Leaders from Douglas and El Paso counties in Colorado jointly filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jared Polis, D, and the state on Monday, April 15. The suit contests two Colorado House bills that limit government involvement with immigration detention.
Colorado’s current sanctuary immigration laws bar police from arresting and detaining undocumented migrants based on immigration status. These laws also prohibit officers and local judges from sharing information with federal immigration authorities.
Douglas County Commissioner George Teal asserted that these laws violate the state’s constitution.
“Federal policies along the southern border have resulted in an unlimited stream of illegal immigrants into our communities,” Teal said. “We see it as a duty of the county to push back against these state laws that prohibit us from working with federal authorities to keep Douglas County and our communities safe.”
Commissioners expressed uncertainty about the number of migrants relocated to Douglas or El Paso counties, citing Texas’s busing of at least 40,000 migrants to the Denver area over 16 months.
Commissioner Laura Thomas emphasized the importance of ensuring county safety, expressing concern about changes she observed in Denver compared to Douglas County.
“What I see in Denver is not what I want to see here in Douglas County,” Thomas said.
Douglas County Undersheriff Dave Walcher criticized Colorado’s laws for hindering cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stressing that the agency’s primary responsibility is to protect citizens and maintain safety.
“It limits our ability,” Walcher said. “We cooperate with our federal partners like the FBI, the Secret Service, Alcohol, Tobacco, Drug Enforcement Administration. We cooperate with our federal partners, and things like this tell us we can’t even cooperate with ICE, who is a federal law enforcement agency. That is absolutely ridiculous.”
Polis has yet to respond to the lawsuit.