Colorado rejects conservative effort to require police to cooperate with immigration officers

Amendment 81 would have required law enforcement to notify federal agents if people accused of violent crimes were not lawfully present in US

Colorado voters have spurned a conservative group’s effort to force police and prosecutors to aid the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.

Amendment 81, which failed to receive 55% of the vote on Tuesday, would have required Colorado’s law enforcement agents to notify federal immigration authorities if individuals accused of violent crime were not lawfully present in the US or if their legal status was undetermined.

The mandate also included a 72-hour deadline for law enforcement to alert the Department of Homeland Security after filing charges for crimes, such as murder, assault and arson, against possibly undocumented individuals.

Proponents for the measure, including the conservative non-profit Advance Colorado, reportedly argued it would ensure public safety by removing undocumented people who had committed crimes, or repeat offenders, from the country.

Critics of amendment 81 panned the measure, saying it took charges as evidence of criminality rather than as allegations.

“Being accused of a crime is not the same as being convicted, and our laws need to respect that distinction,” Shad Murib, the Colorado Democratic party chair, said in a Wednesday statement.

The reports to the Department of Homeland Security may have put individuals at risk of deportation before they received a trial. Concern also mounted over whether racial profiling would factor into how people’s citizenship status was questioned.

“We’re grateful to the advocates and community members who stood up for their neighbors. Colorado can hold people accountable for crimes without giving ICE more power over families who deserve fair treatment,” Murib said.

Colorado’s rejection of amendment 81 comes as the Trump administration grapples with sobering losses in key state and national races. The midterms have widely been viewed as a referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency. The economic fallout from the war in Iran and contentious policies, including the ongoing immigration crackdown, have jilted many Americans.