Castle Rock declares support, offers law enforcement backup for Trump’s deportation plans

Castle Rock will support “any and all” immigration policies and deportation efforts from President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, including offering up the town’s police officers for assistance.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Castle Rock Town Council unanimously approved a motion from Councilmember Max Brooks to declare support for the Trump administration’s planned immigration policies, “including anything we can do with our law enforcement personnel to support the deportation of illegal migrants” at the president’s request.

Brooks, who was elected to Colorado’s House of Representatives in November, promised to support state legislation permitting local law enforcement agencies to work with federal immigration officials and deportation efforts.

A law signed into action in 2019 prohibits law enforcement from arresting or detaining someone solely based on a request from federal immigration officials, and bars probation officers from providing personal information about their clients to immigration authorities. The law allows police to assist federal immigration authorities in executing a federal warrant or transferring a prisoner to and from federal custody.

The Castle Rock motion was introduced two weeks after Denver Mayor Mike Johnston vowed to resist Trump’s mass deportation efforts, including a suggestion that he would mobilize the Denver Police Department to face off with federal and National Guard troops.

Trump, who has referred to immigrants as “poisoning the blood” of the United States, promised to carry out mass deportations of people who are here illegally. His plan — “Operation Aurora” — is named after the culturally diverse Colorado city of 400,000 that drew national attention after the former president repeatedly exaggerated claims that violent Venezuelan gangs had taken over.

He has said he would pursue the death penalty for migrants who kill American citizens and invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law previously used to create Japanese internment camps during World War II. Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, has said sympathetic Republican governors could activate National Guard troops and deploy them to nearby states that refuse to participate in deportations.

“Denver is proud to be a welcoming city, and we will do everything in our power to protect those who live here,” Johnston said in a statement last week. “We are considering a number of options to strengthen protections for all our residents, and we continue to provide education about the rights of our immigrant community so they can best protect themselves from any unlawful actions.”

Castle Rock town councilmember Brooks called Johnston’s actions “laughable” and “insurrectionist rhetoric.”

“You turn around and you stab law enforcement in the back and then you ask them to stand up for you in an insurrectionist movement,” Brooks said Tuesday, referencing Johnston’s recent cuts to the Denver Police Department’s budget. “And then further, to mention that you would be willing to put 50,000 of your residents at risk and be on the county line to fight against the federal effort to remove those who are here illegally? Shame on you.”

Brooks and other councilmembers, including Mayor Jason Gray, emphasized that the declaration would only apply to movements and policies against immigrants who are in the country illegally.

The motion approved in Tuesday’s meeting directs Castle Rock’s town attorney and staff to draft the declaration, which will be introduced and approved by the council in a future meeting.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to have a declaration because the city of Denver does its own thing, that we need to declare that we’re going to follow the law in Douglas County,” councilmember Ryan Hollington said.

Hollington voted in favor of the declaration but said police should prioritize public safety and other local concerns over deportation efforts.

“The motion and the idea is to be able to protect the town and to be able to have those guardrails in place,” councilmember Kevin Bracken said. “Being able to do what we can when it’s appropriate is important and this is one of the things that we can do, even if it’s in name only.”

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