Ritter Weighs Immigrant Prosecution Bill
Bill would make it easier to prosecute illegal immigrants

Last Edited: Monday, 28 May 2007, 4:50 PM MDT
Created: Monday, 28 May 2007, 4:25 PM MDT

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DENVER --

A bill aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from avoiding prosecution by being deported is now on the desk of Gov. Bill Ritter.

Currently, illegal immigrants arrested for a crime who post bond to get out of jail can end up in immigration court, where they can be deported.

Judges sometimes drop charges against them but the measure passed by state lawmakers (House Bill 1040) would require that they be arrested if they return to the United States.

If the bill is signed into law, judges would issue a no-bond warrant for suspected felons who are deported. The warrants would go into state and national crime databases and they would be arrested and required to remain in jail without bond until they can go on trial.

"Illegal immigrants are not going to be able to decide if they want to face criminal charges in this country, if they want to buy their way out," said Paula Presley, detention bureau chief for El Paso County.

The bill would also require bonding agents to lose their money if their customers are deported. The forfeited bond money would be used to help pay for more prison space.

Some fear that would make it difficult for illegal immigrants or anyone assumed to be one to bond out of jail.




"Latinos in this country may be hauled to jail or may be treated differently because they are not walking around with their citizenship stamped on their forehead," said Rep. Dorothy Butcher, D-Pueblo, who voted against the bill.

Rep. Amy Stephens, a Republican from Monument who sponsored the bill, said law enforcement officers across Colorado have seen illegal immigrants leave jail because deportation seemed like a better option.

"They all said, 'Enough. We are done with this. We've got to do something,"' Stephens said.

El Paso County sheriff Terry Maketa said the case of Freddy Lopez-Gamez is an example of the loophole in the current system. He said Lopez-Gamez was deported after being arrested in June 2005 on a drug manufacturing charge. Maketa said he returned to Colorado Springs five months later to participate in a kidnapping and extortion plot.

Lopez-Gamez avoided arrest and is now in a Mexican jail for another crime.
Legislative analysts estimate the bill would put nine more illegal immigrants in prison each year and that would cost the state an extra $1.1 million next year. Colorado jails could also end up holding more people who aren't able to bond out before trial.




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