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Federal Immigration Law Remains Untested Against Sanctuary Policies
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Just The News, Approved, National

Federal Immigration Law Remains Untested Against Sanctuary Policies

By Just the News Contributor | Just the News DOJ has recently signaled interest in using the law – § 1324 – more aggressively. But as of early 2026, no prosecution of a sheriff or comparable official for detainer noncompliance has gone forward. A federal law on the books makes it a crime to harbor or transport an illegal alien – punishable by up to a decade in prison. But the Justice Department has never used the law against the local officials and organizations most visibly defying federal immigration enforcement, despite years of escalating conflict over “sanctuary” policies. Across the country, cities, counties and states have adopted measures that limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under so-called "sanctuary" policies, local law enforceme...
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Former Colorado Teacher Of The Year Finalist Sentenced To 14 Years In Student Abuse Case
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Former Colorado Teacher Of The Year Finalist Sentenced To 14 Years In Student Abuse Case

By Logan Smith | CBS Colorado A finalist for 2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year violated the terms of her probation and continued to contact one of her former students after she'd been criminally charged for having a relationship with the student and fired from her teaching position, according to a court document. Tera Johnson-Swartz was sentenced on March 19 to 14 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Two cases were filed against her - the first following a grand jury investigation into the relationship, the second after detectives learned that Johnson-Swartz was trying to maintain contact with the student. The student confirmed those attempts, according to the arrest affidavit in the second case. In an interview, the student said his former teacher walked u...
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Colorado Safe2Tell system sees record growth: But outcomes stay hidden
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado Safe2Tell system sees record growth: But outcomes stay hidden

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice February marked the first time this school year that monthly Safe2Tell totals outpaced the same period during the previous year. Three thousand and eight reports. Eighteen percent higher than January. And still, the question that the data doesn't answer: what actually happens once a report is filed? That gap, between the volume of concerns being submitted and the public record of what follows, sits at the center of a system that now handles tens of thousands of tips each year from Colorado students, parents, and community members. The Colorado Attorney General's Office released the February figures earlier this month, along with a press release citing interventions in student safety and welfare concerns.  Attor...
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Going the wrong way: Colorado’s fentanyl deaths rise while the rest of the nation falls
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Going the wrong way: Colorado’s fentanyl deaths rise while the rest of the nation falls

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice While much of the country is finally beginning to turn the corner on fentanyl, Colorado is heading in the opposite direction. And the human cost is staggering. Colorado’s numbers are still moving up—synthetic opioid deaths have climbed 17 percent since December 2024. Elsewhere, the trend has started to turn. Across the country, overdose deaths have dropped 26.9 percent, according to the CDC, the steepest one-year decline of the crisis and the lowest levels since 2019. Colorado isn’t just behind. It stands apart. A March 2026 report from the Common Sense Institute puts that gap into focus: 1,620 excess deaths. In other words, that’s how many more Coloradans died from synthetic opioid overdoses between ...
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Colorado House panel advances immigration bill after hours of testimony
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado House panel advances immigration bill after hours of testimony

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice After hours of testimony that moved between legal arguments, the House Judiciary committee advanced a sweeping immigration bill Tuesday. House Bill 26-1276 passed the committee on a 6–5 vote. The "Protect Safety of Individuals Who Are Immigrants" bill, sponsored by Reps. Elizabeth Velasco and Lorena García, focuses on how state and local entities interact with federal immigration enforcement through information sharing, task-force reporting, detention oversight and the use of public resources. Velasco told the committee the bill grew out of what sponsors saw as gaps in existing law. "This bill was written in response to issues…as well as growing concerns that we are seeing across Colorado and the nation," she said. That includ...
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Colorado Lawmakers Reject ICE Oversight Bill After Bipartisan Pushback
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Reject ICE Oversight Bill After Bipartisan Pushback

By Taylor Dolven and Olivia Prentzel | The Colorado Sun Local police chiefs opposed the bill. Two Democrats voted with Republicans to reject it. Colorado lawmakers rejected a bill Tuesday that would have required state and local police to intervene when federal immigration agents use excessive force. The bill would have also prohibited state and local police officers from hiding their identities, subjected federal officers to state criminal and civil penalties and required police officers to attend training on immigration enforcement. Two Democrats — Rep. Chad Clifford of Centennial and Rep. Cecelia Espenoza of Denver — joined the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee to kill House Bill 1275 after hours of testimony against it from police...
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Colorado Democrat Shelves Prostitution Decriminalization Effort Amid Growing Criticism
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The Daily Signal, Approved, State

Colorado Democrat Shelves Prostitution Decriminalization Effort Amid Growing Criticism

By: Tyler O'Neil | The Daily Signal Colorado’s Republican House leader is calling foul after a Colorado state senator says he is effectively killing his own bill to decriminalize prostitution—in order to protect “sex workers” from the trauma of having to testify. State Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, the main sponsor of SB26-097, told the Colorado Sun that his bill lacks the necessary support to clear the Senate Judiciary Committee, so he will ask to delay the measure until after the 2026 legislative session, effectively killing the bill. He said the “sex workers” who persuaded him to bring the bill also persuaded him to effectively kill it. “Ultimately, we all decided that having a very tense, long committee hearing, where they’d have to be in a room with a ...
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Violent Crime Spree Allegations Follow Release Of High Risk Colorado Parolee
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Fox News, Approved, Local

Violent Crime Spree Allegations Follow Release Of High Risk Colorado Parolee

By Stepheny Price | Fox News Ricky Lee Roybal-Smith faces four murder charges, including three deaths in 2025 and one from 2022. A Colorado parolee once classified as a "very high" risk of reoffending is now charged in four separate killings across three counties — including three counts of first-degree murder tied to an alleged 2025 crime spree. Ricky Lee Roybal-Smith, 38, faces two counts of first-degree murder in Adams County, one count of first-degree murder in Denver and a newly filed second-degree murder charge in Arapahoe County connected to a 2022 death. He is being held without bond in the Denver jail, prosecutors confirmed. In 2022, Roybal-Smith was accused of threatening customers at a retail store. One day later, a woman named...
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ICE Operation In Lakewood Turns Violent As Suspect Rams Vehicles and Flees Into Apartment Building
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CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

ICE Operation In Lakewood Turns Violent As Suspect Rams Vehicles and Flees Into Apartment Building

By Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado A man has been accused of a hit-and-run in the Denver metro area involving two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles. Around 9:58 a.m., Lakewood police were called to the 200 block of S. Ingalls Street. ICE agents reported that they were attempting to detain a suspect when that person rammed two of their vehicles with his car, injuring one of the agents. That suspect then left his car and entered a nearby apartment, according to a Lakewood PD spokesman. A crowd of people began gathering near the scene. According to LPD, officers set up a perimeter around the area due to concerns for community safety, but said the officers didn't engage with the suspect or the ICE operation. After federal agents obtained a warrant and additi...
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Bill Targeting Government Purchase of Personal Data Faces Law Enforcement Opposition
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Bill Targeting Government Purchase of Personal Data Faces Law Enforcement Opposition

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics A bipartisan coalition of Colorado lawmakers is advancing a bill that would prohibit police from purchasing personal consumer data without a warrant, setting up a clash with prosecutors who warn the measure could hamper criminal investigations. House Bill 1037, sponsored by Reps. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Ken DeGraaf, R-Colorado Springs, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Evergreen, would prohibit law enforcement and government entities from purchasing “certain personal data” from third parties without a warrant, except in emergencies. The bill, which sponsors are calling the “Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act,” aims to prohibit personal data purchased from a third party from being used as evidence in court. “Fundamentally, w...
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