Thread: Illegals leaving Colorado

Mexican consul: Immigrants leaving Colorado

By IVAN MORENO

DENVER - Many Mexicans increasingly feel unwelcome in Colorado because of a perceived anti-immigrant sentiment, and some are looking back home for opportunities as the U.S. economy sours, Denver's Mexican consul general says.

"What I've found is that in our communities, with few exceptions, there's a sense that the state (of Colorado) is not friendly toward immigrants, that they don't feel welcomed and that they encounter this feeling of, 'I don't like you but I need you,'" Eduardo Arnal said during a recent interview.

Arnal said that in his travels around Colorado people tell him about losing their jobs as the state's major employers — the construction and service industries — have seen a decline

We don't have statistics, but I can tell you with certainty that Mexicans are abandoning Colorado," he said. Some, he said, are "considering returning to Mexico definitely."

The U.S. Census suggests a drop, too. According to its data, there were an estimated 240,754 Mexicans in Colorado in 2005. That number increased in 2006 to 254,844 but fell to an estimated 243,253 in 2007.

Arnal, a former Mexican congressman and member of President Felipe Calderon's transition team, was named Denver's consul general in August 2007. His office serves Colorado, and he supervises consulates in Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Nebraska, Idaho, South Dakota and North Dakota.

To date, Arnal has visited 59 of the state's 64 counties. It is partly from those visits, aimed at establishing ties with local law enforcement and businesses, that he has drawn his own conclusions about the feelings of Mexican immigrants.

Arnal points to a series of immigration bills passed in 2006 during a special legislative session as one reason many Mexicans feel marginalized.

One law created a state patrol unit with the authority to enforce immigration law during routine patrols and curb human smuggling. The unit has arrested more than 930 suspected illegal immigrants since July 2007.

Another law barred immigrants from receiving some state services unless they prove they are in the country legally. Also in 2006, but during a regular legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill requiring police to report anyone they believe to be in the country illegally to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"There are situations where people live in fear because they think that there are all of these pretexts in day-to-day life that can be used to report them to immigration authorities," Arnal said.

Arnal said one of his goals is to make Coloradans aware of Mexico's contribution to their economy.

Mexico is Colorado's second biggest trading partner after Canada — trade totaled $950 million in 2007 — and is the state's top source for agricultural products, Arnal said.

Mexico is the United States' third largest trading partner.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27872834/

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If there legal they dont have to fear any of those laws.If not good get out of my country!

Glad to see them go...I hope the trend continues. I know there are lots of jobless Americans in Colorado glad to see them go as well.

TANCREDO: COLORADO'S CRIMINAL ALIENS, PART 2
Why are we failing to deport criminal aliens?

TANCREDO: COLORADO'S CRIMINAL ALIENS, PART 2
Colorado has a serious problem with thousands of illegal aliens who cycle through our jail system and encounter local law enforcement in traffic stops but are seldom referred to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) for possible deportation.

The problem is not that the system is broken. The problem is that there is no system.

State lawmakers have enacted only weak palliatives that are further diluted through lax enforcement. The bills passed in the July 2006 special session of the Legislature have yet to be seriously enforced, and the 2003 Secure and Verifiable ID Act never has been applied to all state agencies and benefits.

And what is Gov. Bill Ritter’s response? He has appointed a new committee to study the problem — an Immigration Working Group. The first question the new IWG should answer is this: If current laws are not being enforced, what value would there be in passing new laws?

Senate Bill 06-090, enacted in 2006, removed obstacles police have faced in contacting ICE when they have probable cause to believe an alleged offender is in the country illegally. In the Aurora incident, the illegal alien charged with the crime already had been arrested 16 times and had been in custody twice (in Denver and in Aurora) but never had been referred to ICE. Most of his arrests were for traffic violations, and calls to ICE from patrol cars are unlikely to identify a person as an illegal alien if he has no prior deportations and no felony warrants.

The Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), the state agency charged with monitoring and enforcing SB 06-090, reports that Denver made only 2,088 reports to ICE in 2007. Of that total, 1,979 (95 percent) were contacts by the county jail, not by Denver police. But 2,088 is not a large number in the context of 18,117 total jail bookings and a metro Denver illegal alien population of more than 75,000.

Only a trained ICE agent who interviews a suspect in jail can determine that person’s immigration status with any certainty. That’s why cities and counties across the country are turning to the federal “287(g) authorityâ€

""What I've found is that in our communities, with few exceptions, there's a sense that the state (of Colorado) is not friendly toward immigrants, that they don't feel welcomed and that they encounter this feeling of, 'I don't like you but I need you,'" Eduardo Arnal said during a recent interview. "

Illegal immigrants are not welcomed by about 70% of Americans. Through the last painful four years (out of many), I remain mystified as to how so many American fail to see the cost in finance and resource that their intrusion has cost us/. To me it is so evident that a number of businesses have prospered at the expense of the American worker. Schools, hospitals, taxes, unemployment--I cannot believe that there are those who fail to see it.

I recognize that there are people filled with compassion for the poor of the world. Does the proximity of Central America and Mexico grant them the right to send their indigent people here???

I also cannot understand the arrogance of people like this Arnal. These Mexicans, in particular, interfere in the American process on all levels. Get him out of the country too. Within ten to fifteen years the numbers of illegals voting and their ethnically loyal supposed American relatives will have turned us into a third world sewer.
Many thanks to Reid, Pelosi,and their sick liberal ilk.

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http://www.alipac.us/article-3772--0-0.html

misterbill wrote:

Illegal immigrants are not welcomed by about 70% of Americans. Through the last painful four years (out of many), I remain mystified as to how so many American fail to see the cost in finance and resource that their intrusion has cost us/.

SO true, I am noticing due to ALIPAC and other good organizations more and more are waking up!! I think slowly the tide is turning!

it is still not enough...we need them to leave in larger numbers so the 10 to 14 ( probably 20 milllion) million Americans out of work can have those jobs,and get back a liveable wage.

This will also cut the cost of over crowded schools, medical, interpturs and over crowded jails on American taxpayers.

People who don't care that illegl immigrants squat in America, are ignorant.
They do not know anything of the costs to America or Americans.
Being uninformed is not an excuse in todays technological era.