{"id":23896,"date":"2025-01-23T13:46:59","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T20:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/do-trumps-immigration-directives-conflict-with-colorado-laws\/"},"modified":"2025-01-23T20:46:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T20:46:59","slug":"do-trumps-immigration-directives-conflict-with-colorado-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/do-trumps-immigration-directives-conflict-with-colorado-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Trump\u2019s immigration directives conflict with Colorado laws?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Kenneth
Kenneth Genalo, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's New York City field office, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A Colorado-based federal agent and state officials said it\u2019s too soon to tell what, if any, impact a new Justice Department memo mandating cooperation with deportation efforts might have here.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said on Wednesday that he was aware of the new directive but noted that prosecution decisions will be up to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office. Still, he added, enforcement priorities are at the president\u2019s discretion.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the FBI is a component of the larger Department of Justice. \u2026 We investigate violations of federal law in Colorado,\u201d Michalek said. \u201cAs we develop cases that are sufficient for federal prosecution, we pass the baton to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office and then they make those decisions on if and how it\u2019s prosecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michalek said the FBI has investigated local law enforcement in previous years and, like every other investigation, will look at whether any violations of federal law would be worthy of their time to investigate. That includes violations of executive orders and directives, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose prosecutorial priorities will come from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office and we work with all the other federal agencies in order to combat systemic violent crime in this area,\u201d he said. \u201cMain justice can take an executive order and provide guidance to the U.S. Attorneys and then we\u2019ll work to execute on those.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Justice Department memo issued Wednesday threatens prosecution of state or local officials for \u201cresisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department have a confirmed leader in place yet, so a lot of details have yet to come into focus, including what it might mean to \u201cobstruct\u201d an ICE agent. Trump has nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to become U.S. Attorney General, and Kash Patel, who has a limited law enforcement resume, to be FBI director.<\/p>\n

Since Trump\u2019s first term, Colorado state lawmakers passed a number of state laws that have attempted to draw bright lines between the state\u2019s criminal justice system and federal immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

This includes one law banning ICE from making arrests inside or around courthouses, another prohibiting local law enforcement from arresting anyone for a civil immigration violation or holding incarcerated people for longer than their sentences so ICE can detain them on their own.<\/p>\n

A handful of immigration-focused executive orders were signed by President Trump but many of those orders \u2013 if not all \u2013 are expected to be challenged in court.<\/p>\n

At issue in Colorado and other states with similar migrant-friendly laws is a supremacy question \u2013 do federal executive orders override existing local and state laws?<\/p>\n

The supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, found in Article VI, clause 2, says the federal government\u2019s laws \u201cshall be the supreme Law of the Land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Practically speaking, that makes it clear that the state can\u2019t prohibit the enforcement of immigration laws within the state\u2019s borders. But does it also require local police to actively help federal immigration agents?<\/p>\n

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who has already joined more than 20 state attorneys general suing the Trump administration for its proposal to get rid of the notion of birthright citizenship, thinks not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government cannot force Colorado state and local law enforcement to do immigration enforcement,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the federal government tries to force us or intimidate us to turn our law enforcement into immigration agents, we will protect Colorado and we will insist on protecting our sovereignty, which is what is at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first Trump term, the federal government withheld money for local law enforcement agencies because they wouldn\u2019t help with immigration enforcement. Weiser sued and won and the dollars were eventually released.<\/p>\n

Weiser, whose office is over the Peace Officers Standards and Training Board, which licenses the state\u2019s peace officers, said that despite Trump\u2019s executive orders, state and local law enforcement officers need to obey the state law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t take on any liability or responsibility that is outside of their purview,\u201d he said. \u201cAs local law enforcement looks at how to navigate in this situation. They need to operate under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many conflicts between laws, the answer probably lies in future court cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to know what the goal of this order is,\u201d Weiser said. \u201cI don\u2019t know of any state or local officials who (are) seeking to prevent or get in the way of any federal enforcement activity. The federal government can and should do what\u2019s within its mandate and we should follow ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, the Colorado chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to every sheriff and county attorney in the state warning them not to overtly help ICE do its job under the incoming administration \u2013 or they will risk getting sued.<\/p>\n

Seven years ago, the ACLU sued Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell in the previous Trump administration for arresting and detaining people in his jail and holding them for longer than their sentences, or after they had posted cash bonds, for ICE. The case went up to the state\u2019s Court of Appeals, which rejected the sheriff\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

The ACLU warned in their letters they are \u201cprepared to take similar actions again,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have taken legal action against law enforcement offices that ran afoul of Colorado law and if necessary we\u2019ll do it again,\u201d said Tim Macdonald, the ACLU\u2019s Colorado Legal Director in a statement.<\/p>\n

But Mikesell, who is still on the job in Southern Colorado, said on Wednesday he plans to help the federal government enforce immigration laws as fully as possible.<\/p>\n

This includes participating in what is known as the federal \u201c287g\u201d program, which allows his deputies to go back and forth enforcing local laws and immigration laws, working for Teller County and the federal government, sometimes in the same week.<\/p>\n

Teller is the only county in the state participating in the program \u2013 but he joins 137 other sheriff\u2019s offices across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado has created problems in writing laws that get in the way of federal investigations and by telling local law enforcement that we can\u2019t assist in detaining somebody \u2026 that could be construed as interfering with the federal law,\u201d Mikesell said. \u201cI plan to continue to help ICE in investigating crimes that happen in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

is whether federal executive orders override existing local and state statutes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[457,28,904,1025,52,315],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-federal-bureau-of-investigation","tag-headlines","tag-immigration","tag-law-and-justice","tag-law-enforcement","tag-president-donald-trump"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23896"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}