JOINT RELEASE: Bill to Support Immigrant Communities Amid ICE Overreach Becomes Law

DENVER, CO — Governor Jared Polis today signed legislation to support immigrant communities and increase oversight of immigration detention facilities.

“Coloradans who look like me are being forcefully detained, injured and even killed by federal law enforcement,” said Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs. “We won’t let the federal government operate dangerous and inhumane detention centers without oversight, and our bill ensures facilities are regularly inspected. All Coloradans deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and this law establishes some important guardrails for detention centers and safeguards Coloradans’ privacy.”  

“The Trump Administration is abducting members of our community and holding them in secretive, unhealthy, and dangerous facilities. One of them is right in my district,” said Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora. “That’s why we are taking action to improve transparency and oversight of these facilities. We all deserve the freedom to keep our families together and have due process under the law.” 

“Across the country, we’ve witnessed illegal detainments, mass deportations, and young children, even infants, being forcefully ripped from their families. Enough is enough,” said Rep. Lorena García, D-Unincorporated Adams County. “In Colorado, we’re strengthening existing privacy protections that we expect the governor to honor, and setting some much-needed parameters on federal detention centers. Under our new law, detention centers will be subject to frequent and regular inspections to not only promote better health and safety, but also more transparency for our community.”

“As state legislators, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to keep our communities safe from the violent and unconstitutional overreach of ICE,” said Sen. Iman Jodeh, D-Aurora. “We hear all too often about death, sickness, overcrowding, and other unacceptable conditions in ICE detention facilities, but there is almost no transparency. This law is about increasing oversight, ensuring frequent inspections, and protecting health and safety.”

Last year, Democratic lawmakers passed SB25-276 to strengthen existing data privacy protections and clarify constitutional protections for immigrants. Importantly, HB26-1276 requires more oversight over detention facilities.This law also:

• Requires reporting on conditions in immigration detention facilities through frequent and regular inspections of the health and safety of facilities, in addition to unannounced inspections.

• Directs the Attorney General’s office to develop a model policy for sharing information with federal authorities when required by federal law. 

• Requires current law enforcement to receive training on Colorado’s immigration laws to ensure they enforce state laws properly.

This law is especially important now, as smaller detention centers that were previously used for short-term detention are now housing people for long periods of time without basic necessities. In a letter from the Colorado Democratic delegation to the Acting Director of ICE, the members stated that an individual was kept in a temporary holding cell for as long as 39 days.

A report from earlier this year exposed the ICE facility in Aurora for dangerous, unhealthy living conditions. The report found that medical conditions are often ignored by immigration officers and 22 percent of respondents are food insecure.

Governor Polis also signed HB26-1283 into law yesterday. This law, sponsored by Representatives Junie Joseph, D-Boulder and Naquetta Ricks, D-Aurora, and Senators Janice Marchman, D-Loveland and Adrienne Benavidez, D-Commerce City, will prohibit employers from confiscating and sharing an employee’s government-issued identification card with federal law enforcement agencies except when otherwise required by state or federal law. Additionally, if an employer holds an employee’s ID or personal document with the intent of harassing or intimidating the employee, they could be charged with a bias-motivated crime.

This law will help protect immigrant communities, especially workers employed in the service, hospitality, agriculture and construction industries.