Gov. Jared Polis has distinguished himself in business and politics, yet he arguably missed his true calling — doing stand-up at a comedy club. He’d leave his audience in stitches.

Case in point: His thigh-slapper the other day — about Colorado not being a sanctuary state. He had us rolling on the floor. We were laughing through our tears, of course, given the toll illegal immigration has taken here. But there’s no denying the governor is a hoot.

He is in fact such a natural-born comic, his familiar, “Sanctuary? What sanctuary?” routine is uproarious even when delivered secondhand by his communications staff.

“Colorado is not a sanctuary state,” Polis’ office deadpanned in a news release Thursday for our news affiliate Colorado Politics. The straight-faced denial was issued in response to mounting pressure from the Trump administration on cities and states that are aiding and abetting illegal immigration in an attempt to monkey-wrench a federal crackdown.

While the Trump administration — and much of the electorate — might see it as no laughing matter, Polis responds to it with a wink and a wry smirk.

“The governor continues to be frustrated,” last week’s release insisted, “by this mistaken and incorrect label and the lack of transparency from the federal administration on this and many other items.”

In case there are any Coloradans who still need a recap as to why that’s so funny, we’ll oblige:

Our legislature passed — and Polis signed — laws curbing cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration agents. One of those laws, expanded this year, explicitly prohibits state agencies and political subdivisions from sharing or inquiring into anyone’s personal identifying information to enforce immigration laws. The law imposes a civil fine of $50,000 for each violation.

Colorado’s capital city and its mayor, Denver’s Mike Johnston, rolled out the red carpet for an unprecedented wave of Venezuelans who had stormed across the southern U.S. border and headed straight for the Mile High City, lured by its welcoming reputation. Johnston spent $80 million sheltering the wave of Venezuelans he dubbed “newcomers” and made his taxpayers — most of whom presumably reside legally in the U.S. — pay for the hospitality. That included cutting hours at the city’s DMV offices and rec centers. Johnston threatened that federal agents attempting to crack down on illegal immigrants in the city would be met by him and “50,000 Highland moms” in resistance. He’d even go to jail, he said.

Colorado’s attorney general and gubernatorial hopeful Phil Weiser took enough time off the campaign trail to sue a lowly sheriff’s deputy in Mesa County for having let federal law officers know via a messaging app that he’d pulled over a motorist for a traffic infraction and then her let go with a warning. The feds later stopped her, determined she was in the country illegally, and took her into custody. Weiser, who is usually associated with suing entire industries rather than lone law officers, said he took action to ensure law-enforcement agencies, “follow state laws that bar state agency and local government employees from cooperating with federal officials on immigration civil enforcement actions.”

And just to make it official, Colorado and Denver are on the U.S. Department of Justice’s list of 13 states and 18 cities the department says “impede enforcement of federal immigration laws.” And Colorado is among the states the Justice Department is suing, a Justice spokeswoman notes, to “invalidate unconstitutional sanctuary policies.”

Through it all, Polis has solemnly stayed in character — no doubt, choking back his laughter.

Don’t worry, Governor, we’re laughing for you.

the gazette editorial board