Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser rolled out a new online platform for residents to report misconduct by federal officers on Wednesday amid growing public concern about overreach and violence by the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agents.
Weiser’s office has already received at least 180 complaints over the last year about misconduct by federal officers in Colorado, spokesman Lawrence Pacheco said, but the will “streamline” the process of reporting such claims.
The move comes two weeks after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Renée Good in Minneapolis, a week after federal officers there during an attempted arrest, and one day after a police chief in a Minneapolis suburb accused masked federal officers of racially profiling an off-duty officer, , even though she was a U.S. citizen.
In Colorado, federal officers have raided apartment complexes, going door-to-door to ask about residents’ legal status, arrested immigrants at courthouses and routinely carried out what a federal judge has said were illegal arrests.
The new online platform solicits reports of “actions by federal agents that may be unlawful and harmed you,” though submitters are cautioned that entering a complaint does not guarantee state authorities will investigate or act on the allegations.
“The information you share will assist in our efforts to ensure federal accountability, identify and better understand issues, document concerns and detect patterns of potential misconduct by federal agents,” the website reads.
Each complaint will be reviewed, Weiser said in a news release.
“Nobody is above the rule of law, including federal agents such as ICE or Border Patrol,” he said in a statement. “This new reporting form is about keeping our communities safe and reminding them that we have their back. If you see misconduct from a federal agent, we want to hear about it.”
