Hello Fellow Republican Patriots

We need your help on SB25-047! Information below includes Talking Points and how to testify!

Thank You

Carl Andersen

Teller County Chair

 

See below information provided by the Teller County Sheriff’s office:

Senate Bill 25-047,  authored by Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell and Senator Baisley,  will be considered by the Colorado General Assembly on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 2:00 pm.

The purpose of the bill is to repeal previous Colorado law that prohibits local law enforcement from coordinating with and working with ICE and from housing illegal immigrants in their detentions facilities who are awaiting their date in immigration court.

If you wish to review the bill, you can do so at: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2025A/bills/2025a_047_01.pdf

SB 25-047 is an important step towards giving law enforcement all the tools necessary to cooperate with federal law enforcement to remove criminal illegal immigrants from our communities. It reduces the number of criminals who are able to use sanctuary laws to escape prosecution for their crimes and return to endanger our residents. It also greatly increases the likelihood that criminals who illegally entered the U.S. will be returned to their country of origin.

Sheriff Mikesell invites you to be heard by the Colorado General Assembly by testifying at the hearing for SB 25-047. Let those who represent us know that we want law enforcement to have all the tools they can have in the prosecution of criminals, regardless of where those criminals came from.

To help you collect your thoughts on the importance of SB 25-047, we’ve included potential talking points to stimulate discussion. They follow the instructions on how to testify.

1. How to sign up to testify.

First, you need to sign up to testify before the hearing.

1. Follow this link to the Colorado General Assembly: https://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2025A/commsumm.nsf/NewSignIn.xsp
2. From there, you can sign up to appear and give testimony in person in front of the board, appear remotely via the Zoom app, or submit written testimony.
3. Once you’ve chosen how you want to testify, and hit the “Next” button, you’ll be asked how you want to find the item you want to testify on. We suggest you select “By Committee and Hearing Item” and hit the “Next” button.
4. In the Committee Name box, select “Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs”. In the Meeting Time and Date box, select “02/25/2025 02:00 PM”.
5. In the Hearing Item box, select “Senate State, Veterans, & Military Affairs SB25-047 (Enforcement of Federal Immigration Law [Baisley, Brooks, Richardson] ) and hit the “Next” button.
6. Fill in your contact information and hit the “Signup” button.

Next, be prepared to testify in the way chosen.

If you choose to testify in person:

The committee chair determines the order of testimony and may limit the time allotted for public testimony. In most cases, testimony is limited to 2 to 3 minutes per witness.

Witnesses wishing to testify in person on a bill in a committee of reference must register by completing the electronic form below. Witnesses may begin registering at the time the bill is scheduled for a committee hearing.

Registration will close when the committee chair ends the public testimony portion of the bill hearing.

To register, select the “In Person” option below, and select the bill on which you wish to testify (either by first selecting the committee in which the bill will be heard or the name of the sponsoring legislator, or by directly selecting the bill number). Fill out the form, including all required fields.

Please note: registration is only available for bills that have been scheduled for a committee hearing. If a bill is not on the list of bills available for registration, the bill is not currently scheduled for a committee hearing. At times, a bill may be scheduled for a committee hearing just prior to the start of its hearing. In this case, you may need to monitor the bill’s status on the General Assembly’s website and refresh the registration page once the bill has been scheduled for a committee hearing.

Witness lists are public records under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) and are provided to individuals upon request.

If you choose to testify remotely via Zoom:

Members of the public may testify remotely on bills during committee of reference hearings, via the web conferencing software Zoom. Remote testimony is generally intended for in-state, Colorado witnesses. Remote testimony from out-of-state witnesses is subject to the Chair’s discretion.  The committee chair determines the order of testimony and may limit the time allotted for public testimony. In most cases, testimony is limited to 2 to 3 minutes per witness.

Advanced registration is required. Witnesses may begin registering at the time the bill is scheduled for a committee hearing.

To register, select the “Testify via Zoom” option below, and select the bill on which you wish to testify (either by first selecting the committee in which the bill will be heard or the name of the sponsoring legislator, or by directly selecting the bill number). Fill out the form, including all required fields. After you have registered, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with the Zoom link. Please do not share the Zoom link; all witnesses must be registered in order to testify

Please note: remote testimony registration is only available for bills that have been scheduled for a committee hearing. If a bill is not on the list of bills available for registration, the bill is not currently scheduled for a committee hearing. At times, a bill may be scheduled for a committee hearing just prior to the start of its hearing. In this case, you may need to monitor the bill’s status on the General Assembly’s website and refresh the registration page once the bill has been scheduled for a committee hearing.

Multiple bills may be heard during a committee hearing; the same Zoom link is used for the entirety of a committee hearing. Therefore, it is possible you will join the Zoom conference before the bill on which you wish to testify is before the committee. To monitor committee proceedings, please visit: http://www.leg.state.co.us/public/display.nsf/index.html. The committee proceedings website should not be relied upon as an official record of committee action.

Witness lists are public records under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) and are provided to individuals upon request.

If you wish to submit written testimony:

Members of the public may submit written testimony on bills scheduled for committee hearings.  Written testimony is a public record under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) and will be included in the staff summary of each meeting, which is posted on the General Assembly’s website. The option to submit written testimony becomes available when a bill is scheduled for a hearing in a committee of reference and lasts until the committee takes action on the bill.

Please note: the option to submit written testimony is only available  for bills that have been scheduled for a committee hearing. If a bill is not on the list of bills on which written testimony maybe submitted, the bill is not currently scheduled for a committee hearing. At times, a bill may be scheduled for a committee hearing just prior to the start of its hearing. In this case, you may need to monitor the bill’s status on the General Assembly’s website and refresh the testimony submission page once the bill has been scheduled for a committee hearing.

To register, select the “Submit Written Testimony” option, and select the bill on which you wish to submit written testimony (either by first selecting the committee in which the bill will be heard or the name of the sponsoring legislator, or by directly selecting the bill number). Fill out the form, including all required fields. You may either upload a prepared document or use the space provided (max 1500 characters) to type your submission.

To submit a prepared document, select the “Upload File” option, and then click on the “Click here to upload file” link. A dialogue box will direct you to return to the form after you have uploaded your testimony and a new tab will open in Box.com. Select your file or drag and drop it into the Box.com form, complete the remaining fields in the Box.com form (email address and file description), and hit the blue “Submit” button. The file will upload, and you will get a message confirming that the document has been uploaded. Then return to the registration form and hit the blue “Sign Up” button to complete the submission.

1. Testifying

The order of bills to be heard is posted in the daily calendars and on the committee’s webpage. The order can also be found on the Live Proceedings website. The chair will announce each bill, after which the bill’s sponsor will address the committee. The chair may then ask for testimony from proponents and opponents. Hearings are conducted using formal parliamentary procedure. You may find the following recommendations to be helpful.

• Begin your presentation by stating, “Mr. or Madam Chair ___, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to present to you today. My name is ____, representing ___, and I am here to support/oppose this bill because . . .”
• Be brief and avoid repeating what other witnesses have said. Try to focus on points that have not been mentioned.
• At the end of your testimony, thank the committee members and offer to answer any questions.
• If a member asks a question, wait for the chair to prompt you, then state your name followed by, “Chair ___, Senator/Representative ____, the answer to your question is . . .” If you do not know the answer, it is always okay to say that you do not know. If you promise to follow up, be sure to do so in a timely manner.
• Do not be offended if committee members come and go during a hearing. They have other commitments, including the presentation of bills in other committees that are meeting simultaneously.
• At a hearing with a large number of witnesses, there may not be time for everyone to testify.
• Cell phones and other electronic devices should be on a silent setting.
• Food and beverages are prohibited in the committee rooms.
• The chair has the discretion and authority to limit testimony, ask the sergeant-at-arms to remove a disruptive person from the committee room, and clear the public from any hearing in the event of a disturbance that is disruptive to legislative proceedings.
• Disruptive witnesses testifying remotely will be disconnected from the Zoom conference.

 

1. Talking Points

To help you in collecting your thoughts on your testimony and stimulate discussion, the following talking points are provided. The reader will, of course, testify based on your personal beliefs and values.

• SB 25-047 will repeal HB 23-1100, C.R.S. § 24-76.7-103, which forced the Teller County Sheriff’s Office to terminate a 23-year-old agreement with ICE to house ICE detainees awaiting court dates with an immigration judge.
  • HB 23 -1100 singled out ICE and required TCSO to terminate its agreement with ICE, but TCSO may continue to house inmates for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service.
  • The housing agreement with ICE was subject to strict requirements to provide a safe and secure housing for detainees – better than that provided by private contractors.
  • For over 20 years, the agreement provided a benefit to Teller County by allowing available space in the detention center to be utilized by federal law enforcement, paid at the federal government rate.
• SB 25-047 permits, but does not require, local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.
  • Under SB 25-047, each of the 64 Sheriffs in Colorado can decide if cooperating with ICE is a law enforcement priority for their County, or not.
  • These law enforcement priorities should be made at the local level.
  • County Sheriffs are elected by their county citizens, so they are in the best position to decide their law enforcement priorities – not the Colorado legislature or the ACLU.
• The 287(g) program is one of the Sheriff’s law enforcement priorities and it has helped make Teller County safer – contrary to what the ACLU will tell you.
  • All the activity under the 287(g) Agreement happens in the County jail – after a person has been arrested for a state crime. None of this work is done outside of the jail.
• SB 25-047 only concerns the cooperation between local law enforcement and federal law enforcement regarding criminals who have been detained for breaking Colorado law.
  • The focus is on criminals who have been arrested for state crimes.
  • The bill includes language that shows it is not to be used to justify local law enforcement in conducting roundup operations.
• Strong coordination with federal partners allows for the best information sharing regarding criminals who have crossed local, county, state, and national boundaries.
  • Information and resources we have may help in the capture of a criminal who is in another jurisdiction.
  • Information and resources held by another agency may help in the capture of a criminal in ours.
  • Our federal partners collect and catalog information on criminals so it can be centrally accessed when needed.
  • ICE is a federal partner who collects and turns around this data on criminal illegal immigrants.
  • Due to their direct relationship to immigration, they may have information about criminal illegal immigrants not available to other federal agencies.
• Other countries have released their criminals with the understanding they will cross into the United States and no longer be the problem of that country.
  • Tren de Aragua began in a Venezuelan prison. Now they’re in the United States.
  • Removing criminals back to their country of origin puts the requirements and funding for prosecution for criminal behavior back on the host nation’s government where it belongs.
  • In transplanting the criminal element into the United States, the origin countries have put the burden of detaining, prosecuting, and housing those criminals on the American taxpayer and legal system.
  • Deporting criminal illegal immigrants back to their origin countries is the most reasonable and economic course of action against criminals who shouldn’t be in the United States to beg8in with.
• The ACLU inappropriately uses sanctuary laws to threaten litigation against law enforcement.
  • In a December 2024 letter sent to all Colorado County Sheriffs, before the completion of Nash v. Mikesell, the ACLU falsely claimed victory in its lawsuit against the Teller County Sheriff’s 287(g) program.
  • The ACLU not only threatened the agencies but also threatened to sue the individual deputies. This appears to be a shallow and craven bullying tactic targeting individual deputies.
  • After six years of litigation, the ACLU was not able cancel Teller County’s 287(g) agreement
  • Laws should not be in place that allow or even encourage an organization like the ACLU to use litigation to inappropriately target law enforcement officers and reduce their ability to perform their lawful duties to further public safety and security.
• Criminal illegal immigrants put strain on law enforcement and prosecution agencies that should not exist
  • According to U.S. News and World Report, Colorado has become the third most crime-ridden state in the United States.
    • Five in every 1,000 people experience violent crime
    • Three in every 100 people experience property crime
  • The removal of criminal illegal immigrants through deportation will provide a permanent reduction in overall criminal activity.
  • Permanently reducing criminal illegal immigrant activity reduces the strain on local law enforcement resources, allowing them to focus more effectively on prosecuting domestic criminals.
  • Permanently reducing criminal illegal immigrant activity reduces the burden on the taxpayer who must fund the local resources in pursuing criminals that should not be in local communities in the first place.
• SB 25-047 would protect otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants in addition to legally present individuals
  • Criminal illegal immigrants will threaten and coerce otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants by reinforcing their apprehension in seeking law-enforcement assistance.
  • When a criminal illegal immigrant is released back into their community, they resume threatening and coercing the otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants around them and will carry out retribution if one of those law-abiding individuals gave information leading to the arrest.
  • Once a criminal illegal immigrant is arrested, turning them over to ICE via the 287(g) program ensures they are removed from the endangered and threatened community.
  • Because SB 25-047 specifically has language to prevent roundup operations, deputies can build their ability for community policing, even in the illegal immigrant population, to reduce all crime.
• As a taxpaying, voting resident of Colorado, I believe that my state lawmaking representatives are answerable to my safety and security and to the proper use of my tax dollars.
  • I do not believe that criminal illegal immigrants that have been detained by law enforcement for violating Colorado law should be allowed to be released back into my community.
  • I do not believe that my tax dollars should be wasted on prosecuting, housing, and feeding criminal illegal immigrants when they should not be in our communities in the first place.
  • I support the ability to law enforcement to be able to coordinate across jurisdictions in the pursuit of criminal illegal immigrants through coordination with all federal agencies to include ICE.
  • I support the ability of my local detentions facility to house illegal immigrants in safe and humane conditions as they await their trial at immigration court.
  • I appreciate the introduction of federal funds into our county coffers for my benefit through the housing of federal detainees, ICE detainees included.
  • I understand that those immigration detainees will be housed somewhere regardless, and I’d prefer that my county’s detentions facility receive that federal funding instead of a location outside my county.