Secure Communities bill passes House committee

Bill would strip funding from counties not in the program

By Joseph Boven | 02.14.11 | 5:17 pm

A bill compelling local governments in Colorado to comply with the controversial federal Secure Communities program passed its first hurdle today on a 7-4 committee vote, with Rep. John Soper, D-Thornton, being the lone Democrat voting in favor of the bill.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, would take away state local government grants from those governments choosing not to comply with the ICE program.

Former Gov. Bill Ritter signed the memorandum of agreement in January with Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement office to bring Secure Communities to Colorado. The federal program will run fingerprints of all individuals arrested against ICE records and will automatically inform the law enforcement agency and ICE of the individual’s immigration status if it is known by the agency.

The program is designed to target criminal illegal aliens first, but does extend to those who have not committed previous crimes beyond being in the country illegally.

“These are convicted criminals; these are not just people who have been arrested for a crime,â€