Colorado attorney general talks Trump orders, immigration, opioid crisis during Glenwood Springs stop

On Thursday, community members from across Garfield County gathered in Glenwood Springs’ Morgridge Commons center to hear Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser address some of the Western Slope’s most pressing challenges.

Weiser, currently in his second term as attorney general, is one of the candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for Colorado governor in the June 2026 Democratic primary.

The attorney general’s visit to the Western Slope marks the first installment of a bilingual speaker series launched by the CoWest Noticias Collaborative, an effort across local newsrooms in the Roaring Fork Valley to address news equity in the region. 

Alongside his focus on the current presidential administration’s treatment of the Constitution, trauma among law enforcement officials and the mental health crisis accompanying opioid use and social media dangers, Weiser also took the time to address the public’s questions on hot-button issues like immigration.

Among the concerns raised by attendees in Garfield County was the question of the responsibilities of the Colorado attorney general when local law enforcement is found in violation of state law, specifically that which prohibits local sheriffs from collaborating with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct immigration detentions.

The question presumably refers to the ongoing investigation of the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office after a 19-year-old University of Utah student was pulled over for cutting off a semi-trailer truck and reported to ICE. Body-worn camera footage shows the officer conducting the traffic stop pointing out the student’s accent and asking her where she was born.

“I’ve announced I’m now investigating the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office on this very question,” Weiser said. “My job as attorney general is to enforce the law, and therefore we are currently investigating the situation.”

When it comes to some of the fear immigrant communities are experiencing, Weiser said he supports an immigration system that “operates under the rule of law, in a sensible way, that treats people as people.”

“Should be treated lawfully, sensibly and humanely. People who, say, have committed violent crimes and are deportable, should be deported after due process of law.”

“If you follow some cases where people are deported to other countries without due process of law, seeking to prevent them from any defense that they have … that’s a violation of the Constitution, and we won’t stand for it,” he said.

In terms of what position the department takes against Gov. Jared Polis’ recent request for information on sponsors of undocumented immigrant children to be turned over to ICE, Weiser said his department is not involved with the case and therefore cannot comment on it.

The rule of law

Weiser began his talk by addressing President Trump’s use of executive orders to bypass the U.S. Constitution’s system of checks and balances, and calling on Congress to “do its job.”

“Congress is a co-equal branch of government. It’s very important that Congress do its job and make sure that a President isn’t running roughshod over congressional authority,” he said. “What’s happened so far is that state attorneys general and the courts have been enforcing the law. … We need Congress to do a better job protecting the Constitution too.”

Weiser argued the Trump administration has overstepped its authority on several occasions, failing to abide by the rule of law.

The Trump administration’s decision to halt the AmeriCorps program mandated by Congress and his administration’s order to defund research meant to investigate disparities in health care, the attorney general argued, are illegal since only Congress has the power to repeal laws passed by legislation. The attorney general’s office joined a multistate lawsuit earlier this year and a judge has since ordered most AmeriCorps programs to remain in place.

“That has happened multiple times. And each time it happens, it pains me that a federal government is ignoring the rule of law,” Weiser said.

Addressing the state’s mental health crisis

Weiser quickly switched to addressing the importance of mental health awareness within law enforcement, recalling a police chief in Colorado who had encountered one traumatic case after another, from witnessing an officer-involved shooting to responding to child abuse calls. The trauma from the job led the officer to use excessive force in a situation where it was not appropriate, promptly bringing the officer’s career to an end.

“The question that has haunted me ever since is, ‘How did we allow ourselves to fail that officer?'” Weiser said. “Too often, officers are told in the face of trauma, ‘Suck it up, don’t acknowledge when you’re in a traumatic situation.'”

Weiser said his office is redesigning police training in Colorado to incorporate emotional awareness strategies and increased opportunities for community connections, which he says can be “among the most important and impactful ways that we can save lives.”

“What’s powerful is that for police officers who feel that connection, who are in an engaged community, they have more satisfaction and engagement in their work too,” he said.

Also directly related to trauma is the opioid crisis’ impact on Coloradans and the lack of support available for those struggling with addiction. In particular, Weiser highlighted his encounter with a young man who, after being released from jail, died from a deadly dose of Fentanyl after the jail was unable to provide him with any medication to help combat his addiction during his sentence.

“What I told (his mother) is that we were going to make sure in our office that every single jail in Colorado offered medication addiction treatment,” Weiser said. “So we’re giving people the opportunity to get well and not to be caught off in this vicious cycle of addiction, overdose and criminal behavior. And I’m proud to say we now have every single jail in Colorado with access to medication addiction treatment.”

Weiser said his office’s work against pharmaceutical companies “that fueled this crisis” have brought back close to $900 million to Colorado.

Outside of opioid use, Weiser said young people are experiencing a “connection crisis” mainly driven by the six hours that teenagers and young adults spend on their phones. Some of the content consumed on social media can be especially harmful to those who already feel isolated and has contributed to an increase in suicides across the country.

Weiser said his multi-state lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of social media sites like Instagram and Facebook, aims to change how the company operates and improve its guidelines to protect children on its apps. Weiser has also supported bipartisan legislation requiring schools to adopt policies on cell phone use in the classroom.

“The opposite of addiction is not sobriety — the opposite of addiction is connection,” Weiser said. “And young people who are hurting because they’re on their phones six hours a day, they’re turning to substances like vaping, like opioids. They need connection.”