Trio of Dems touts proposal to cut aid to illegal immigrants

Lamm, others want ballot initiative on aid for undocumented

Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, January 5, 2006

Former Gov. Dick Lamm and two other Democrats on Wednesday touted a proposed ballot initiative to stop illegal immigrants from getting government services.

"What ultimately I want is you should not be able to get on an airplane, get a job or open up a bank account unless you're in this country legally," Lamm said.

He was joined at a sometimes testy news conference at the state Capitol by Denver community activist Waldo Benavidez and Fred Elbel, director of Defend Colorado Now, the group trying to put the immigration issue on the November ballot.

All three said immigration is a costly problem that jeopardizes Colorado's security.

But when pressed, the Democratic trio was unable to say what services illegal immigrants are now receiving that would stop if the initiative passed in November.

The proposal exempts federally mandated services, including education for K-12 students and emergency medical care.

Benavidez blasted Democrats and Republicans alike, saying neither party wants to tackle illegal immigration because members are afraid it will cost them votes from minority groups or businesses that rely on the cheap labor.

The ballot initiative was first proposed by U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Littleton, in 2003, but because of a court challenge there wasn't enough time to gather signatures to get it on the 2004 ballot.

Elbel said efforts to collect 68,000 valid voter signatures to get the issue on the 2006 ballot begin this month.

"We anticipate Colorado voters will overwhelmingly support the initiative," he said.

Keep Colorado Safe has sprung up to fight the initiative. Campaign manager Manolo Gonzalez-Estay said the problem with the ballot proposal is that it doesn't do anything to solve the problem of illegal immigration.

"We all agree there is a problem with illegal immigration," Gonzalez-Estay said. "The problem is we have an influx of illegal immigrants. They're not coming here for services. They're coming here for jobs."

Challenges to existing policy

A summary of efforts under way to change Colorado laws regarding immigrants:

To be decided by the voters:

• A group called Defend Colorado Now is trying to get an issue on the November ballot that would allow people to vote on whether to stop providing most government services to illegal immigrants.

Defend Colorado Now

www.DefendColoradoNow.org,303-984-5838

• A group called Keep Colorado Safe maintains that Defend Colorado Now's initiative is flawed. It argues illegal immigrants don't receive many services and the proposal won't stop the influx of people illegally crossing the border.

Keep Colorado Safe

www.keepcoloradosafe.com, 303-615-9725

To be decided by the legislature:

• Republicans and Democrats will offer various bills to deal with illegal immigration. The bills, to be offered after the session convenes on Wednesday, are likely to focus on enforcing existing laws and penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants.

bartels@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5327