A pair of Colorado state lawmakers joined elected officials from six other states at a media briefing on Thursday to discuss responses to the federal government’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

The meeting, hosted by State Futures, featured a dozen Democratic legislators from New York, Illinois, Colorado, and California. The lawmakers outlined their states’ policy response to combat federal actions that they believe are unconstitutional.

Gaby Goldstein, founder and president of State Futures noted the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago. Critics of ICE have complained against agents wearing mask and alleged the latter have refused to provide identification and detained lawful residents.

Goldstein said 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, which is part of the mass deportation plan by the Trump administration and which targets gang members.

During an October 2024 rally at Gaylord Rockies Resort in Aurora, Trump said he would ensure the federal government expedites the removal of members 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.”

He was referring to, among other gangs, Tren de Aragua, which originated in the prisons of Venezuela and which has gained a foothold in metro Denver.

Gang members have been linked to a myriad of criminal activities that include human trafficking — specifically immigrant women and girls — drug trafficking, kidnapping, and money laundering.

According to U.S. authorities, members of the Venezuelan prison gang hid in plain sight by infiltrating immigrants headed north. The gang’s brutal reputation — magnified by reports the gang had “taken over” apartment complexes in Aurora — quickly made TdA a political flashpoint.

Weissman said states have always been considered “laboratories for democracy,” a term coined by the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. Now, he said, 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.”

“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,” he said.

Weissman discussed Senate Bill 276, a 2025 law that limits when state and local law enforcement can share information with federal agencies such as ICE. In particular, the expressly prohibits all state agencies and political subdivisions from sharing or inquiring into individuals’ personal identifying information for the purposes of enforcing immigration laws. The law imposes a civil fine of $50,000 for each violation. That prohibition does not extend to criminal investigations.

It’s among a slew of “sanctuary” policies that critics view as handcuffing both local and federal agents’ ability to fight crime and deport foreign nationals unlawfully staying in America. Their supporters have argued they are needed to keep the federal government from “commandeering limited state public safety capacity” for their own purposes and to preserve the trust between the police and communities they serve.

Colorado law also expressly forbids a law enforcement officer from arresting or detaining an individual based upon a “detainer request.” An immigration “detainer” is a notice issued to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies informing the latter that ICE intends to assume custody of an individual who is no longer subject to the former’s detention.

“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 divided along party lines, with Republicans arguing that states should stay out of immigration policy because it’s a federal matter.

Former Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, expressed worries that the law could violate the U.S. 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 its provisions, including extending liability to include agencies that 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.

Colorado’s 2026 legislative session begins Jan. 14.