GREELEY, Colo.—About 500 people attended a meeting on crimes by illegal immigrants and to support opening a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office here.
Tuesday’s forum, organized by Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, began with a slide show detailing crimes committed by illegal immigrants. Buck said he didn’t want to focus on race but on the victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
Resident Sandy Ross said she was severely injured after a car driven by an illegal immigrant with six previous drunk driving convictions slammed into her car in September 2005. Ross said she lost her home and job following the accident
“None of this would have happened if this person had been taken off the street,” Ross said in a videotaped message.
Census figures show that the number of immigrants living in Greeley has risen 60 percent since 2000. Whether to open an ICE office in Greeley has been a controversial issue since Buck began pushing for one in 2005. Some Latino groups fear it will lead to racial profiling.
Others at the meeting said focusing solely on crimes by illegal immigrants was wrong. Carmen Cisneros of Loveland said she sympathized with the crime victims highlighted at the meeting because she said she was raped by a man who is a U.S. citizen but never brought to justice.
“All illegals aren’t Hispanic and they aren’t the only ones doing crimes,” she said.
Buck has said he expects ICE to open a permanent headquarters in two months.
