Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has told the state’s congressional delegation in a letter that he wants the state to be reimbursed for the cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants.
It cost Colorado approximately $39.8 million last fiscal year to house imprisoned illegal immigrants, according to an estimate from state Department of Corrections executive director Ari Zavaras, which Suthers quoted in his letter.
The state received about $3.3 million from the federal government to defray those costs, Suthers said.
“On behalf of the citizens of Colorado, I would ask you to make increased efforts to assist Colorado in meeting the immense financial burdens caused by inadequate enforcement of the federal immigration laws,” Suthers wrote in his letter, sent to the state’s two U.S. senators and seven U.S. representatives.
A state law passed during a 2006 special legislative session on immigration directs the attorney general to try to recover the costs of illegal immigration. Suthers said he takes that requirement seriously.
“I think it’s important to keep reminding them that there is a huge cost associated with this,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Littleton Republican known for his controversial fight against illegal immigration, responded by accusing Denver of being a “sanctuary city” where authorities ignore immigration law.
“I would find it difficult to go to my colleagues in the Congress to say, ‘Give us more money’ . . . when I know that Denver is a large part of the problem,” Tancredo said.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
