Thread: Co - Bill for Arizona-style immigrant crackdown shelved

Bill for Arizona-style immigrant crackdown shelved; panel OKs jail checks
By Kyle Glazier
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/15/2011 01:00:00 AM MST



The sponsor of a bill requiring Colorado to enact an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration withdrew it from consideration Monday, while a bill offering incentives for local governments to participate in federal immigration enforcement passed a committee.

Rep. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs, killed his House Bill 1107 over what he said were concerns about the costs of fighting off legal attacks questioning the bill's constitutionality.

The bill, described by critics as a copycat of Arizona's controversial Senate Bill 1070, would have required all local police to attempt to determine whether a person being questioned was in the country illegally. The bill also would have criminalized acts such as stopping on a street to hire an undocumented worker or knowingly concealing an illegal immigrant.

Baumgardner said he did not know what the Senate might have done with the bill but was confident it would have passed the House. It would have been fiscally irresponsible to proceed with the bill, Baumgardner said.

"With the economy the way it is, I didn't feel it was right to burden the people of Colorado," he said.

House Bill 1140, sponsored by Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, passed out of a committee on a 7-4 vote. Balmer's bill offers local governments an incentive to participate in the Secure Communities Initiative. Secure Communities, a program of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, creates a national fingerprint database that allows all people booked into a jail to be checked against Department of Homeland Security records for each person's immigration status.

Former Gov. Bill Ritter approved Colorado's participation in the program Jan. 4.

HB 1140 would withhold certain grant and tax money, such as cigarette tax revenue, from any local government that chooses not to participate in the initiative. Participating governments across the state would then have access to that extra money.

"I'm trying to give them both a carrot and a stick," Balmer said.

Current federal law mandates that Colorado participate in Secure Communities by 2013, Balmer said.

Hans Meyer, policy director for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, opposed Balmer's bill, calling it "an immigration dragnet." Local governments should make the call on how to police themselves, Meyer said.

HB 1140 will be considered next by the appropriations committee.

Kyle Glazier: 303-954-1638 or kglazier@denverpost.com



http://www.denverpost.com/legislature/ci_17388917

Bttt

Originally Posted by topsecret10

Rep. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs, killed his House Bill 1107 over what he said were concerns about the costs of fighting off legal attacks questioning the bill's constitutionality.

"That's funny Jan Brewer has plenty of help from everyone!"