Colo. House voting on denying funds to Secure Communities opponents

March 17th, 2011 11:40 am MT

The Colorado House will vote today on whether to pass a bill that would penalize local governments that refuse to enforce the controversial Secure Communities Initiative.

The bill (HB11-1140) was introduced by controversial Rep. David Balmer (R-Centennial) and proposes that any local government that declines to participate in the program, which was created by the Department of Homeland Security, be banned from receiving a local government grant, direct local government severance tax funds or local government mineral impact funds. The bill also seeks to deny them funds from cigarette tax revenues. That money would be directed to communities who agree to participate in the program.

The Secure Communities Initiative has raised controversy almost from the moment it was introduced in 2008. Under the program, local authorities are being asked to submit the fingerprints of persons they arrest who they suspect are in the country illegally.

Proponents of the program say it rightfully aid in the deportation of those illegal immigrants who are committing crimes in the U.S.

But opponents of the opponents of the initiative say it results in racial profiling by authorities and will force some victims of crimes, such as domestic violence, to leave them unreported because they fear any contact with law enforcement. They add that the fingerprinting is not limited to those who are arrested in connection with violent crimes and that program needs to specifically exempt victims of crimes from being named in any reports.

In Colorado, outgoing Gov. Bill Ritter signed the state onto Secure Communities, joining 35 other states in the program. The move was almost immediately decried by several Denver mayoral candidates including James Mejia, Doug Linkhart and Carol Boigon. The move by Ritter also drew protests outside of the state capital building in Denver.

In addition to denying funds to communities who decline to participate, Balmer’s bill also seeks to make it a misdemeanor to transport or hide a known illegal immigrant or a felony to hide or transport 10 or more known illegal immigrants.

The bill also makes it the responsibility of the Colorado Department of Public Safety to publish and update a list of all local governments who are participating in the program, which in turn would disclose which governments are not.

Balmer’s bill goes on to define “smuggling of humansâ€