Colorado Could Follow Arizona’s Lead on Blocking Benefits to Illegals

November 14, 2004
PETER ROPER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Arizona voters approved a wide-ranging ballot initiative on Nov. 2 that essentially prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving most state and local government services, and sympathizers in Colorado believe they will have similar success here.

"We're going to give the Legislature a chance to enact this on its own, and if it doesn't, we will be ready with a ballot initiative in 2006," said William Herron, the chairman of Defend Colorado Now.

Noting that Democrats have become the majority in both the state House and Senate, Herron said it is unlikely that lawmakers will approve such restrictions. "But we will use this upcoming session as a scorecard of which legislators support us and which oppose us," he said in a telephone interview.

Arizona's Proposition 200 essentially said that residents must be able to prove their U.S. citizenship to receive state and local services. The federal government and the courts have ruled that certain services - such as enrolling children in school, emergency food and medical care and disaster relief - must be provided to any person, regardless of citizenship or legal residency.

The Arizona measure can't overrule federal law, but it does take a broad brush and require that anyone receiving state or local government services be able to prove their citizenship or legal residency. Opponents have said they will challenge the new measure in court, arguing that it will become a tool to discriminate against Hispanics and other minorities.

The battleground in Arizona - and probably in Colorado too - will be how to determine what public services would be affected. The federal government provides full or partial funding for many state-run programs. Will a state ban affect those programs?

"We believe that because of conflict with federal law that these initiatives will be struck down," a spokesman for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund told reporters in Arizona after the measure was approved by a margin of 56 to 44 percent.

Last spring in Colorado, Herron and supporters - then called Save Colorado Now - drafted a similar petition that was approved by the Secretary of State's office. But backers decided to hold off until 2006, primarily because they got off to a late start and they expected the ballot campaign to be expensive, according to Herron.

"We've got our approved petitions and we'll be ready to go," Herron said. "And we are realistic about the Legislature. Even lawmakers who support us say that it would run into too much opposition."

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has been a supporter of the measure and he has predicted that Colorado voters will also approve such a ban if given the chance.

"Any poll you look at will tell you that a majority of voters, Democrats and Republicans, want the laws against illegal immigration enforced in this country and they just aren't," said Carlos Espinosa, Tancredo's spokesman. "But if you demand that they are enforced, you end up being called racial epithets at best."

Herron claims that there are between 200,000 and 250,000 illegal immigrants living in Colorado and that providing government services to them is a growing burden on taxpayers. For example, the proposed amendment is intended to prevent illegal residents from obtaining state-paid Medicaid services.

"But we've written the amendment in a way to let the Legislature spell out what state services would be covered," he said.

Asked what services are being abused - given that federal law requires basic human services to be provided all residents - Herron mentioned college costs.

"In-state tuition is one example," he said, charging that state colleges and universities do not verify students' legal residency status when they admit students - even though Colorado law now prohibits giving in-state tuition to illegal residents. "There is this culture out there where administrators just look the other way or don't ask questions of students as they register."

Admission officials at Pueblo Community College confirmed that registering students are only asked to certify that they are U.S. citizens or legal residents when enrolling. If a student is willing to lie about that, and has other documents showing a year's residency, he or she could obtain in-state tuition. But enrolling does require legal identification documents, such as a Colorado driver's license, officials noted.

Herron is a retired aircraft engineer who moved to Evergreen from California in 1994. He described himself as a moderate Republican. "But we also have supporters who are Democrats and independents," he said.

http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1100415600/2