Colorado’s ICE restrictions could earn it “sanctuary” label and jeopardize federal grants

Last month, when Gov. Jared Polis signed into law legislation restricting Colorado’s cooperation with federal immigration officials, he placed the state squarely within the cross hairs of conservative efforts to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants [illegal aliens] ...

The bill Polis signed prohibits Colorado police from complying with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers...

While there is not a singular definition for a sanctuary city, anti-sanctuary legislation in Congress usually defines it as a city that prohibits police from complying with ICE detainers. By that definition, the state has made virtually every city in Colorado a sanctuary city, vulnerable to losing billions in federal grants if presidential action or legislation were to crack down on sanctuaries.

There is the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act, which would make Colorado ineligible for certain infrastructure grants; the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which would cost it police grants; the Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act, which would bar it from all federal grants; the No Federal Funding to Benefit Sanctuary Cities Act, which would force it to return federal grants; and the Diamond and Silk Act, which would end its grants and open it up to lawsuits by crime victims ...

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Windsor Republican who represents Colorado’s rural east, will co-sponsor the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act... The bill would attempt to shield sheriffs who comply with ICE detainers from repercussions if they defy the new state law ... 

The Economic Development Administration grants that would be withheld under the bill Buck supports are worth millions of dollars to Colorado communities ...

Polis has insisted that Colorado is not a sanctuary state, battling the federal government over that label. In March, he and state Attorney General Phil Weiser sued the Justice Department for withholding law enforcement grant money. That case is pending in federal court ... 

In 2016, Trump pledged to block all federal money to sanctuary cities. On Twitter last week, he said “politics will soon mandate” sanctuary cities end" because people from California, and all over the land, are demanding that Sanctuary Cities be GONE."