Thread: Colorado House passes controversial immigration reforms

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New, 5:20 p.m.: House passes controversial immigration reforms amid controversy


Saturday, July 08, 2006

By MIKE SACCONE

The Daily Sentinel


A keystone piece of Colorado Democratic lawmakers’ anti-illegal immigration legislation passed from the House to the Senate in a party-line vote this morning.

If passed, House Bill 1023, which is sponsored by Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, will bar illegal immigrants over the age of 18 from receiving non-federally-mandated public services.

However, shortly after the bill’s third reading, the House floor erupted in a partisan debate, with

Republicans saying the bill did not go far enough to address the issue and, in fact, was depriving the electorate of their chance to have a say via a ballot measure.

Numerous House Republicans, including Rep. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, have said the success of the special session will be judged on whether voters have a chance to vote on the issue.

Gov. Bill Owens called the special session the last week of June after the Colorado Supreme Court struck down a ballot initiative that, if passed, would have denied illegal immigrants taxpayer-funded services.

The court tossed the initiative, ruling that it addressed more than one subject.

Rep. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, drew the most ire from House Democrats after he said that because the bill did not address illegal immigrants under 18, it would not address the problem of Mexican youth moving to Colorado and joining gangs.

Harvey’s comments drew shouts of “racist” and “bigot” from the Democratic caucus, with Rep. Dorothy Butcher, D-Pueblo, calling for the sergeant at arms to have him removed from the House chamber.

And Rep. Matt Knoedler, R-Lakewood, elicited laughs from Democrats when he said the bill’s failure to crack down on all state-provided services would encourage illegal immigrants to be drawn to Colorado and repulsed. He said the bill sent the message that state-funded soup kitchens would be a particular draw.

“Come to Colorado: We have free soup,” Knoedler said.

But Romanoff said he thought Knoedler’s remarks were misguided. He said the state needed to provide some services regardless of a recipient’s immigration status as a matter of public safety, citing communicable diseases.

“Most viruses don’t check for ID,” he said.

And Romanoff said Knoedler’s concerns about soup were simply off-base.

“It’s not the soup,” he said. “That’s nuts.”

Romanoff also pointed out his bill and not the ballot initiative Republicans were demanding had garnered the support of leaders from Defend Colorado Now and Keep Colorado Safe, groups on the opposite ends of the illegal immigration debate.

He said former Gov. Dick Lamm and former Denver Mayor Federico Peña supported the Georgia-like legislation his bill would institute.

Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, told the House that Romanoff’s bill was a vital piece of legislation that lawmakers could tweak after it was passed. He said the extent to which it restricts services could be revisited, but it was important to at least have something to build on.

“This is the most significant step the state has ever taken to insure we are not wasting taxpayer dollars,” Buescher said.

Romanoff’s bill will be heard in committee later today, which is the third day of the Legislature’s special session.


Mike Saccone can be reached via e-mail at msaccone@gjds.com.

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GOP leaders’ immigration proposals die in session

By By MIKE SACCONE The Daily Sentinel

Saturday, July 08, 2006


Bills sponsored by Grand Junction’s two Republican legislators met quick deaths shortly after they were introduced in what Rep. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, called the “Friday night massacre.”

Bills sponsored by Penry and Sen. Ron Teck, R-Grand Junction, were nixed in party-line votes with Democrats on the House and Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs committees.

Penry’s bill, announced as the “real” Georgia legislation, was modeled on measures taken in Georgia to more stringently police employers who might hire illegal immigrants and to allow local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws.

The bill, which endured more than five hours of discussion as part of a package of anti-illegal-immigration bills introduced on the second day of the special session, encountered resistance from Democrats who, by the end of the day, had struck down most of the Republican-sponsored bills introduced Friday.

“I think this shows that the Democratic majority is trying to pass just enough (anti-illegal immigration legislation) to say they did something, without confronting the problem,” Penry said after his bill was killed.

Legislation from Sen. Ron Teck, R-Grand Junction, was also nixed after Democrats on the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee expressed some reservation about the bill.

The bill had been introduced less than an hour before it debuted in committee.

Teck’s Senate Joint Memorial would have asked the federal government to consider passing legislation or amending the U.S. Constitution to confront the “anchor

baby” problem.

He said he hoped the memorial would nudge federal lawmakers into reinterpreting or redrafting the 14th Amendment to deny automatic citizenship to babies born to illegal immigrants in the United States.

But Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, who chaired the committee that ended the legislation’s brief life, said he found the whole phrase “anchor baby” distasteful and outright insulting.

“The whole idea of dragging kids into this discourse is reprehensible to me,” Groff said.

He said he could not imagine anyone “walking across a desert” and giving birth to a child in the United States as a way for them to stick around.

After the hearing, Teck said he knew his bill never had a chance in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly. Teck said it was unfortunate politics were preventing legislation such as his from going anywhere.

Legislation sponsored by Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, the only locally sponsored legislation to survive the day, passed from the House to the Senate on Friday morning. Buescher’s bill would ask the Colorado attorney general to seek reimbursement from the federal government for all the costs the state has absorbed due to illegal immigrants. Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, who co-sponsored Buescher’s bill, said it would be taken up by the Senate Judiciary Committee today.


Mike Saccone can be reached at msaccone@gjds.com

Thank you for the post. Didn't get a chance to see the news yet today. I am a member of Defend Colorado Now and passed the petition that was "thrown out in court".

This is a small step, but at least, it's a beginning

He said he could not imagine anyone “walking across a desert” and giving birth to a child in the United States as a way for them to stick around.

You don't have to imagine, just go look....it's happening all the time, you idiot!

Originally Posted by gofer

He said he could not imagine anyone “walking across a desert” and giving birth to a child in the United States as a way for them to stick around.

You don't have to imagine, just go look....it's happening all the time, you idiot!

Some people should not live at this altitude, gofer. It affects their thinking

He said he could not imagine anyone “walking across a desert” and giving birth to a child in the United States as a way for them to stick around

Desperate people do desperate things.

Harvey’s comments drew shouts of “racist” and “bigot” from the Democratic caucus, with Rep. Dorothy Butcher, D-Pueblo, calling for the sergeant at arms to have him removed from the House chamber.

Here's the race card being thrown out again. I really wish the liberal side of this argument would find something better and more valid to use.

Folks of Colorado (my neighboring state) just vote out Dorothy Butcher.