In a move that has applause echoing across freedom-loving counties like mine, the Mesa County Commissioners voted to countersue Governor Jared Polis and Attorney General Phil Weiser regarding the mess that is SB25-276, Colorado’s legislative attempt to make immigration enforcement more confusing than translating a government pamphlet written by ChatGPT on acid.
This comes after the state filed suit against Mesa County for not complying with this clown-car bill. So what did Mesa do? They lawyered up and hit back. Boom. In your bureaucracy.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Mesa County Commissioners gave a legal middle finger to Gov. Polis and AG Weiser by voting to countersue them.
- The beef? SB25-276, a new law that turned immigration enforcement into interpretive dance.
- The state wants counties to stop cooperating with federal immigration authorities… unless they don’t? Who knows anymore.
- Weiser sued Mesa for allegedly defying the law, but Mesa’s suing back, saying it creates unconstitutional confusion.
- It’s civil war, paperwork edition, in Colorado’s house of broken governance.
My Bottom Line
Good on my fellow Commissioners in Mesa County for showing some backbone while the rest of the state tiptoes around every decree from King Polis and his court jester Phil Weiser like scared bureaucrats at a diversity training seminar. SB25-276 is such a raging dumpster fire of legislative erosion that even attorneys can’t tell if they’re supposed to enforce the law or apologize for it.
This idiotic bill tries to micromanage local law enforcement through vague regulations wrapped in political cowardice. And then – surprise! – the same state that wrote it decides to sue when counties can’t decipher it fast enough. It’s almost like they don’t want clarity; they want control. Newsflash, genius overlords: if you didn’t write legislation so poorly that it makes IKEA instructions look crystal clear, maybe we wouldn’t be here playing lawsuit ping-pong.
Immigration enforcement isn’t complicated when common sense is applied, but when you toss in leftist legalese trying to neuter cooperation with ICE under “inclusive values,” what you get is confusion weaponized. Local governments have every right – no, duty – to resist laws that hobble law enforcement and jeopardize public safety just because someone in Denver wants progressive street cred from San Francisco Twitter.
So I say let’s roll with Mesa. Let this countersuit punch through those polished marble walls downtown where common sense goes to die. If Polis and Weiser want constitutional chaos, they just found themselves a courtroom brawl worth losing.
As a Weld County Commissioner, let me be perfectly clear: Mesa County isn’t the only one willing to push back against the overreach baked into SB25-276. While they’re in the courtroom throwing punches, we should be using a tool unique to Weld County – our Home Rule Charter – to stand up to this virtue-signaling gibberish produced by the Colorado Legislature.
Here in Weld, we should advance Home Rule amendments to make it crystal clear: cooperation with federal immigration enforcement is a local matter. We should not wait to get sued, we should proactively defend our right to govern responsibly. My proposal to my fellow commissioners uses constitutional leverage, including the Tenth Amendment and federal supremacy, to say the quiet part out loud: Denver doesn’t get to bully counties into compliance with laws written like a fever dream from a policy intern on Red Bull.
We should pass ordinances that affirm our commitment to public safety and our ability to share information with federal authorities, because that’s not just smart policy, it’s federal law. And if the state thinks it can preempt us by simply declaring everything a “statewide concern,” we should be prepared to take that to the very courts in which Weiser so enjoys grandstanding.
So no, Mesa County isn’t alone. Weld County should get in the ring, too – different legal strategy, same mission: stop this legislative nonsense from gutting local control and federal statute under the guise of progress.
To Governor Polis and AG Weiser: if you want a legal brawl over SB25-276, you’ve got one. Just don’t act surprised when multiple counties show up ready to fight.
