Thread: We can't afford border patrol (Colorado)

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_3097191

editorial
We can't afford border patrol

The Denver Post
DenverPost.com

Even though they never actually saw anyone sneaking across the border during their recent gun-totin' night patrols in Arizona, our trio of fact-finding lawmakers now thinks the state of Colorado should help fund U.S. immigration enforcement efforts.

David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, and two fellow state representatives spent part of this past week meeting with Arizona officials and staking out the border with a group that calls itself the Minutemen. "It concerns me that we \[and\] other states are not coming to their aid in some way, either with funds or by trying to energize people to volunteer," Schultheis said.

Apparently the quick trip to the Mexico border gave Schultheis, an opponent of Referendum C, an acute case of amnesia. Colorado doesn't have enough money to support its own programs, let alone to beef up vigilante patrols along the nation's borders. And if voters turn down Referendum C, the state will be forced to cut up to $400 million from next year's budget. Just where would he find the funds for a Colorado subsidy of the U.S. Border Patrol?

Perhaps he and his colleagues want to use illegal immigration as a campaign issue in 2006. Politically, it's a smart move because so many of us are concerned about illegal immigration and its effects on hospitals, schools and government services.

Schultheis has teamed up with Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo and others to build support for an initiative similar to Arizona's Proposition 200, which cut off state services to illegal immigrants. He was joined on the Minuteman trip by fellow Republican Reps. Bill Crane of Arvada and Jim Welker of Loveland.

The issue, when demagogued, can be ugly and divisive, and our lawmakers should tread carefully with whatever they propose for Colorado.

On Thursday, a group of immigration activists delivered a petition to Gov. Bill Owens asking him to declare a state of emergency and develop a plan that would send illegals to "overflow holding areas" such as Coors Field to await deportation.

The proposal was laughable on its face, but how do you account for Owens' response? His spokesman said the governor "has seen the petition and he has forwarded it to his legal counsel asking for an opinion as to whether or not the governor has the ability to do the things they're asking."

Makeshift internment camps are a mistake in any generation. Owens doesn't need legal counsel to tell him that.

The Colorado state legislators really should concentrate on requiring employment time work authorizatin verification.