The lines have been drawn in what experts say could be the most politically divisive issue over the next year: whether Colorado should deny state services to undocumented immigrants.
Business licenses, flu shots, food stamps, library cards and other government services would be denied for undocumented immigrants if supporters of the proposed ballot initiative, filed Friday, get their way.
Opponents of the measure, who have organized as Keep Colorado Safe, greeted the news Monday of the filing for the 2006 ballot with a call to fight it.
The initiative was filed by Bill and Janice Herron, founders of Defend Colorado Now, a group opposed to illegal immigration. Bill Herron refused to discuss the initiative Monday.
The proposed constitutional amendment is identical to one filed last year by Bill Herron and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. The authors failed to raise funds to gather the 68,000 signatures required to get it on the ballot.
It was unclear Monday what funds Defend Colorado Now has raised this time.
California and Arizona have passed similar initiatives – Propositions 187 and 200, respectively – but neither is being enforced because of legal battles.
Some experts say the vote in Colorado could be a bellwether for such efforts. In 2002, an amendment restricting bilingual education was defeated here after Southwestern states passed it.
The proposed amendment requires proof of legal residency for all public services, except K-12 education and emergency services, which are federally mandated.
“The responsibility has fallen on us the people,” said Mike McGarry, spokesperson for the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, which supports the initiative.
Removing access to services, he said, leads to circumstances where undocumented immigrants leave or don’t come to Colorado at all, but Keep Colorado Safe and other opponents say the initiative would harm Coloradans.
“When you stop services to a population that is largely underground, you endanger your own well-being,” said Estevan Flores, director of the Latino/a Research and Policy Institute at CU-Denver. “You don’t want the people preparing your food or cleaning your houses to be sick because then we all get sick.”
It has been estimated that 11million to 12 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States. Last year, the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates against illegal immigration, said that households headed by undocumented immigrants used $26.3 billion in government services in 2002 and paid $16 billion in taxes.
One of the most challenging issues for both sides is the lack of statistics on illegal immigration in Colorado.
Keep Colorado Safe will conduct a poll to get a better idea of the contributions made by immigrants and the resources they use, said Manolo Gonzalez-Estay, campaign manager.
The proposal in Colorado is not surprising to experts who say these types of efforts are often spurred by an official focused on the issue, such as Tancredo. His office did not return calls Monday.
Economic stress also helps buoy the issue and gives proponents an opportunity to blame undocumented immigrants, said James Hollifield, director of the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
In studies done after Proposition 187 passed in California in 1994, Hollifield found that wealthier and more-educated voters opposed it, while whites who were less-educated and on the edge financially supported it.
And pushing initiatives like it is mostly to grab attention, Hollifield said, because immigration policy isn’t a state issue.
“Immigration policy is the purview of the U.S. Congress,” he said. “It’s Congress that has to do this, the rest is symbolic. The stuff going on in the states … it’s for the media. It’s political hay.”
Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at 303-820-1372 or at eaguilera@denverpost.com.
