Crowd chants for Tancredo
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Crowd chants for Tancredo
Protesters want services denied to illegal immigrants
By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News
April 28, 2006
Hundreds of flag-waving demonstrators gathered at the state Capitol Thursday to kick off an effort to deny many government services to illegal immigrants.
Supporters of Defend Colorado Now cheered as speakers criticized the recent series of immigration- rights demonstrations as well as the government for not stemming the flow of illegal immigrants.
At times, the crowd punctuated a speech by chanting "Tancredo! Tancredo! Tancredo!" a reference to Rep. Tom Tancredo, a leading voice for tougher immigration laws.
Police estimated the crowd at 200 to 250, while organizers said 400 to 500 people attended.
"Enough is enough," said Waldo Benavidez, a Denver social service agency director and leader of the ballot measure. "I'm tired of people protesting in our streets demanding rights that they're not entitled to.
"This initiative is the first volley of Colorado citizens fighting back," he said. "It's about preserving our way of life. In the final analysis, it is all about cheap labor and denying the middle class their piece of the American dream."
Volunteers began circulating petitions, collecting more than 300 voter signatures at the event, said Fred Elbel, co-director of Defend Colorado Now. They need about 68,000 valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
The group, supported by former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm and former state Senate President John Andrews, decided to begin signature collection even though the state Supreme Court has not decided on a challenge by opponents. Organizers are confident the court will approve the language of the ballot measure because that's what it did after an identical challenge in 2004.
If passed by voters, the measure would add language to the Colorado Constitution saying that illegal immigrants would not be entitled to government services other than public education and emergency room care, both of which are required by federal law. It also would allow citizens to sue agencies for non-compliance.
The measure was first proposed in 2003 by Tancredo, R-Colo., and later spearheaded by Evergreen resident Bill Herron. The court challenge two years ago prevented supporters from having enough time to gather signatures to get it on the 2004 ballot.
Ina Bailey, a retired teacher from Colorado Springs, attended the rally and plans to help collect signatures.
"I don't want to become the United States of Mexico," said the German immigrant.
Bailey criticized illegal immigrants because "instead of coming to this country and having a deep desire to be an American citizen and learn English and assimilate into this society, they don't want to assimilate. They want us to learn Spanish."
Leaders of Keep Colorado Safe, the state group mobilizing to fight the measure, said the amendment would be extremely expensive to implement, is so broad that services like bus rides and library visits could be affected, and could harm all Colorado residents.
"This ballot initiative would put everyone in Colorado in harm's way, especially our children," said Polly Baca, CEO of Denver nonprofit agency LARASA. "It would prevent public health officials from doing their jobs to prevent epidemics like a mumps outbreak or a flu outbreak" because illegal immigrants would not be entitled to vaccinations.
"Every single law in Colorado must be passed in compliance with the public health and welfare of the citizens," she said. "This initiative flies in the face of that."
kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2361
