10/21/2026
VOTE NO!
Amendment 81 is brought to you by Advance Colorado, a conservative political group that doesn't disclose its donors. Right now, Colorado law strictly limits how much local police can cooperate with federal immigration authorities. This amendment would override that law by writing a new rule into our state constitution. Police officers, sheriff's deputies, jail staff, and prosecutors would have to notify the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (the federal agency that houses ICE) within 72 hours of charging someone with a crime. That applies whenever they can't confirm the person is in the country legally and either the charge is a violent crime or the person has any prior felony conviction. Supporters pitch this as going after violent criminals. But the federal government already has the tools to do that. Arrest records, criminal charges, and bail information already sit in shared criminal databases that federal law enforcement can access.
What this measure really does is turn local police into an arm of federal immigration enforcement. That's why Denver District Attorney John Walsh has called it a "recipe for abuse" that invites racial profiling. At CGH, we oppose the federal crackdown on immigrants, documented and undocumented alike, who came here seeking a better life. The last thing Colorado needs is more federal immigration enforcement, and we don't need our local police doing the federal government's job.