State Rep. Dave Williams swung hard on national television Wednesday at opponents of legislation the Colorado Springs Republican introduced earlier in the week to subject politicians to lawsuits and criminal charges if they’ve helped establish “sanctuary” cities or other jurisdictions in Colorado.

“This could be model legislation that could definitely hold these lawless politicians accountable for letting criminals loose on the streets,” Williams told host Ainsley Earhardt during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends show Wednesday morning. “We’re going to turn up the heat and bring the pressure.”

Williams, who was elected to his first term in the Legislature in November, said President Donald Trump has “led the way” for the proposal. Noting that he’s been thinking about the policy for years, Williams said, “Very much like Donald Trump’s businessman-type approach, this bill will actually get results. It will make criminals think twice before they allow criminals on the streets and put the well being and safety of the American people below that of illegal aliens.”

House Bill 17-1134, known as “The Colorado Politician Accountability Act,” would establish criminal and civil liability for elected officials who have a hand in creating laws or policies that shield undocumented immigrants from federal authorities if an immigrant in that jurisdiction – “illegal alien,” according to the bill – is convicted of causing any harm to person or property.

The legislation creates the crime of “rendering assistance to an illegal alien through a sanctuary jurisdiction,” a Class 4 felony, and lays out procedures to seek charges against public officials under certain circumstances. It also would allow injured parties to sue elected officials for up $1,980,000 for personal injury and $990,000 for property damage.

Williams lamented that Democrats have derided his legislation – state Rep. Joe Salazar, a Thornton Democrat, called the proposal “grounded in ridiculousness, surround by ignorance, covered in prejudice and overall is tone deaf” earlier this week – while applauding the support of Republican lawmakers.

“On the Republican side, there’s a lot of great support,” he said on the Fox show. “I have the minority leader, as well as the Senate majority leader. With the Democrats, they’re wrong on this issue. They don’t like it. In fact, there’s going to be legislation introduced to make Colorado a sanctuary state. And I think it’s unfortunate, and I think we need to hold these guys accountable.”

Williams was referring to a bill Salazar plans to introduce soon – “The Ralph Carr Freedom Defense Act,” named after the Colorado governor who stood up for Japanese-Americans during World War II – although Salazar denies it amounts to creating a “sanctuary” state. The bill, Salazar has said, will prohibit authorities from turning over information about the race, ethnicity, immigration status or religious affiliation of Colorado residents to the federal government under certain circumstances. (That’s almost exactly one of the definitions of a “sanctuary” jurisdiction in the bill Williams introduced this week.)

Salazar angrily rejected Williams’s characterization of his own proposed policies.

“I recognize that Rep. Williams wants to skew a bill that asserts Colorado’s rights under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution with his dog-whistle language of ‘sanctuary city’ or ‘sanctuary state,'” he told The Colorado Statesman on Wednesday. “His attempts are unfortunate and disrespectful towards communities across the state that are looking to Colorado to stand up to an overreaching Trump Administration.”

In his appearance on the Fox News show, Williams also invoked the family of Kate Steinle, the California woman who fell victim to an undocumented immigrant who, it turned out, had been in custody numerous times to little effect. “It would allow people like those victims to be able to hold these guys accountable, sue ’em and even put them in jail,” he said.

Although the bill is headed for near-certain defeat in the Democratic-controlled House – it was assigned its first hearing on Feb. 22 in the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, the chamber’s “kill” committee – Williams said he hopes to resurrect it in the Senate, where the GOP holds the majority.

“Should the Democrats be successful in defeating this bill in the House, I’m going to call for the Senate president in the other chamber, which is controlled by Republicans, to get it passed that way so we can have ample opportunity to keep Colorado safe,” Williams told the Fox News host.

The bill has plenty of support from Republican legislative leaders. Its Senate sponsor is Majority Caucus Chair Vicki Marble, and Senate Majority Leader Chris Holbert, Senate President Pro Tem Jerry Sonnenberg and Majority Whip John Cooke have signed on as co-sponsors. Other Senate co-sponsors include state Sens. Owen Hill, Kevin Lambert, Tim Neville, Larry Crowder and Kevin Lundberg.

In the House, co-sponsors include Minority Leader Patrick Neville, Minority Whip Lori Saine and state Reps. Philip Covarrubias, Justin Everett, Steve Humphrey, Tim Leonard, Kimmi Lewis, Hugh McKean, Dan Nordberg and Kevin Van Winkle.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com