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September 22, 2006

Immigration measure outlet for voters




By PERRY SWANSON THE GAZETTE

Colorado voters frustrated with the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws will have the chance to send a message to Washington on Nov. 7.

Referendum K asks voters whether to order the Colorado attorney general to sue the federal government, demanding enforcement against illegal immigrants.

The Colorado Legislature agreed in July to put the question to voters, citing the drain on state tax money from giving services to illegal immigrants such as health care, law enforcement and education. All of El Paso County’s representatives in the Legislature supported the measure.

If Referendum K passes, the Colorado attorney general could join other states or go it alone in a lawsuit against the federal government.

The suit might be a symbolic gesture.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said he’s studying options, but doubts a lawsuit would be successful. Suthers, a Republican, was appointed to the position in January 2005, and he’s running for election to a four-year term.

“If I thought we could win a case against the federal government, I would have filed it in the last two years,” Suthers said.

Other states have filed similar lawsuits, and all of them failed, Suthers said. He said he recently discussed Referendum K and the possibility of a lawsuit with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

“He looked at me, smiled, and said ‘It wouldn’t be the first time,’ ” Suthers said. “He’s not shaking in his boots.”
Suthers,the former 4th Judicial District attorney, said he’ll vote against Referendum K. His Democratic opponent in the race for attorney general, Fern O’Brien, also opposes the measure.

O’Brien doubts a lawsuit would be successful, and the estimated $190,000 annual cost of pursuing it would waste taxpayer money, said spokeswoman Barbara McGehan.

Few people doubt the referendum’s premise that the federal government has failed to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country and deport those who are here.


The Pew Hispanic Center estimates 11.1 million people were in the country illegally in 2005, an increase of 32 percent from five years earlier. Colorado in 2005 was home to 225,000 to 275,000 illegal immigrants.

Federal law says local governments must not deny some services to illegal immigrants, including emergency medical care, schooling and jailing criminals and suspects. The cost of those services for illegal immigrants is about $225 million annually in Colorado, according to research issued in June by the Denver-based Bell Policy Center.

Illegal immigrants pay between $159 million and $194 million in state and local taxes, the center said.

Debate on the issue flared during the summer as federal and state lawmakers considered ways to crack down on illegal immigrants. Many who want tougher immigration laws are frustrated that current laws aren’t being enforced, said Mike McGarry, acting director of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform. McGarry said those people might support Referendum K even if chances are slim that it would produce reforms.

“I can’t see that it could hurt, it would just add to the groundswell,” he said.