Dick Lamm

By Gene Davis, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Requiring people to prove their U.S. citizenship when getting a job, boarding an airplane or opening a bank account would drastically cut back on illegal immigration in the country, former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm said Tuesday.
“I really think in a time of terrorism, that makes a lot of sense,” he said.
But not everyone is on board. Chandra Russo of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, for one, thinks that the government should instead broadly legalize all undocumented immigrants in the country. A broad legalization would create more jobs and bring more revenue into the tax system and economy — approximately $1.5 trillion over several years — she said.
“When we ramp up enforcement, we don’t curb immigration; we just make it more dangerous,” she said.
Lamm Tuesday addressed approximately 40 people at the City Club of Denver’s weekly meeting. Since leaving office in 1987, Lamm, a Democrat while serving three terms as Colorado governor, has spoken numerous times on illegal immigration.

Recipe for disaster?
Lamm said that the United States creating no new net jobs in the past nine years yet taking in 10 million immigrants into the country is a recipe for disaster. The country should focus on its own poor and doesn’t need to take in more people, he argued.
Lamm wants to see something like the E-Verify system be applied to people at airports, banks, and be required for people looking to get a job. He believes such a system along with a reliable identification card would dramatically cut down illegal immigration.
United States employers are currently able to use an E-Verify system operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to check whether an employee or potential employee is a legal U.S. resident. For most employers, the use of E-Verify is voluntary and limited to determining the employment eligibility of new hires only.
Russo blasted the current E-Verify system as an often-biased database that doesn’t work. She said the database is based more on race than immigration, and that she knows people who “can’t get jobs because of an E-Verify system that’s not serving anyone.”

Legislature to act?
Because the country is polarized on the issue of illegal immigration and federal lawmakers are wary of taking on another hot button issue after the contentious health care reform debate, Lamm doesn’t foresee comprehensive immigration reform being tackled anytime soon.
However, proponents of immigration reform that would provide undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship said last week that they think they will be able to convince Congress to make the issue a priority this year. A rally was held in Aurora last week, one of many held nationwide, to show support for a proposal by Congressman Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.
Gutierrez’s proposal would legalize an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants by requiring them to learn English, pay a $500 fine, pass background checks and register with the federal government.
A similar proposal was pushed in 2007 by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., which was supported by President George W. Bush. It sought tougher border controls and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Obama supported the legislation, but Bush’s fellow Republicans in Congress killed the proposal.
Gonzales, however, believes the political atmosphere has shifted and that proponents will have better success this year, especially with the economic downturn.
“Every single day that we go without comprehensive immigration reform is a day that we lose our opportunity to see the economic benefits and the economic return that legalization would have on our communities,” she said.

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

By Joshua Wolpe, DENVER DAILY NEWS
A large group of House Democrats introduced a comprehensive immigration reform bill Tuesday.
The legislation, authored by U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., has over 80 co-sponsors, including Democratic Colorado U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette, Jared Polis, Ed Perlmutter and John Salazar.
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 is billed as legislation that would strengthen border security, create a streamlined employment verification system, alter the visa program to encourage the reunification of families and establish a commission to recommend changes to the current system of visas for skilled workers.
“This legislation is the right step to fix our outdated and unrealistic immigration system,” said the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition in a statement. “Nevertheless, we cannot forget that the immigration reform debate is about real people. Every day, families, workers and our economy suffer in the absence of a reform package. We urgently need to reach a solution that is just, humane and moves us to economic recovery.”
The topic of immigration reform usually elicits strong response on all sides of the issue, and the newly proposed legislation was no exception.
“You can call anything ‘reform’ – this is proof of that,” said former Congressman Tom Tancredo, a Jefferson County Republican. “Rewarding people for breaking the law is never good public policy. No matter how you frame it or how you use the language, the reality is you are rewarding people for breaking the law.”
Tancredo went on to outline his solution to immigration reform.
“There are two things you can do to solve the problem, and of course the federal government will never do them. First, we need to mandate the E-Verify program for every private employer in the U.S. to determine the validity of Social Security numbers. And secondly, we need to secure the border. That’s it – the issue will go away in a few years. Most people here illegally will return home because the thing they came for – a job – will no longer be available.”
DeGette and Polis released statements in support of the bill, emphasizing that the current system is ineffective.
“These comprehensive immigration reforms are a much-needed fix to our broken immigration system,” said DeGette. “This bill includes the common-sense solutions that will move our immigration system towards a humane approach that will help build our economy, protect children and families, and provide for effective enforcement. I look forward to working to pass these long overdue reforms.”
Polis’ statement centered around his initiatives to reform the EB-5 Visa program, which he says are designed to make it easier for foreign entrepreneurs to invest in the U.S. and create jobs for American workers. The initiatives are included in the legislation.
“Immigration reform is good for our families, our national security, and our economy and in order for it to succeed, it needs to be comprehensive and based on common sense,” said Polis. “With our economy hemorrhaging jobs and companies to our foreign competitors, it only makes sense to encourage business-savvy innovators to bring their good ideas and much-needed investment to some of the hardest hit areas of the American economy.”

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

20091209_DU

By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Government must establish “architecture” for providing a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, while balancing the influx with increased regulatory measures, a report released Wednesday by the University of Denver states.
A 20-member bipartisan Strategic Issues panel of business and government leaders heard from experts on both sides of the immigration aisle in determining 25 recommendations for comprehensive immigrations reform. The report issued Wednesday comes as Congress prepares for what is sure to be a heated battle in Washington over immigration policy.
The White House has signaled its support for the effort, calling for an approach that provides a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants, while including tougher enforcement policies, including a crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers, as well as a streamlined system for legal immigration.
The University of Denver report mirrors much of the Administration’s approach, calling for heightened border security, a crackdown on employers, a national identification card, support for a common language, a streamlined plan for dealing with illegal immigrants, a process for temporary workers, and family unification.
“Achieving these benefits requires more than simply adding new legislative patches to a sagging and inefficient system,” concludes the report. “It requires an overall architecture for immigration policy, grounded in a shared purpose with clear goals, priorities, and governmental roles and responsibilities.”
Despite the report calling for requiring employers to use a federal database to verify the legal residential status of potential hires — a system known as E-Verify — former Congressman Tom Tancredo Wednesday blasted the DU report, calling it “flawed” and “delusional.”
“It is delusional to think any of these good ideas would survive the disastrous effects of another amnesty,” said the Littleton Republican, who is pushing a 2010 ballot initiative that would require the state Legislature to mandate that employers use the E-Verify system. “To say we should accommodate the 15-20 million illegal aliens by offering a new amnesty makes no sense because it rewards unlawful behavior and provides an incentive for another 15 million coming across our still-open borders.”
In providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the report calls for a simplified visa system, in which eight broad categories would be established, including visitor, student, temporary, convertible, family, provisional, representative and refugee. A maximum numeric limit for each category would be established, which would be managed by an independent commission created by Congress.
The report also calls for a national identification card system to be used by all employers along with E-Verify, as well as funding for English-learner training courses.
Once a system for verifying legal status is established, a simplified visa system is created and sound policy is in place for managing the reform and the influx of residents, the report recommends allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for provisional legal status, and then permanent status.
In the meantime, the report calls for limiting public benefits for undocumented immigrants, while increasing the number of employment-based visas.
Immigrant rights advocates — though they don’t support all aspects of the panel’s recommendations, including E-Verify — hailed the report as being a positive step toward analyzing how to enact reform on a national level.
“We are encouraged by the panel’s conclusion that any successful reform must include opportunities for undocumented immigrants in the U.S. to legalize their status,” said the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition in a statement. “Moreover, CIRC agrees with the panel’s suggestions to support critical immigrant integration services, such as English language classes.”
In justifying the need for comprehensive reform, James R. Griesemer, chair of the Strategic Issues Panel on Immigration, said the issue comes down to boosting the nation’s economic position, while increasing national security.
“Solving the dilemma of immigration policy is a task of some urgency and considerable gravity,” writes Griesemer in the report. “Immigration affects our national security, shapes the fabric of our society and impacts our economic future. Few topics are more consequential — and few have been more resistant to resolution.”

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Business, immigration reform and immigrant rights groups all seem skeptical of a proposal that would require all Colorado businesses to use a federal database to verify the legal residential status of new hires.
Former Congressman Tom Tancredo, a Jefferson County Republican, has proposed a 2010 ballot initiative that would require the state Legislature to mandate that businesses use the federal E-Verify system to check the immigration and residential status of all potential new workers.
But critics — some of whom are regularly divided on immigration reform issues — all seem to agree that the system is flawed. They have their different reasons, but in the end the groups believe that E-Verify does not accomplish what it is intended to accomplish.
On the immigrant rights side, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition is concerned that requiring businesses to use E-Verify would lead to racial profiling and error.
On the immigration control side, the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform also points to the potential for error, arguing that the federal E-Verify system is not foolproof, and local businesses would be better served using the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles database to confirm legal residential status.
Stan Weekes, director of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, a group that raises caution flags over explosions in immigration, said DMV databases are much more complete because they include data such as biometric information. He adds that Colorado residents are already required to obtain a form of state identification — which is managed by the DMV — in order to legally work in the state after 30 days. He argues it would be relatively simple to connect the database to a verification system for employers to use.
“It seems to be a logical extension of a state-control issue,” he said. “It just seems logical to me to rely on our own resources here rather than be subject to the whims of the federal government.”
But the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition does not support even a state-level residential status verification system, arguing that any immigration reform efforts must take place on the federal level, not by the states themselves.
“Any kind of piecemeal — certainly state- and municipal-level legislation — that attempts to enforce what is a federal area of law — it’s ineffective at doing anything but terrorizing communities, causing more confusion and spending more taxpayer dollars at trying to enforce what has been a broken and outdated system for over a decade now,” said Chandra Russo, spokeswoman for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.
Her group is calling for comprehensive reform on the federal level that provides undocumented immigrants with a pathway to citizenship.
She adds that the E-Verify system has had instances of technical glitches and human error that has resulted in some legal residents having to wait long periods of time to work, or even losing their jobs.
In Arizona, however, such arguments were made during legal attempts to overturn a similar law there. But the law has survived several court challenges. Tancredo said he modeled his proposal after the Arizona law.
Business groups in the past have strongly opposed requiring employers to use the E-Verify system. While the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce has not taken an active stance on Tancredo’s proposal because the proposed initiative must still pass several steps before being certified for the ballot, a spokeswoman for the organization indicated that business owners would likely object to the mandate portion of the initiative.
“In general, the Denver Metro Chamber does not support employer mandates,” said Amanda Arthur, spokeswoman for the organization.
Russo also points to the possibility of racial profiling if Tancredo’s proposal makes it to the ballot and is backed by voters.
“It is open to issues of racial profiling in the sense that you have Anglo folks who maybe aren’t too super familiar with the ways in which Latino names work,” she said, pointing out that many Latino names include both maternal and paternal last names. “Those are confused often times with Arabic or Muslim names, you have duplicate names — those also get confused.”

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Immigrant rights advocates are calling for a holly jolly reform season filled with rallies for comprehensive immigration reform.
Rights for All People is calling for people to celebrate the holidays with actions around what is sure to be a heated battle in Washington over immigration reform. The group will meet Saturday at 11 a.m. in Aurora at Novias de Mexico, 1463 Florence St., to advocate for reform efforts.
President Obama’s administration last month expressed a desire to push for legislation that would bring about immigration reform.
The goal is to provide a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants, though that number is just an estimate. Some polls place the number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States as high as 20 million.
Calling it an issue of “just and humane immigration reform,” Rights for All People believes the holiday season is a perfect time to rally for their cause because the season is a time when people are encouraged to work and come together.
“The holiday season is a time to come together as a family, but millions of families in the United States are broken because our immigration system is broken,” said Emily Parkey, with Rights for All People.
Advocates are collecting holiday cards that will be sent to Congressman Ed Perlmutter, D-Lakewood, that say, “All I want for Christmas is just and humane immigration reform.”
One card specifically states, “All I want for Christmas is just and humane immigration reform in the new year so that we can unite our family.”
Advocates point to the pain the immigration system can cause families when workplace raids take place that result in some families being separated through deportation proceedings. Here in Colorado, advocates point to the December 2006 raid on the Greeley Swift & Co. plant. More than 260 workers were arrested on suspicion of identity theft. In the end, more than 100 illegal immigrants were detained and later deported for illegally working at the meatpacking plant.
Advocates will canvas Aurora this Saturday visiting business owners in an attempt to compel them to rally for immigration reform. Owners will be asked to place collection boxes for community members to turn in their holiday immigration reform cards.
Doubt still lingers as to whether Congress will want to tackle the issue, as lawmakers are already facing historical health care reform and controversial energy issues. Some analysts say the legislation will likely be postponed until after mid-term elections next November. But the White House is calling for immigration reform efforts to begin as early as the beginning of next year. Officials have called for a “three-legged stool” approach that includes tougher enforcement of immigration laws, including a crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers; a streamlined system for legal immigration; and a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.
Critics of the reform effort doubt that many undocumented immigrants would actually go through the effort to become legal citizens. Those with criminal records, or who owe thousands of dollars in taxes likely won’t go through the process, Stan Weekes, director of Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, recently said.
He said there are likely thousands of undocumented immigrants out there with criminal backgrounds and who don’t want to pay back taxes.
“If we granted this path to citizenship, how many of them are going to do it?” asked Weekes. “Why would they turn themselves in to get deported?”
Meanwhile, Perlmutter spokeswoman Leslie Oliver said the congressman generally supports reform efforts.
“His consistent message on immigration reform has been that we need to enforce the laws that are currently on the books, we need to crack down on employers who aren’t checking immigration status, and for the immigrants who are paying taxes and haven’t committed any crimes, but who are here illegally — we should provide them with a pathway to citizenship,” she said.

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

Denver may consider doing random checks on the immigration status of contract workers after a construction company was found to have used more than a dozen illegal immigrants to work on city projects. After being alerted by a constituent last summer, City Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz asked the auditor’s office to check into Noraa Concrete Construction Corp. workers on a job in west Denver, The Denver Post reports.

By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
As the immigration debate heats up again in Washington, one local group is approaching the topic from a different angle — understanding and integration.
The Denver Coalition for Integration, formed in 2008, is working to bridge gaps between immigrants and the communities they move to in order to reach a level of understanding through education.
“The intent of the group today is to really bridge the receiving and immigrant communities in Denver and to promote integration as a two-way street within Denver,” said Amber Tafoya, project director of the Coalition for Integration.
The group hosts neighborhood dialogues within individual Denver communities, where individuals are encouraged to broach subjects that might not only be controversial, but also unfamiliar territory to some.
The meetings might include movie nights, in which documentaries on immigration or domestic violence are shown, or just simple dialogue nights between members of the community, in which residents might discuss how immigration law works and whether it is effective.
The meetings are held in local coffee shops and restaurants.
An arm of the Coalition for Integration focuses on workshops that encourage civic engagement opportunities for immigrants and refugees so that they can become more involved with the city’s civic dialogue, said Tafoya. After all, the intent is integration.
Tafoya said the dialogues rarely become debates, with the focus being mostly on the experiences of both immigrant and non-immigrant Denver residents living in the city.
“The hope is that through people sharing their experiences, people will understand each other a little bit better,” she said. “The idea is to promote communication, to promote understanding and to promote people to really develop their relationships within the groups.”
Kevin Mohatt, a Denver resident who has attended several of the Coalition for Integration’s meetings, said he hopes meetings like these will help facilitate an honest and open debate as Congress discusses comprehensive immigration reform.
The White House is calling for immigration reform efforts to begin as early as the beginning of next year. Obama administration officials are calling for a “three-legged stool” approach that includes tougher enforcement of immigration laws, including a crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers; a streamlined system for legal immigration; and a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.
Mohatt believes a lack of education and understanding is what makes the debate so heated.
“One of the problems is that a lot of the people who are against comprehensive reform don’t know enough about the other side of the issue,” he said. “They think immigrants are coming to steal jobs and to be getting Medicaid, but when you see that people are coming here, risking their lives to get here, they’re obviously doing it for a much bigger reason. They want a better life, which is such a bigger issue than people coming to take your jobs.”
“If there’s some integration and people from both sides of the fence are actually hearing each others stories and there’s better understanding, then that’s better for everyone,” continued Mohatt.
The Denver Coalition for Integration will be hosting an Intercultural Winter Holiday Party on Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m. at 1029 Santa Fe Drive.

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Immigrant rights groups are gearing up for what is sure to be a heated battle in Washington over comprehensive immigration reform.
Groups gathered in community centers, churches, restaurants, union halls and living rooms across the nation and in Colorado Wednesday night to participate in a national teleconference town hall on immigration reform. The event included Congressman Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who has outlined a series of core principles that he says should be part of a comprehensive reform effort.
At the heart of the battle is finding a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.
Fueling the debate is remarks by White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who stated last week their commitment to reform, signaling a push for legislation.
“Here in Colorado, we demonstrated that communities across Colorado are informed, engaged and taking action to support comprehensive immigration reform legislation in 2010 that supports families, provides a path to legal status, and protects workers,” said Julie Gonzales, state director of the Reform Immigration for America campaign.

Doubt
Doubt still lingers as to whether Congress will want to tackle the issue, as lawmakers are already facing historical health care reform and controversial energy issues. Some analysts say the legislation will likely be postponed until after mid-term elections next November.
But the White House is calling for immigration reform efforts to begin as early as the beginning of next year. Napolitano has called for a “three-legged stool” approach that includes tougher enforcement of immigration laws, including a crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers; a streamlined system for legal immigration; and a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.
Earlier this year, President Obama had signaled his support for immigration reform. But then in August, Obama said during remarks in Mexico that immigration reform would have to take a back seat to health care and energy reform efforts. His statement frustrated immigrant rights advocates.
The proposal being pushed by the White House would require undocumented immigrants to register, pay fines and back taxes, pass a criminal background check and learn English in order to become a legal citizen.
Legislation in 2007 — pushed by President George W. Bush — sought tougher border controls and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Obama supported the legislation, but Bush’s fellow Republicans in Congress killed the proposal.

Would undocumented go through process?
Critics of the reform effort doubt that many undocumented immigrants would actually go through the effort to become legal citizens. Those with criminal records, or who owe thousands of dollars in taxes likely won’t go through the process, say critics.
Stan Weekes, director of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform – a group that objects to mass immigration over concerns of extreme population growth — said there are likely thousands of undocumented immigrants out there with criminal backgrounds and who don’t want to pay back taxes.
“If we granted this path to citizenship, how many of them are going to do it?” asked Weekes. “Why would they turn themselves in to get deported?”
He added that many undocumented immigrants are not in the country because they want to be here, but because economic conditions back home are so bad that they are forced to come to America to earn money to send back to family members back home. Many won’t go through the trouble of becoming citizens because they plan on leaving America once they’ve raised enough money to feel comfortable, said Weekes.
“In reality, it really doesn’t solve the problem for America — it solves the problem for some individuals who are in the country illegally, but it doesn’t solve the immigration problem for America,” he said. “It’s not the be all, end all — it’s a lie to the American public to say this is a solution.”

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

By Peter Marcus, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Democrats are pushing back against a Department of Homeland Security announcement last week that it will enter into new controversial agreements with local law enforcement agencies to combat illegal immigration.
Congressman Jared Polis, D-Boulder, said standardizing the 287 (g) program would only threaten the nation’s constitutional protections.
He points to accusations of racial profiling associated with the program, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arapio in Phoenix, who is being investigated by the Justice Department. Organizations such as the ACLU and Congressional Hispanic Caucus are calling on the government to end the controversial program.
“We’ve watched in horror as (Arapio) and others ? a disgrace to the uniforms that they wear ? have detained people based solely upon the color of their skin,” Polis said Wednesday during a floor speech.
“287 (g) scares victims and witnesses of crimes to avoid contacting people for fear of being mistreated,” he continued. “287 (g) invites exploitation by those who know that they won’t be reported to police, because it combines the contradictory duties into the same police force.”
Homeland Security said that it would enter into new agreements with 67 state and local law enforcement agencies.
Former Congressman Tom Tancredo, an outspoken Republican on immigration issues, said the program is effective, and therefore should not be scaled back.
“To the extent that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would actually cooperate with a local law enforcement entity, it’s been marvelously effective,” said Tancredo. “We exponentially increase the manpower available to identify and get illegal aliens off our streets and out of the country.”
But the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition says the program does little to achieve comprehensive reform, which should be the ultimate goal.
“Expanding enforcement-only measures, like the 287 (g) program, does nothing to bring us closer to fixing our broken immigration system. It only succeeds in terrorizing communities and compromising safety,” said Julien Ross, executive director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “Any program that has local police acting as immigration enforcement creates widespread fear ? victims and witnesses avoid the police, making all of us less safe. Moreover, racial profiling abounds, with people targeted for the way they look or speak.”

Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters

Denver Rep. Joe Miklosi is quietly lining up community support for a bill that would allow undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition, The Denver Post reports. He sponsored a similar bill in the House in the 2009 legislative session that died after fierce debate in the Senate.