Amendment 81 is a dangerous, divisive step backward that must be defeated

If you want to see Colorado’s future if voters pass Amendment 81 this November, simply look at the past. Or maybe just magnify the present. The trail of trauma, prejudice, and persecution currently playing out along the I-70 corridor has roots extending back some 20 years – the last time Colorado passed a law requiring local authorities to double as immigration enforcement agents. Rest assured, the next time will be even worse.

For months now, we have watched masked federal immigration agents descend into our communities: terrorizing restaurant workers, law-abiding families caught in indiscriminate sweeps, and an unhinged federal agency engaging in psychological warfare by dropping sinister “death cards” in abandoned cars left on the side of the road after dragging construction workers heading to work to a jobsite in Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge or Steamboat Springs. 

Following a brief lull in the aftermath of multiple deadly shootings by federal agents elsewhere, Colorado immigrants are back in the bullseye with confirmed arrests by ICE surging to nearly 500 people in July, marking the highest monthly total in over a year. Most of those in custody have no criminal history at all.

That’s not the kind of law and order anyone voted for, and it is certainly not the Colorado we want to build. Yet, here we are, one election away from potentially baking this brand of institutional terror into our state constitution.

Amendment 81 is a dangerous, divisive step backward that must be defeated.

Proponents of the measure are attempting to sell it as a “common-sense public safety initiative” designed to target serious threats. But the narrative simply doesn’t connect with reality. The fine print reveals a far darker and more threatening truth.

Strip away the political posturing, and the core of this proposed constitutional amendment will turn every police officer into an ICE agent because they will be forced to immediately report any Latino they suspect is here undocumented when they are charged, not convicted, of a crime.  

Think about what that means for everyday people. An allegation by an angry neighbor. A jealous ex-girlfriend or boyfriend. A routine traffic stop. Almost any encounter with law enforcement suddenly becomes a pipeline for the ruthless federal immigration machine.

Importantly, you only need to be charged – not convicted – meaning due process is bypassed entirely. That’s an open invitation to every rogue actor in our legal system to engage in unchecked racial profiling, ensuring that even long-time residents or asylum seekers with a valid work permit can be funneled into a broken federal system before they ever get a chance to see a judge or defend their innocence.

We know where this road leads because Colorado has already walked it. From 2006 to 2013, our state operated under Senate Bill 90 – a draconian “show-me-your-papers” law that essentially deputized local police as federal immigration agents. The results were disastrous.

Domestic violence survivors suffered in silence. Assault victims refused to report their attackers. Witnesses to burglaries and other crimes stayed quiet. Why? Because people stop calling the police when you turn the local police into ICE agents. They are terrified that calling for help will result in their deportation or the separation of their families. Instead of reducing crime, these laws make our communities far less safe by destroying public trust and shielding true criminals from local prosecution.

Our local law enforcement agencies already have the tools and jurisdiction to handle actual crimes and protect public safety. We do not need dark money groups and secret operatives attempting to rewrite our constitution to suit a flawed national political agenda.

When we give up local control to an agency operating under total federal immunity, we wind up with tragedies like that of Delvin Francisco Rodriguez. Delvin was a Summit County resident with no criminal record, an asylum seeker who had just received his work permit. He was swept up by ICE in a traffic stop on his way to a jobsite in Breckenridge, lost in a labyrinth of out-of-state private detention facilities, and died in federal custody in Mississippi. His family was left with no answers and zero accountability. He was a victim, not a criminal.

In the coming days we will hear countless abstract arguments about “law and order” and the protection that Amendment 81 will supposedly provide Coloradans. But we know better by now. Rather than safety, the reality of this amendment will be even more masked, armed federal agents coming onto our streets, terrorizing local families, and answering to no one.

We already experienced it in Summit County when masked federal agents descended on Hacienda Real, a Mexican restaurant in Frisco, locking it down with crime tape and terrifying workers and local families. At least two people were taken that day. Children were left crying, and parents were left living in fear.

We saw it again in Eagle County, where ICE agents detained at least 11 Latino workers and left Ace of Spades “death cards” – a historical white supremacist intimidation tactic – in their vehicles for family members to find, raising congressional oversight concerns. Does that kind of oppression really make anyone feel safer?

This proposed amendment will harm Colorado. It will institutionalize racial profiling, destroy decades of hard-won community trust, and tear families apart. It is a blueprint for chaos and cruelty that has no place in our state.

This November, Coloradans must stand together, protect our communities, and vote "NO" on Amendment 81.

Alex Sánchez is the founder and CEO of Voces Unidas de las Montañas and Voces Unidas Action Fund, immigrant-created advocacy organizations based in Colorado’s Western Slope.