Conservative Republican lawmakers are pursuing legislation that would make Colorado a less attractive destination for illegal immigrants and punish companies that hire undocumented workers, they said Wednesday at the Capitol.
Meanwhile, a like-minded citizens group intent on immigration reform will start collecting signatures in January for a November 2006 ballot question asking voters to require residency checks of all applicants for state services, its leader said.
The senators and representatives heard from immigration-policy experts and activists from around the country Wednesday at a Republican Study Committee of Colorado event.
The fledgling GOP caucus group, formed in the spring by some of the General Assembly’s most conservative legislators, includes three who recently toured the Mexican border.
Among the measures they are contemplating: a requirement that local police record the residency status and employers of people they arrest; a legal-workers-only condition for Colorado business licenses; a mandatory status check for all state hires; and a ban on state contracts for companies that don’t ensure that their workers are legal, they said.
The caucus group organized the event to kick off a debate many expect to be a major issue when the legislature convenes in January, said Rep. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs.
“We need to make sure as many legislators as possible can understand what the issues are,” he said. “Most of the politicians … do not grasp the significance of dealing with this issue or are being cowed.”
Invited speakers told the caucus group that illegal immigrants were bringing deadly diseases into the country, committing crimes and overwhelming government programs, the medical system and American culture itself.
They also may constitute the leading edge of an organized effort by Mexico to seize the Southwest, one speaker said.
“We have trivialized and removed the dignity of citizenship,” lawyer and immigration activist Madeleine Cosman said.
Though immigration policy is decided by the federal government, state governments can take action, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C.
With many Democratic and Republican leaders in Washington satisfied by a “post- American” vision that de-emphasizes borders, states should not sit idly by, he said.
“Make it as difficult as possible for illegal aliens who can’t demonstrate (legal residency) to live a normal life here,” he said.
Immigration lawyer Donna Lipinski, part of a group that is preparing to fight next fall’s expected ballot question, thought Wednesday’s event was “appalling,” she said during a break.
“If I were Hispanic and I were sitting in that audience, I would feel attacked,” she said. “I would feel like they’re trying to shame me.”
Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff said Democrats will explore the issue at a national conference in Denver next month.
“This is a challenge we ought to meet, and we intend to,” he said.
Staff writer Jim Hughes can be reached at 303-820-1244 or jhughes@denverpost.com.
