Amendment 81 would require law enforcement to notify DHS within 72 hours when certain people are charged

The notice would be required when the person charged is not lawfully present in the United States, or that status remains unknown after a reasonable attempt to determine it, and the charge is a crime of violence or the person has a prior felony conviction, according to the 2026 State Ballot Information Booklet, the blue book. A crime of violence is any crime that causes serious bodily injury or death or involves the use of a deadly weapon, including murder, assault, arson, escape, extortion, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and certain sexual offenses and human trafficking. The mandate would apply to certified peace officers, correctional officers, and attorneys and investigators working for district attorneys.

The ballot title reads: "Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution requiring law enforcement to notify the department of homeland security when a person is charged with either a violent crime or any crime if the person has a prior felony conviction if law enforcement cannot determine that the person is lawfully present in the United States?" If it passes, the measure would add a new Section 17 to Article XVIII of the Colorado Constitution. Because it proposes changing the state constitution, it needs 55 percent of the vote to pass.

Filed as Initiative 2025-2026 #95, the measure qualified after proponents submitted 188,861 petition signatures, 142,299 of them valid, according to an announcement from the Secretary of State's Office on Jan. 23, 2026. Secretary of State Jena Griswold certified the 2026 ballot on Sept. 4, listing Amendment 81 first among seven initiated constitutional amendments numbered 81 through 87. The Secretary of State lists Suzanne Taheri and Michael Fields as its designated representatives, and The Colorado Sun has reported that Advance Colorado, a conservative political nonprofit, is the main group behind it.

A yes vote would write the 72-hour notification rule into the constitution, overriding Colorado's current limits. State law today allows law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in some criminal matters but limits involvement in civil immigration enforcement. Supporters frame the measure as a straightforward public-safety rule. "I think it's pretty simple and pretty clear-cut," said Chris Harris, a retired U.S. Border Patrol agent who spent 36 years in law enforcement, discussing the measure on The Kim Monson Show on Sept. 18.

Opponents say the measure would apply to people charged but not yet convicted of violent crimes, and to anyone with a prior felony who is subsequently charged with any crime, including a traffic offense, misdemeanor or petty offense. The American Immigration Council says Amendment 81 could unravel years of work to build trust between immigrant communities and local police, including a 2019 bill limiting information sharing for federal immigration enforcement and a 2025 bill strengthening data privacy for immigrants. At a Sept. 3 committee hearing on ballot measures, House Majority Leader Monica Duran introduced an amendment to clarify that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the agency most likely to be contacted. "The main agency that conducts immigration enforcement is ICE, and we need to clarify this," Duran said. "However voters feel about ICE, this will increase their involvement in our state." The Bell Policy Center recommends voting no, and the Denver Foundation opposes the measure.