Douglas County is backing President-elect Donald Trump’s deportation plan, arguing it supports public safety, which contrasts with Denver, whose mayor has vowed to resist federal immigration agents deporting illegal immigrants in his city.

On Tuesday, Douglas County commissioners unanimously approved a resolution embracing Trump’s “use of federal immigration and customs enforcement for the safe and lawful deportation of immigrants illegally in the United States,” the resolution states.

“Open and insecure border policies and local sanctuary declarations and laws have resulted in a mass illegal migration into the United States,” the resolution states, arguing “sanctuary” status has cost Colorado government entities over $350 million.

Roughly 43,000 immigrants who illegally crossed the southern border arrived in Colorado’s most populous metro area over the past 18 months.

“We should not be trying to provide a home for those that are here to victimize not only our fellow Americans, but their own fellow immigrants,” said Commissioner George Teal, pointing to neighboring Aurora as a “Trump fever dream” coming true.

“We have concrete evidence associated with the gang violence from illegal immigration in the Aurora establishment,” Chairman Abe Laydon said, emphasizing a need to support legal immigrants and the process.

Trump earlier declared Colorado as the launching pad for what he dubbed “Operation Aurora,” the start of what he promised to be the largest mass deportation in American history. Trump’s deportation plan may run into obstacles at state lines, particularly in Colorado, where Democrats hold the levers at the state Capitol.

“This illegal immigration crisis endangers our community by permitting unidentified individuals, including those who seek to victimize the United States through violence and terror, transport dangerous materials into the United States, to commit crime, and those who pose a contagious health risk to the country,” the resolution states.

Commissioner Kevin Van Winkle said the resolution “protects the public safety of our citizens and also taxpayer dollars that they have entrusted us with, to ensure that those resources are going to our citizens.”

Illegal immigration has resulted in “immigrants frequently becoming the victims of human trafficking, exploitation, crime, and abuse,” the resolution states.

Laydon, who fights against human trafficking, drew comparisons between illegal immigration and human trafficking.

“The money is not there to beckon people to a cold weather climate without resources,” Laydon said in support of the resolution. “That is not a compassionate plan, and those legal immigrants that go through the time and effort to be taxpayers, to document their process coming here, to go through the proper legal channels, are being penalized the most.”

In December, a Denver district court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Douglas County against the state of Colorado last year over its “sanctuary” laws.

The county had argued that they are “illegal and unconstitutional” because they violate the Colorado Constitution’s provisions on intergovernmental relationships and distribution of powers, and they are also preempted by federal immigration laws and regulations, the lawsuit added.

Since then, the county has appealed the court’s decision and expressed a willingness to pursue the issue in federal courts.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston in November vowed to defy any mass deportation of immigrants unlawfully in the United States. The mayor even said he is “not afraid” of jail time for resisting federal deportation of illegal immigrants.

“I was appalled that we would hear that from a mayor here in the state of Colorado,” Teal said of Johnston. “But secondly, I was appalled, because I do support President Trump … I do believe in his concept of deporting illegal immigrants who are conducting criminal behavior in the United States.”

Julie Ward was one of two Douglas County residents Tuesday to speak against the adopted resolution.

“This resolution is too open-ended, and might not represent the best interests of Douglas County,” she told commissioners. “I feel this just tries to make a political statement and is not specific enough.”

“During his re-election campaign,” Douglas County’s resolution states, “President Donald Trump expounded the dangerous state of immigration in the United States and his plans to resolve the crisis, including securing America’s borders and the lawful and safe deportation of immigrants illegally present in the United States.”

Castle Rock, a town in central Douglas County, approved its own resolution last month affirming deportation cooperation.

Any municipality’s or county’s would-be cooperation with federal immigration agents is potentially impacted by two specific state laws:

• A 2023 statute restricting the ability of state and local governments to make agreements with federal immigration officials over the detention of immigrants that arrived illegally.
• The 2019 legislation that expressly forbids a law enforcement officer from arresting or detaining an individual based upon a “detainer request.” The law also prohibits a probation officer from providing information about an individual to federal immigration authorities.

“We are holding the line in Douglas County on public safety and immigration,” Laydon said. “I am deeply sensitive to those who are coming to our country seeking refuge. We are a country of compassion that says leading with compassion means we focus on those legal immigrants that are impacted most by the decision to be a sanctuary state.”