The Garfield Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution declaring Garfield County as a “non-sanctuary county for undocumented immigrants” during their regular meeting on Monday. 

The resolution was introduced by Commissioner Mike Samson and makes the claim that different websites and government sites have incorrectly labeled Garfield County as a sanctuary county. Neither Samson nor the resolution name any of the websites. 

“It has been several years since I have had so many phone calls, emails, texts, personal conversations with people who are very concerned about this issue,” Samson said. “And I’ve had one that is against this by the tone of (it). All the others, and there have been dozens … support this.” 

Samson continued by comparing Garfield County to cities like Denver and Boulder, stating that both have publicly declared themselves as sanctuary cities. 

“We want to make it perfectly clear that Garfield County is not such,” he said. 

The official title of the resolution reads “Resolution declaring Garfield County as a non-sanctuary county, setting priorities and expectations in response to immigration influx.”  

Page three of the resolution more clearly states its ramifications: “Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of County Commissioners declares that Garfield County is not a sanctuary county and will not directly open shelters or provide services, other than emergency services, to uninvited migrants and/or undocumented immigrants that may arrive in unincorporated Garfield County. Garfield County will continue to prioritize the needs of our local citizens.” 

The resolution also states that “those who enter the country illegally can pose a significant public health and safety risk to a community when there is an increase in crime, communicable disease, and accelerating demand and unsustainability on public infrastructure such as services, public safety” and that “Garfield County does not have the resources or infrastructure to address the human needs it is currently facing.” 

Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario joined the meeting over a phone call to provide his comments on the resolution, and started by thanking the county commissioners for taking the initiative in crafting the resolution. 

“I thought I would clarify it from my mouth so that people in the public better understand,” Vallario said. 

He said that past state law required the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office to cooperate with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by notifying them if they came in contact with, or arrested, someone they suspected was in the county illegally, in addition to being able to house detainees for ICE. 

“That was all changed by the Colorado legislature several years ago,” Vallario said. “Now the laws prohibit us from … detaining beyond any criminal charges.

“As it stands now, we absolutely work with ICE,” he continued.

When immigrants detained in the county jail are done serving time for their criminal charges, Vallario said, the sheriff’s office can only hold them for an additional six hours past the end of their time according to state law, “then ICE has the opportunity to be able to come and get them.”

He went on to say that “state law trumps what federal immigration law says.”

The last clause on page two claims that this change in state law is reason for misidentification on different websites, stating that the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office’s practice of not holding detainees of ICE who have not been criminally charged in their county jail “has been misinterpreted to suggest that Garfield County is a sanctuary county.” 

The resolution passed unanimously. 

Mesa County Commissioners and Moffat County Commissioners passed similar non-sanctuary resolutions in February. 

Local leaders respond

State Representative Elizabeth Velasco released a statement in response to the resolution on Tuesday, stating that “The actions of the Garfield County Commissioners are not only disappointing, but put our communities at risk.” 

“We know that no one was prepared for the new immigrants arriving in our communities. It is one thing to acknowledge the need for additional resources and support, and quite another to spread inhumane anti-immigrant rhetoric and promote dangerous stereotypes and misinformation,” she said. “Such rhetoric creates an environment in which neighbor turns against neighbor, and people in need are no longer treated humanely. Rather than sowing division and creating siloes, all levels of government should be coming together to support every person in our community to have basic access to shelter, hygiene, food, medicine, legal services and education.” 

In her statement, Velasco noted that over 30% of Garfield County are Latinos, and that these immigrants have contributed to the county’s workforce and culture for decades. 

“We cannot go backwards,” she said. “New immigrants are coming here because they were permitted entry into the United States; they are applying for work authorization and asylum; and because we have a high demand for jobs. Our new neighbors are seeking opportunities just like the rest of us, and they will be an important part of our economic recovery and growth.” 

Voces Unidas de las Montañas, a nonprofit organization, and Voces Unidas Action Fund, an advocacy nonprofit based in the Western Slope, released a joint statement on Monday denouncing the board of commissioners “for approving a divisive and harmful resolution” that they said perpetuates racist stereotypes and sends a message to the immigrant community that they “are not welcome here.” 

“It’s disappointing but not surprising to us that Tom Jankovsky, Mike Samson and John Martin think the immigrant community ‘poses a significant health and safety risk’ to Garfield County despite the decades of contributions our community has given to the Roaring Fork Valley,” Voces Unidas CEO Alex Sánchez said in the statement. “Their actions are political and do nothing to resolve the barriers that both long-term and new immigrants face in Garfield County. Instead, they merely make clear where they stand — that police and public officials are not here to serve the Latino community. And that is shameful.” 

The statement criticizes the way the resolution “appears to encourage” the Garfield County Sheriff’s Department’s collaboration with ICE to detain people “even when they have not been charged with a crime.” 

“Rather than crafting actual policies or working with the state to find help for immigrants, the county continues to neglect its responsibilities and leave municipalities like Carbondale on their own,” Sanchez said in the statement. 

Along with their statement, Voces Unidas launched a petition on their website in opposition to the resolution.