A group of Colorado law enforcement and elected officials on Monday spoke in support of upcoming legislation that would increase their ability to work with the Department of Immigration Control and Enforcement in the prosecution of violent criminals living in the U.S. illegally.

El Paso County Sheriff Joe Roybal, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell and U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank held a news conference at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office as part of an effort to galvanize public support for Senate Bill 25-047, Enforcement of Federal Immigration Law, which would repeal existing Colorado immigration laws that Roybal called “anti-public safety.”

“Sadly, politics have failed the citizens of Colorado when it comes to dealing with illegal immigration and the negative consequences,” Roybal said Monday.

“The legislation and laws signed into effect have made Colorado a haven for criminal immigrants. I’ll repeat that: Colorado is a haven for criminal immigrations. To address these violent criminals, we must have our hands unshackled by these Colorado laws.”

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If passed, the bill would “recreate and reenact” Senate Bill 06-090, which allowed police officers and/or local officials to cooperate with federal authorities regarding a person’s immigration status. That bill was repealed in 2013.

“The state Department of Corrections and county and municipal police agencies routinely release hundreds of criminal aliens back into the community annually without notifying the federal Department of Homeland Security of the release date and time because such notification and cooperation with federal immigration authorities is obstructed by current state law,” the bill states.

The new bill, according to Mikesell, would allow local law enforcement to work with ICE to identify dangerous criminals currently living in the country illegally. It does not, he said, empower officers to act as a de facto arm of the immigration agency.

“We only want to deal with people who commit crimes in Colorado,” Mikesell said. “We’re looking for criminals, and that’s where it ends. Those are the people we want to go after, and if they are illegal aliens, we want to deal with them as such.”

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To underscore the importance of a cooperative relationship with ICE, Roybal referenced the Jan. 30 arrest of a man suspected of vehicle theft in Security-Widefield. When El Paso County Sheriff’s deputies caught the man, he was in possession of a stolen gun and an unspecified quantity of illegal drugs, Roybal said. The man also had several forms of identification which, with the assistance of the federal immigration agency, were determined to have been falsified.

“The suspect, a dangerous criminal, is now sitting at the El Paso County jail waiting to face charges,” Roybal said.

“Currently we are allowed to work with ICE when it comes to criminal investigations. The big difference is that I cannot hold these criminals on an ICE hold.”

Officials emphasized that the new legislation would not allow “round-up” operations or “stop-and-show-your-papers enforcement actions.”

Roybal, Mikesell and Crank also introduced the We Are For Colorado public safety coalition, a partnership of law enforcement and elected officials that is organizing public support for the bill.

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“We Are For Colorado is about standing up for the citizens of Colorado,” Crank said. “I would encourage every citizen to come forward and testify on this bill.”

Last year a similar bill, House Bill 24-1128, was indefinitely suspended during a State House Civic, Military, and Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing. But Roybal said he is optimistic about the current bill, which will be heard at a Senate committee hearing on Feb. 25.

“I think the message has been sent,” the El Paso County sheriff said. “I hope that they will listen to us.”