Colorado Democrats seek more protections for immigrants amid Trump-era upheaval 

Colorado Democrats are seeking to build on state protections for immigrants with new legislation that would further curb local officials’ interactions with federal officers and limit deportations in certain spaces. 

Senate Bill 276 comes as immigrant communities face more uncertainty under President Donald Trump’s hardline tactics and his ire toward states that have adopted “sanctuary” immigration policies. 

“We’ve seen the Trump administration wield attacks against immigrants, regardless of their immigration status, with increasing frequency and with less and less regard for due process,” said Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, during a Tuesday news conference shortly before the bill’s first committee hearing. “This bill creates clarity amid the chaos, confusion and uncertainty that our communities are facing today.”

Alex Sanchez, CEO and president for the Glenwood Springs-based advocacy group Voces Unidas, said the bill is “the start of a debate that Coloradans need to have, particularly as it relates to policy around what we are going to do as a state and having the political courage and will to act.” 

He added, however, that there’s no guarantee the federal government will abide by state policy. 

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The bill must be approved in both the Senate and the House before it has a chance of being signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis, who has walked a tightrope on immigration issues under the new Trump administration. 

While Polis has criticized some of Trump’s most hardline policies, he’s said he’s open to the state receiving more federal help to arrest and deport “dangerous criminals.” 

Roughly 1 in 10 Colorado residents are immigrants, and approximately 156,000 were undocumented as of 2022. Through a series of recent laws, Colorado has already positioned itself as one of the strongest states in the country for immigrant protections. 

Local law enforcement is prohibited from arresting or detaining someone based solely on their immigration status and state agencies are limited in sharing personal information with federal immigration officers. Those officers are also restricted from making arrests in state courthouses and local governments are unable to partner with them to detain people facing civil immigration proceedings. 

Lawmakers have also expanded access to housing and essential services by barring landlords from asking tenants for information related to immigration status and allowing state residents to apply for health insurance and state IDs regardless of their status.

Senate Bill 276 builds on many of those provisions by extending the ban on information sharing to all levels of government within the state. Under the bill, municipalities, counties, boards and commissions, and the state’s judicial and legislative branches would all be barred from providing personal information to federal officials unless presented with a valid warrant. 

Restrictions on data sharing would also include information related to student visa sponsorships and financial aid for higher education. 

The bill also seeks to limit deportations in sensitive spaces like schools, hospitals and child care centers. Those spaces would be prohibited from giving federal immigration officials information about enrolled children or patients, as well as access to areas that aren’t open to the public, unless a warrant is provided. 

Violators could face $50,000 in fines, which would go to the state’s Immigration Legal Defense Fund.

Another major component of the bill would repeal a requirement that students seeking in-state tuition, or a person seeking state ID, who are in the country illegally submit an affidavit saying they have applied or plan to apply for lawful status. The bill would also delete all previously collected affidavit data. 

Proponents say the measure is about not only protecting immigrants’ civil rights but also easing concerns that could be keeping them from accessing vital services. 

“When we don’t trust our institutions like law enforcement, hospitals, schools, it makes it less safe for everyone,” said Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs, a main bill sponsor.

While federal immigration efforts in Colorado have been largely focused on the cities of Denver and Aurora, Velasco said residents in her Western Slope district — which is 30% Latino — are reeling from uncertainty. 

“We’re seeing that parents are deciding to not send kids to school, that they’re scared to go to work,” Velasco said. “We want people to feel safe.” 

Velasco said immigrants make up many of the jobs in construction, hospitality and agriculture in mountain towns and are critical to the fabric of rural resort communities.

“The consequences of mass deportation would be catastrophic for our tourist economy, for our hopes and dreams of growing in a sustainable way,” she said. “Because we depend on each other.” 

The bill’s crafting saw sustainable input from immigrants across the mountain region. While the measure serves as a rebuke of the Trump administration, work on the policy began even before the 2024 General Election. 

Sanchez with Voces Unidas said that around 50 residents, many from the Western Slope, met with Latino lawmakers last March to identify policies that were ultimately included in Senate Bill 276. 

He said rural organizers had been pushing for broader immigrant protections regardless of who would control the White House. That included extending restrictions on information sharing beyond state agencies to include local governments. 

Even with the current protections in place, more conservative Western Slope counties, including Garfield, Moffat and Mesa, have passed resolutions rejecting “sanctuary” policies and signaling they would work with federal immigration officials as needed. 

“People in governments need to be held accountable for abiding by state law and for ensuring that people’s due process and people’s constitutional rights are protected all across Colorado, not just in blue counties,” Sanchez said. 

Velasco said bill sponsors are still negotiating with the governor’s office, adding, “We have spent a lot of hours, and we’ve done hundreds of meetings with different entities, and we feel like this is a strong effort.” 

Polis spokesperson Shelby Wieman said the governor’s team is working with bill sponsors and groups that could be impacted, like local governments and law enforcement, “to determine what specific changes are necessary to address outstanding concerns.”

Republicans in the legislature are expected to oppose the measure and have attempted this session to roll back many of the state’s existing protections. 

A bill sponsored by Sen. Mark Baisley, a Teller County Republican whose district includes some mountain communities, would have repealed the current bans on personal information sharing, arrests at courthouses and officials’ ability to partner with federal immigration officers on detainment. 

The bill was defeated by Democrats in a Senate committee.