cannot be commandeered to enforce federal civil immigration laws and taken away from fighting crime,” Polis said in a statement. But he also emphasized the ways the new provisions still allow for cooperation with federal agencies. “We are deeply committed to working with our federal partners and will continue to fully participate in federal task forces that take down criminals.”

Polis had expressed concern about early versions of the bill, which Republican lawmakers warned would invite fresh backlash from Trump. The president during his campaign falsely alleged Venezuelan gangs had “taken over” the Colorado city of Aurora and since his election has targeted the state over its immigration laws.

This month, the Justice Department sued Colorado and Denver, asserting that several state and municipal laws limiting cooperation with federal authorities unconstitutionally obstruct immigration enforcement. The administration earlier had carried out two large-scale immigration raids in Colorado and rescinded $24 million in grants promised to Denver as reimbursement for sheltering migrants.

Supporters of the legislation said it served to reinforce Colorado’s principles.

“We do not want to use state and local resources to become collaborators in what is a bigoted and anti-immigrant deportation machine,” said Hans Meyer, a Denver immigration lawyer who helped draft the bill and statutes targeted by the government’s lawsuit.

The litigation, which names Polis, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and other leaders, is among the White House’s latest efforts to penalize Democratic-led cities and states that have taken starkly different approaches to illegal immigration. The administration has also sued New York, Illinois, Chicago and cities in New Jersey over what it calls their “sanctuary” policies, and it is investigating a California program that provides cash assistance to some undocumented immigrants.

The lawsuits are seen as test cases for the limits of federal authority to compel local and state cooperation with national policies, as well as barometers of those jurisdictions’ willingness to fight back.

Denver, which is facing a major budget shortfall, has joined two lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s threats to cut federal funding to localities that do not align with its positions on immigration and diversity.

Legislators in Massachusetts, California and other blue states, meanwhile, are considering additional protections for immigrants. But some Democrats have shown signs of stepping back; California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for example, recently proposed scaling back health-care coverage for undocumented immigrants.

Johnston, who vigorously defended Denver’s policies at a congressional hearing on “sanctuary cities” earlier this year, maintained a defiant tone in response to the federal lawsuit. “Denver will not be bullied or blackmailed, least of all by an administration that has little regard for the law and even less for the truth,” he said. “We follow all laws local, state and federal and stand ready to defend our values.”

Polis offered a cooler response, emphasizing that Colorado would comply with any court decision declaring its laws invalid and that it is “not a sanctuary state” – a message he reiterated in his statement Friday.

Colorado is a firmly blue state, but the governor’s constituency is considerably more mixed than the mayor’s. Polis, whose tenure will end in 2026, is widely viewed as having ambitions for higher office.

“Trump remains pretty toxic in Colorado politically,” said Floyd Ciruli, a Denver pollster and political analyst. Still, “outside of the most liberal constituencies and jurisdictions, this is kind of a difficult issue for Democrats.”

Polis’s statement sounded like “kowtowing” to Meyer, who said the state’s immigration laws were carefully crafted to comply with federal law. “The people of Colorado have spoken very clearly that we don’t want to have anything to do with the Trump administration’s” deportation efforts, he said.

Some disagree with that. Douglas County, a fast-growing and conservative-leaning area south of Denver, is suing the state over laws limiting local governments’ cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The county is one of several Colorado jurisdictions that have passed “non-sanctuary” resolutions, and its sheriff appeared alongside Trump at a rally in Aurora last fall. The Justice Department cites the county’s opposition to the state policies in its lawsuit.

Douglas County leaders say they watched with dismay in 2022 as migrants began streaming into Denver, which spent tens of millions of dollars assisting the new arrivals – or, as County Commissioner Abe Laydon put it, “beckoning” them. No matter what Polis asserts, Laydon argued, Colorado is a sanctuary state.

“The current laws in the state of Colorado … do not allow the ability for law enforcement to coordinate with [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and deport at the level that the fed government is asking us to,” Laydon said. The measure just signed into law renewed his “frustration that the rights of taxpaying citizens who are here legally are not being prioritized first.”

Julie Gonzales, a state senator who sponsored the bill, said it grew out of conversations with immigration attorneys, schools, churches, local governments, community activists and others who worried current laws left gray areas that gave federal authorities room to carry out a crackdown in a state where it is not widely wanted.

In particular, she said, school leaders were concerned about the Trump administration’s reversal of a long-standing policy not to conduct raids on campuses and at churches. The new law bars federal immigration agents from nonpublic areas of government buildings, including schools and libraries, without a warrant.

“What a joy to be able to fight forward in the midst of all the chaos,” Gonzales said. “At the end of the day, history is going to remember who supported the Constitution.”