Thread: Lawmakers target immigrants

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From left, Rep. Jim Welker, Rep. Bill Crane, Rep. David Schultheis and Kent Lambert, executive director of RSCC, visit Arizonal State capital building to learn about how arizona handles illegal immigrants in Phoenix, AZ Monday. They had meeting with the Arizona legislators. (Post / Hyoung Chang)


Lawmakers target immigrants
Three Colorado representatives are spending a week in Arizona seeking to replicate a state law denying health care and services to undocumented residents.
By Elizabeth Aguilera
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com

Phoenix - Colorado lawmakers are planning an all-out attack on illegal immigration, with three of them in Arizona to see how they can copy the state's measure that denies undocumented immigrants access to state-supported health care and welfare services.

The Colorado lawmakers pledge a robust effort next legislative session to curtail the presence of undocumented immigrants, including proposals to prevent them from purchasing property, to deputize state patrol officers as immigration agents and to require food-service workers to provide photo identification and fingerprints.

"The issue here is economic; it's also the value of citizenship," said David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, who organized the trip. "There is a cultural change taking place in America, taking us away from our founding principles. We are becoming Balkanized."

The Colorado group will stay in Arizona all week, talking to legislators and residents along the border. Today, they will go on patrol with the Minuteman group in central Arizona.

Schultheis met with a group of Arizona lawmakers, including state Rep. Russell Pearce, who co-wrote Proposition 200 prohibiting illegal immigrants from getting government services. The proposition, which passed last year, was upheld after a legal challenge.

The law requires applicants for government services to prove they are U.S. citizens.

Representatives from other states, including Oklahoma, Alabama, Utah and Idaho, also have contacted Pearce, but the Colorado group, including Republicans Bill Crane, R-Arvada, and Jim Welker, R-Loveland, was the first to visit.

"We must secure the borders. You simply have to know who is coming in," Pearce said. "I don't blame those folks seeking a better way of life. I blame our government for failing to ... secure our borders."

The Colorado contingent was told to prepare for a tremendous fight if it tries to push a similar initiative. In Arizona, opponents of Proposition 200 spent $1.5 million on a campaign against it.

Immigrant advocates in Colorado say Prop. 200 has been costly, spurring several lawsuits in Arizona.

"It's really disconcerting that Colorado legislators are talking about implementing something that has been so divisive in Arizona," said Danielle Short, human-rights program director for the American Friends Service Committee in Denver.

Among other problems, Short said, Prop. 200 has led to racial profiling of Hispanics seeking state services there.

"There is a lot of interest both in this state and nationally to make sure we stop the tide of these kinds of initiatives," she added.

The Colorado legislators blamed illegal immigrants for taking jobs from Americans, increasing health risks by bringing in diseases and not paying taxes. They claim undocumented immigrants get paid 25 percent less than what an American would demand from an employer.

"The cost in this thing is huge," Welker said. "We've got to figure it out."

According to authorities, Colorado is home to about 150,000 undocumented immigrants; nationwide, it's 10 million.

The Republican Study Committee of Colorado, a new legislator group, was created to be a clearinghouse for certain immigration issues. The group aims to figure out how to craft legislation that would, among other things, prohibit services for undocumented immigrants; require public K-12 school districts to verify citizenship of students for future analysis; prevent or tax electronic transfer of funds by those who are not legal residents; and stop local agencies from hiring undocumented immigrants.

www.rockymountainnews.com

War on illegals goes to border
GOP lawmakers taking part in patrol

By Fernando Quintero, Rocky Mountain News
October 4, 2005

PHOENIX - Three Colorado GOP lawmakers met with their Arizona counterparts Monday in preparation for a border patrol today with volunteers of the Minuteman Project in a "war" on illegal immigration.

The three, led by Rep. David Schult-heis, R-Colorado Springs, listened to testimony from their Arizona counterparts to introduce legislation of their own next year aimed at stemming the flow of immigrants and limiting services.

"This is a war we're waging. We're trying to save America," said Russell Pearce, an Arizona representative who has been an outspoken leader in the fight against illegal immigration.

Schultheis said he hopes to either introduce a bill or sponsor a voter referendum similar to Arizona's Proposition 200, which eliminates or limits services to illegal immigrants.

He also outlined a number of proposals including a requirement for public K-12 schools to verify citizenship status of students so that records can be kept for future analysis, deputize state patrol troopers to act as immigration agents, and prevent workers' compensation payments to illegal immigrants.

Schultheis said he got the idea to meet with the Arizona lawmakers after five out of five of his initiatives aimed at addressing illegal immigration earlier this year failed along party lines.

"We're looking for warriors to join us in this fight," said Schultheis. Colorado lawmakers Rep. Jim Welker, of Loveland, and Rep. Bill Crane, of Arvada, joined Schultheis.

As part of their fact-finding mission, the Colorado lawmakers will patrol the border tonight and Wednesday night with the controversial group known as the Minuteman Project, volunteers who observe illegal border crossings and report their findings to border patrol officials.

The Colorado Republicans said they were focusing on illegal immigration because of concerns voiced by their constituents that such immigrants are taking jobs from citizens, burdening public services and committing crimes.

Welker said a poll conducted in his district showed that more than 90 percent of those surveyed said more needed to be done about illegals entering the country.

Schult-heis and the Arizona lawmakers mentioned a number of figures, including the costs to educate children of illegal immigrants and the amount spent to keep immigrant criminals in the states' prisons.

Lisa Duran, a Denver immigrants rights activist, said the Republican representatives were simply perpetuating myths about illegal immigrants.

"The majority of undocumented immigrants are simply here to put food on the table," she said. "By creating legislation aimed at the most vulnerable victims of our broken immigration policy, they are creating a climate of hatred, misinformation and divisiveness within our communities."

Salvador Reza, director of the Coalition for Migrants Rights in Phoenix, said Proposition 200 has created a "climate of fear" in Arizona.

"It has employers worried about hiring people, whether they are violating laws. It has hard-working people who have made a living here for years afraid to go out and look for work," he said.

"It has people looking over their shoulder. It's not good policy for Arizona, and I imagine it wouldn't be good for Colorado."