Fatal Aurora wreck illustrates illegal immigration challenge
By Judi Villa, Rocky Mountain News
Published October 21, 2008 at 10:30 a.m.
Updated October 21, 2008 at 7:27 p.m.

Illegal immigrant driving 77 mph in triple fatal in Aurora More Local NewsNeeko, the dog left to starve, gets a new home Yorkshire terrier Bobo stable after being set afire Kids played while mom slept More stories » In many ways, the case of Francis Hernandez illustrates the challenges police face on a daily basis when it comes to immigration enforcement.

Arrested by eight different jurisdictions in the past five years. Twenty-nine warrants for failing to appear. Twelve aliases.

Yet Hernandez, 23, repeatedly claimed he was born in California. He was actually born in Guatemala, was never flagged as an illegal immigrant and never faced deportation. When he was arrested last month after a triple-fatal car crash in Aurora, his case became a rallying cry for immigration reform.

And Gov. Bill Ritter ordered a systemic review of how state, local and federal law enforcement handle immigration enforcement in Colorado.

A 31-member working group met for the first time Tuesday. And Hernandez was a topic of discussion.

"We had no indication that this person was an illegal immigrant," Aurora police Chief Dan Oates said. "There's no place to call, there's no button to push, there's no query that automatically tells you if somebody is or is not a U.S. citizen."

Police say illegal immigrants are sapping resources from already strapped departments, and during a more than three-hour meeting Tuesday afternoon, they told the working group about the challenges they face enforcing immigration laws.

Officials at the Colorado State Patrol say troopers encounter about 500 illegal immigrants every week. Each one takes several hours to book.

Last year, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said his agency referred 3,052 suspected illegal immigrants to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

In Aurora, Oates said officers and jailers made more than 2,500 ICE referrals last year. So far this year, they have made about 1,900.

The working group, made up of police, policymakers and community stakeholders, is tasked with identifying problems and information gaps related to immigration enforcement, discussing possible statutory changes and formulating policy recommendations. The group will meet five times through Nov. 17. Their report is due to Ritter by Dec. 31.

Hernandez's case helped spark the review. He is accused of broadsiding a pickup truck on Sept. 4 in Aurora, sending both vehicles careening into a Baskin- Robbins. Two women in the pickup truck were killed, as was a 3-year-old boy in the ice cream shop. Hernandez entered the U.S. illegally in 1991, authorities have said.

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