Partisan divide among U.S. Senate candidates in Colorado on illegal immigration
By Michael Booth and Allison Sherry
Posted: 05/02/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

Colorado's U.S. Senate candidates moved quickly to their partisan corners in the immigration debate, with the only doubts coming from critics questioning the ferocity of their various commitments.

Republican Senate hopefuls united to praise Arizona's crackdown and said they hoped it would boost a nationwide push for deportation and border security.

"We need to know who is here in this country," said former Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, one of the top three Republicans aiming for the August Senate primary. "And I think they should have to go through the process in the legal way."

Democratic contenders Andrew Romanoff and Sen. Michael Bennet said the "dangerous" Arizona law could create a positive backlash of humane

Extras
View a gallery of images from the protest at the Colorado Capitol.
immigration reforms, including a path to citizenship for illegal residents.

"Addressing immigration on a state-by-state basis will only make matters worse," Bennet said through a spokesman. "In this case, it undermines local law enforcement and encourages racial profiling. We would all be better off with a more constructive, cohesive, bipartisan approach."

The reactions guarantee Colorado voters will have stark choices for leadership on immigration questions, whether or not Congress takes up reform this year. And the clear positions leave partisans little to do but question the "street cred" of their candidates.

Immigration activists are keeping score this week, literally, in a nationwide series of rallies, school walkouts and "report cards" on public officials' reform views. At stake are sizable slices of each party, with adamant anti-immigration voters claiming they are a Republican base, and a growing core of Latino voters saying they are not automatic for Democrats without progress toward reform.

Republican views

Colorado's Republican Senate hopefuls drew a hard line on immigration reform in response to questions from The Denver Post. Norton, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck and businessman Tom Wiens all want illegal immigrants to leave America and apply for a new guest-worker program.

They oppose in-state college tuition for children of illegal immigrants who have gone to Colorado high schools, and are against the federal "Dream Act," a proposal in Congress to offer legal residency to students.

And all support the Arizona law that requires police to ask suspected illegal immigrants for documentation and makes failure to carry that documentation a crime.

"Under no circumstances do I support amnesty for those in this country whose first act here was to break our existing laws," said Wiens, in an e-mail statement.

Many Republicans critique Democrats' "path to citizenship" as semantics disguising amnesty.

With current stances so similar, Republican primary voters may look to past records and statements for "street credibility."

In 2008, District Attorney Buck raided a tax-preparation business in Weld County that catered to Latino clients. He seized 4,900 tax returns looking for identity theft by immigrants, eventually losing a privacy rights ruling at the Colorado Supreme Court.

Buck said he wouldn't do it again because the court found the raid unconstitutional. But he said he stands by his commitment to root out identity theft. He once asked for a new Immigration Customs Enforcement office in Greeley.

"I don't believe anyone wants to be here illegally," he said. "If we had a system that worked, then they would move themselves back and I think employers would gladly make sure someone takes two weeks off to ensure they would come back legally."

Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, who has a following among foes of illegal immigration, has questioned Norton's commitment to enforcement. She supported Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain, who used to back plans others considered amnesty. Norton responds that she didn't endorse McCain's past immigration policy and that her stance on the issue has been consistent.

Wiens was sponsor of Colorado Senate Bill 90, signed into law in 2006 and despised by Latino advocates, who dubbed it "Arizona Light." It requires police to check immigration status once a suspect is in custody for something else.

More nuanced line

Highlighting these views may appeal to committed conservative voters more likely to vote in the August primary. But after that — when independent and more moderate voters start paying attention to politics — Republicans may need to navigate a more nuanced line. They also need to win support from at least some of the 404,000 eligible Latino voters in Colorado.

About 61 percent of those Latinos backed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, according to exit polls.

Ross Kaminsky, a talk-radio host and blogger, said Republicans must try to find some medium between the stridency of Tancredo and South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has pledged to draft comprehensive immigration reform by 2012.

"This year, Republicans need to find a way to be in favor of strongly enforcing laws that protect the country, while not appearing to be broadly anti-immigrant or anti-foreigner," Kaminsky said. "I think Tancredo is wrong."

Democratic infighting

Democratic primary voters won't find much space between the current positions of Romanoff and Bennet. They say trying to send an estimated 12 million undocumented people home would be inhumane, impractical and a shock to the U.S. economy that depends on their labor.

The Democrats' "path" means "going to the back of the line" for citizenship, learning English, passing criminal background checks and paying all taxes and fines.

They support the Dream Act, which dangles legal residency before those who stay in school and keep a clean record.

Bennet links his support of the act, in part, to his time as superintendent of Denver Public Schools. He said he "saw many high-achieving students face the consequences of their undocumented immigration status when they could not attend college after graduating from high school . . . most of these students were brought to this country as young children, grew up thinking of this country as home, and maintained aspirations of fulfilling the American dream."

Arizona's looming crackdown should remind Congress why it needs to do something comprehensive now, after years of delay, Romanoff said.

"A patchwork of state laws is no substitute. Every reasonable person agrees with that," Romanoff said.

Bennet and some Latino groups, though, tag former House Speaker Romanoff with what they call a set of anti-immigrant laws passed in Colorado in 2006. The Demo cratic-controlled legislature passed the Wiens bill on police checks.

Then, when Republican Gov. Bill Owens and others threatened a ballot initiative for tougher measures, a special legislative session required ID checks for people receiving taxpayer-funded services.

While Bennet's positions have been consistent, they say, Romanoff will have to earn back support among some Latinos for compromising with Republicans who oppose illegal immigration.

Latino backlash

Romanoff "has quite an uphill climb," said Jessie Ulibarri, Colorado director of the Latino democracy nonprofit Mi Familia Vota. "He demonstrated that if it's politically expedient for him, he's willing to sacrifice the most vulnerable in the Latino communities. It will be very difficult for him to rebuild those relationships with community members."

Ulibarri said Romanoff should also be questioned for assembling his much-vaunted Democratic majority in the legislature that went on to vote against in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants in 2009, after Romanoff had left. Romanoff recruited and raised funds for Democrats afraid to support progressive immigration reform, Ulibarri said.

"He was directly involved in sowing those seeds," Ulibarri said. "

Romanoff and backers reject that criticism. Romanoff supporter and former state legislator Polly Baca acknowledged there is division in the Latino community on the former speaker's actions, but mostly among "newcomers" not paying attention in 2006.

Colorado then would have been Arizona now, without Democrats blocking the worst, Baca said.

"It was Andrew's skill in putting people together, and working day and night and working with Hispanic groups and coalitions, that we were able to dodge that bullet," she said.

Those who promote Latino voting said all the candidates should pay attention to the immigration blowup.

"I don't think you can win a statewide election in Colorado without the Latino vote," said Julien Ross, executive director of the pro-reform Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.

"The Latino vote is prepared to come out strong, or stay home in protest."

Michael Booth: mbooth@denverpost.com


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