A pair of Colorado state lawmakers joined elected officials from six other states at a media briefing Thursday to discuss their responses to federal immigration crackdowns.

The meeting, hosted by State Futures, featured a dozen Democratic lawmakers from states including New York, Illinois, Colorado, and California, each of whom discussed current and future policies in their states that combat federal actions they believe are unconstitutional.

Gaby Goldstein, founder and president of State Futures, opened the briefing by discussing recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago, where concerns have been raised over agents wearing masks, refusing to provide identification, and detaining lawful residents.

According to Goldstein, there has been a 400% increase in ICE arrests since last year.

“These actions don’t just raise policy questions; they test the basic tenet premise that government power must be exercised lawfully, transparently, and with accountability,” she said. “State lawmakers are governing through uncertainty and federal overreach that can be legally dubious and deliberately opaque, but they’re not standing still. They are protecting communities, preserving public trust, and defending the rule of law.”

Aurora Democratic Sen. Mike Weissman said his district has been “ground zero” for Operation Aurora, a plan by the Trump administration to use law enforcement and the military to detain illegal immigrants.

During an October 2024 rally at Gaylord Rockies Resort in Aurora, Trump said he would ensure the federal government expedites the removal of “savage gangs” living in the United States illegally.

“We are a country under tremendous distress,” he said. “We will send elite squads from ICE to deport every single gang member.”

Weissman noted that states have always been considered “laboratories for democracy,” a term coined by the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. Now, however, they are also laboratories where “remedies are being developed to protect our country from the disease of authoritarianism that is spreading out from Washington, D.C,” he said.

“As different states work together to defend democracy, civil rights, and basic human decency, it’s never been more important in our lifetimes that like-minded state legislators work together to share ideas and strategies.”

Weissman discussed Senate Bill 276, a 2025 law that, in part, limits when state and local law enforcement can share information with agencies such as ICE. The measure also clarifies that ICE detainers are not lawful arrest warrants under the Fourth Amendment and prohibits civil arrests in courthouses or while someone is receiving behavioral health treatment required by a court order.

“The simple premise of Senate Bill 276 is that the Constitution protects us all, regardless of immigration status,” Weissman said.

Support for the bill was unsurprisingly divided along party lines, with Republicans arguing that states should stay out of immigration policy because it’s a federal matter, not a state one.

Former Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, expressed concern that it could violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which provides that federal law takes precedence over state law.

“We are seeking now to bring [immigration policy] into balance,” Lundeen said during floor debate last spring.

Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-Unincorporated Adams County, who cosponsored Senate Bill 276 with Weissman, said lawmakers plan to introduce legislation during the 2026 session that will strengthen specific provisions of the bill, including extending liability to include agencies that illegally share information with immigration agents instead of just individuals.

Garcia also mentioned a law she sponsored in 2023, which banned local governments from entering into intergovernmental service agreements, or IGSAs, with ICE.

“ICE is actually in fact not a law enforcement agency; it is a lawless agency, and because of that, we still have more work to do to protect our communities and protect individuals that are targeted by this lawless agency,” she said.

Colorado’s 2026 legislative session begins Jan. 14.