http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=6430

Publish Date: 2/28/2006
Immigration forum covers gamut
Groups express frustration with elected officials

By Ben Ready
The Daily Times-Call

LONGMONT — “I’ve been a political activist for a long time, and immigration reform brings together the strangest bedfellows of any issue.”

The words of Stan Weekes, the organizer of Monday night’s immigration-reform public meeting at the Longmont Public Library, couldn’t have proved truer.

The 38 local residents in attendance — though united under the banner of stemming the stream of illegal immigrants into the country and Colorado — came, in their words, for nearly as many reasons: so their taxes wouldn’t pay for the benefits of the undocumented; to keep jobs for Americans; to stem the spread of disease; to not have such a crowded state; to keep Hispanic gangs from distributing methamphetamine; to not become a culture that bribes police officers and postal workers; to preserve the English language; to prevent tribal warfare in America; to save water and have cleaner air for Coloradans; to limit weekend traffic on Interstate 70; to keep America from becoming “just another Third World country.”


But not everyone agreed with the speakers from the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, Defend Colorado Now and the Colorado Minutemen.

When Louisville immigration-
reform activist Frosty Wooldridge opened up his presentation to questions, one member of the public told him the Italians, the Chinese and other past waves of immigrants to the United States were feared and marginalized, like many Hispanic immigrants are today.

“The U.S. has always been a land for immigrants and a land for opportunity,” said Carolyn Slauson, a grant writer with El Comité in Longmont. When Slauson added, “You can’t stop people from wanting to come here,” the crowd erupted in protest, with many jumping to their feet.

“Yes, you can. And we will!” Boulder resident Terry Graham said. Graham later suggested that any worker in an organization that tries to put illegal immigrants on an equal level with U.S. citizens should be jailed for aiding and abetting a criminal.

Graham later told the Times-Call that “open-border people” use words like “racist,” “bigot,” “xenophobe,” “hateful” and “intolerant” to try to quiet immigration reformers like her.

“Racist? What colors are Mexicans? What color is an American?” Graham said. “This isn’t about color; it’s about coming to this country legally.”

Most of the meeting, however, was a quiet exchange of information, affirmation of beliefs and calls to action among immigration-reform proponents.

Fred Elbel, director of Defend Colorado Now, outlined the history of his group’s effort to put an initiative on the ballot in November.

Frustrated that eight Colorado immigration bills have already been killed this year, Elbel wants state voters to decide for themselves if they’d deny public services to illegal immigrants other than emergency care and K-12 education.

“Elected servants are not responsive to the wishes of most Coloradans,” Elbel said. “It’s going straight to the people.”

Before it makes the ballot, the proposal must win an ongoing Colorado Supreme Court battle, and then 68,000 registered state voters must sign a petition of support before Aug. 7.

Wooldridge, meanwhile, calls for a five- to 10-year moratorium on legal immigration and a slow but steady repatriation of the illegal aliens already in the country.

“We’re setting ourselves up for ethnic strife otherwise,” Wooldridge said, comparing the United States’ increasingly “incompatible cultures and languages” to similar situations in Sydney, Amsterdam and Paris, where racial turmoil has recently erupted.

The group applauded state Sen. Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, for attending the meeting. Shaffer didn’t speak to the group and had to leave early, but he told the Times-Call he came out of curiosity and to hear both sides of an immigration issue that needs to be addressed.

“We shouldn’t be afraid,” Shaffer said after the meeting. “What I heard a lot of in there was fear of the unknown, fear of the future. And while fear can be a great motivator, it doesn’t always lead people in the right direction.”

Leslie Irwin, Boulder County’s new immigrant integration coordinator — whose grant-funded program is charged with building relationships between the area’s native and immigrant communities — declined Weekes’ offer to make a statement to the group.

After the meeting, she said she considered the group’s focus to be on legislative policy and not necessarily related to her mission of helping the community decide what to do with immigrants living here now.

“It was a potentially volatile atmosphere, and I think it could have been potentially risky to address a crowd like this,” Irwin said.

She added that she’d like to invite residents with similar views to another forum in the future to discuss, not debate, local immigration issues.

Marta Moreno, director of El Comité, also remained silent until the meeting’s end.

“They’re sick,” she later told the Times-Call. “It’s a shame they think that way.”

Weekes said he was encouraged at the turnout and the lively discussion. He plans more forums in Lafayette, Louisville and Boulder at yet-to-be-decided dates.

“If anything is going to be done with illegal immigration, it’s got to be locally,” Weekes said.

Ben Ready can be reached at 303-684-5326, or by e-mail at bready@times-call.com.