The first measure Colorado voters will see on their ballot this fall would require local law enforcement to suss out the immigration status of criminal suspects and notify federal agents if someone is even suspected of being here illegally.
Amendment 81 would require police officers to investigate the immigration status of every person who was charged with a violent crime or any crime if they have a prior felony conviction. If that investigation determines that someone is here illegally or if the investigation is inconclusive, police must notify the Department of Homeland Security, which runs the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division.
We have long said that when ICE officers request assistance in detaining someone in a Colorado jail or prison, that law enforcement should comply. If ICE has a lawful warrant or a final removal order from a judge, of course we want law enforcement officers to work with federal agents on the date and time of that individual’s release from custody.
But Amendment 81 goes way too far the other direction, demanding that police officers, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers now use their time and resources to investigate immigration status to identify targets for detention for ICE agents.
Perhaps there was a time when such a request would seem benign, but federal immigration officials operating under the Department of Homeland Security are overstepping their authority and have in the past two years wrongfully detained Coloradans, killed or injured U.S. citizens and violated court orders.
U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson ruled in September that in several incidents immigration agents in Colorado had violated his court orders.
The infractions perpetrated by DHS agents on American citizens and immigrants, both those here lawfully and unlawfully, are so numerous that we cannot mention them all here, although we are compelled to highlight the most concerning incidents as we urge Colorado voters to say no to Amendment 81.
In January 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in unmarked vehicles pulled a Utah teenager over on the side of Interstate 70, took her to a detention facility in Aurora and held her illegally for about two weeks. She was traumatized by her arrest and .
In October 2025, Fernando Jaramillo Solano and his two children – ages 12 and 15 – were detained by federal agents while driving in Durango. Despite testimony from a senior ICE official that agents had arrested the wrong person, Jaramillo-Solano and his children were taken to Texas and held in detention for almost a month. Jaramillo-Solano had a pending asylum case giving the family temporary legal status in America; Jaramillo-Solano and his children self-deported rather than wait in custody for their case to be adjudicated, citing where they were held.
Later that month, a teacher with Denver Public Schools was wrongfully detained by federal officials during a routine immigration check-in. Marina Ortiz, a 5th-grade teacher, and her family were sent to a detention center in Texas. She was authorized to work in the U.S., and yet Ortiz also self-deported rather than face the poor detention conditions in America while she waited for a judge to hear her case.
Fifty-seven people have died while held in facilities managed by DHS since 2024.
In January of 2026, things took a turn for the worse with Operation Metro Surge. ICE agents broke car windows, fired weapons through closed doors, engaged in high-speed chases and tackled forcing him into the back of a van before dumping him off at a nearby Walmart when they realized their mistake.
Unbelievably, including three U.S. citizens who were killed. about how and when they shot people.
The U.S. Supreme Court just agreed to allow Trump to continue that America cannot otherwise legally send back to dangerous situations in their home countries.
The Department of Homeland Security is engaging in activities that we think are bad for America. Voters should refuse to require our hard-working law enforcement officers in Colorado to investigate the citizenship or legal statuses of people and then pass on their suspicion about immigration status to federal agents.
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