By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
A measure which could potentially have preempted the arrival of violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua in Aurora, Denver and other locations of the state was never given a chance by Democrats, state Rep. Richard Holtorf, R-Akron, says.
He authored House Bill 24-1128, with the support of Sen. Mark Baisley, and an 8-3 party-line committee vote in the 74th Legislature prevented it from ever reaching the floor for debate.
“They wholeheartedly rejected it on principle, a bad, progressive principle of open borders,” Holtorf said.
The bill sought to return Colorado to immigration policy prior to 2013, when Senate Bill 06-090 was in place. Doing so would have eliminated present law prohibiting a probation officer from providing personal information about an illegal immigrant to federal immigration authorities, prohibiting state and local entities from contracting with private immigration detention services, and would have allowed local law enforcement to work with federal immigration authorities.
“I thought it was a good bill that was supported by many law enforcement agencies. It was a very important bill, because of the immigration problem we have,” Holtorf said. “We have, literally, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants passing into this country every month and many of them are criminals.”
According to the 2023 annual Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report, 53,766 convicted criminals were encountered attempting to cross the Unites States’ southern border in 2023 and 20,056 more had pending criminal charges among the about two million reported encounters. The data does not include “gotaways”.
“The Democrats own this policy. They can’t get out of it. I offered them a solution to the problem I saw coming like a freight train in the future,” Holtorf said. “We need to do something. This bill was common sense. Anyone with a brain can see we have a problem in this country and state.”
A substantial change to immigration law in Colorado in 2013, creating a sanctuary state, was the prevention of peace officers from reporting a suspected illegal immigrant to federal authorities. Many police chiefs and sheriffs argue the sanctuary state policy has created sanctuary cities throughout Colorado.
“It is a failed Democrat policy. Anyone can look and see it is bad policy,” Holtorf said. “I just felt it was an important bill. Even though I knew the Democats would kill it, I felt we needed to run it.”
In recent days, he has reflected on the bill as reports of Tren de Aragua taking over apartment complexes in Aurora have been reported by members of their City Council. The Aurora Police Department has confirmed the activity of Tren de Aragua in the community. Gov. Jared Polis recently termed it “imagination” that there had been a takeover of any building by the group.
“Gov. Polis, stop lying to yourself and stop lying to Colorado citizens,” Holtorf said. “We have a gang problem in Colorado, caused by your failed immigration policy. I gave you and Democrats a way out and you didn’t want it. You’re like an old stubborn cow, you didn’t want to go through the gate that was opened for you.”
He complains HB24-1128 was defeated without debate, simply on the Democratic leadership of committee Chair Steven Woodrow.
“The Democrats could had offered amendments to the bill, and they didn’t,” Holtorf said. “They just killed it.”
Senate sponsor Baisley predicts the bill will return during the next session with the support of law enforcement across Colorado.