Yes on 81 Close the Violent Offender Loophole

Colorado Amendment 81 · November 3, 2026 ballot

Colorado law tells officers to stay quiet. Even about violent offenders.

Amendment 81 requires law enforcement to notify federal authorities within 72 hours when a person charged with a violent crime — or charged with any crime after a prior felony conviction — cannot be confirmed as lawfully present in the United States. That's just common sense.

Commit to vote yes Read what it does

Today

An officer who picks up the phone to tell federal authorities about someone charged with a violent crime can be sued by the state and face a civil penalty of up to $50,000.

With Amendment 81

The loophole closes. That call is required, on a 72-hour clock, and only in cases involving a violent charge or a repeat felony offender. Nothing else changes.

Three conditions. All of them, every time.

Amendment 81 is narrow on purpose. Notification is triggered only where all three of the following are true — not on a hunch, not on a traffic stop, and not on arrest alone.

A prosecutor has filed charges

Not an arrest. A district attorney has reviewed the case and concluded there is enough evidence to bring a criminal charge.

The charge is a violent crime, or the person is a repeat felon

Either a crime of violence as defined by Colorado statute, or any criminal charge against someone already convicted of a felony.

Lawful presence cannot be confirmed

Law enforcement must first make a reasonable effort to determine whether the person is lawfully present. The duty to notify arises only if that effort does not confirm it.

Then: one notification to Homeland Security, within 72 hours. That is the entire obligation the amendment creates. No detention, no transfer, no new arrest power.

Right now, the call itself is the offense.

$50,000

Maximum civil penalty a Colorado public official can face for sharing this information with federal authorities.

Senate Bill 25-276, signed in May 2025, allows Colorado to punish a law enforcement officer by fining him up to $50,000 if he decides to report a violent criminal to the Department of Homeland Security, if that criminal is in the state illegally.

The result is that a law enforcement officer who believes a violent offender in their custody is a danger to the community has to weigh reporting him against a $50,000 personal risk. Colorado has already sued a sheriff's deputy under these provisions.

Amendment 81 resolves this problem by putting a duty to report a dangerous offender in the constitution and removing the punishment for a law enforcement officer trying to keep his community safe.

Even California carves out violent offenders. Colorado doesn't.

States that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities almost always make an exception for serious and violent crime. The two most often cited as models both do. Colorado's restrictions don't.

California

Values Act, SB 54 (2017)

Law enforcement may notify federal authorities and transfer custody when a person has been convicted of a serious or violent felony, a felony punishable by state prison, or one of a long list of enumerated offenses.

New Jersey

Immigrant Trust Directive (2018)

Officials may notify federal authorities about anyone charged with or convicted of a violent or serious offense — murder, sexual assault, arson, domestic violence, and any first- or second-degree crime. The state's attorney general wrote that no agency should ever have to release such a person back into the community instead of into federal custody.

Colorado

HB19-1124, SB21-131, SB25-276

No comparable exception. The restrictions apply the same way whether the person in custody was charged with shoplifting or with attempted murder, and an intentional violation carries a civil penalty of up to $50,000.

Amendment 81 doesn't make Colorado an outlier. It ends Colorado being one.

The questions people actually ask.

Does this let ICE go door to door in neighborhoods?

No. Amendment 81 creates a reporting duty, not a search power. It gives no authority to any state or local official to stop, question, search, or detain anyone. It applies only after a prosecutor has already filed charges against a person law enforcement has in the criminal justice system.

Can police arrest someone and refer them for immigration enforcement?

No. Arrest is not the trigger — charging is. A district attorney has to review the case and file a violent charge, or file any charge against someone with a prior felony conviction. Cases that never get charged never reach this provision at all.

Does Colorado have to hold anyone for federal authorities?

No. The amendment requires notice and nothing more. It does not require or authorize extending anyone's detention, honoring a civil detainer, or transferring custody. A person's criminal case proceeds in Colorado courts exactly as it would today.

Everyone says dangerous criminals should go. Nobody changed the law.

The statements made by the elected officials below were not made about Amendment 81, and are quoted as evidence of agreement on the policy goal: violent offenders should not be kept here in Colorado.

“We need full cooperation between federal, state, and local law enforcement.”
Rep. Jeff Crank R

Congressional hearing, June 2025. U.S. Representative, Colorado’s 5th Congressional District.

“To be clear, in Colorado, we have zero tolerance for those who commit crimes, whether they are American citizens or not… And as a state, we welcome more federal help to detain and deport dangerous criminals.”
Gov. Jared Polis D

State of the State address, January 2025. Gov. Polis has not taken a position on Amendment 81.

“We don’t want drug dealers and cartels and criminals and gangbangers in our community. So, this emphasis on cracking down on these criminal elements who are not only illegally present in the United States but are committing other crimes is long overdue.”
Rep. Gabe Evans R

July 28, 2025. U.S. Representative, Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.

“Nobody disputes that if you have violent criminals on the streets, we should detain those folks — and if they’re unlawful, to deport them.”
Rep. Jason Crow D

Press conference, February 3, 2025. Rep. Crow has not taken a position on Amendment 81.

When the call comes too late.

Colorado's restrictions turn notification into a judgment call made in the last minutes before someone walks out of a jail. Amendment 81 moves it to the moment charges are filed, weeks earlier.

Tim Cruz was killed seven weeks after Denver released Ever Valles.

Denver, 2016–2017

  • October 2016

    Denver police arrest Ever Valles, 19, a Mexican national, on vehicle theft, weapons and eluding charges. Federal authorities file a detainer, citing his criminal history and documented gang affiliation.

  • December 20, 2016

    Valles posts a $5,000 bond and is released. The Denver Sheriff Department says it faxed federal authorities beforehand; they say the notice arrived too late to take custody. Accounts of the gap range from about 25 minutes to an hour.

  • February 7, 2017

    Valles and Nathan Valdez, 19, rob Tim Cruz, 32, at the RTD light rail station at 12th and Sheridan. Valdez fires the shots that kill Cruz.

  • November 2017 – March 2018

    Valles pleads guilty to aggravated robbery and accessory to murder and is sentenced to 29 years. Valdez pleads guilty to second-degree murder and is sentenced to 58 years.

Under Amendment 81, notification would have been due within 72 hours of the October charges — roughly two months before Valles walked out, not twenty-five minutes.

Reporting: Denver7, Associated Press.

Three weeks after his release, Osmani Garces-Ortiz was charged with attempted murder.

Arapahoe County and Aurora, 2019

  • September 2019

    Garces-Ortiz, 37, a Cuban national, is charged in Arapahoe County with felony trespassing, felony drug possession and violating a protection order.

  • October 24, 2019

    Federal authorities file a detainer. Under state law the jail cannot hold him on it.

  • October 28, 2019

    He posts bond and is released. The sheriff's office notified federal authorities about three hours earlier; they said a lobby notification was not a workable way to transfer custody.

  • November 17, 2019

    A man is attacked in his Aurora home. Garces-Ortiz is arrested four days later and charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault and violation of a bail bond.

Under Amendment 81, the notification would have gone out in September, when the charges were filed — six weeks of lead time instead of three hours.

Reporting: CBS Colorado, Denver7.

Amendment 81 needs 55% to pass.

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