The national immigration debate amplified by President Donald Trump colored the discussion Monday about a Colorado measure to require U.S. citizenship for law enforcement officers.
The Republican-led state Senate approved on an initial voice vote but Democratic lawmakers blasted the effort as “extreme” and “anti-immigrant.”
State Sen. Bob Gardner, the bill’s sponsor, disputed the suggestion, but the Colorado Springs Republican argued that law enforcement officers may face “conflicting allegiances” if they are not sworn U.S. citizens.
“Do we believe that our law enforcement officers, our peace officers, should be imbued either by birth or naturalization in the values of our country? Gardner asked. “… When they swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States, should there be no other conflicting oath?”
The measure revived tensions ripe after Trump’s disputed executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries and the administration’s push to build a wall on the Mexican border.
“This bill does not come before you in a vacuum. It comes before you at a time when the whole subject of immigration … is under intense scrutiny and intense debate,” said Sen. Daniel Kagan, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Great Britain.
“It may not be calculated to be anti-immigrant, and I’m sure itap not, but it certainly will be received as anti-immigrant,” the Democrat added.
The measure — — is a response to imposed on the Denver Sheriff Department by the U.S. Justice Department for requiring citizenship as an employment requirement.
Unless the state passes a law enshrining the requirement for employment, the justice department told Denver that it must consider applications from any work-authorized immigrant.
The Denver Sheriff Department did not ask Gardner to file the bill on its behalf, said Simon Crittle, a department spokesman. But the sheriff is watching to see what happens.
The bill sponsor could not identify how many law enforcement officers hold legal permanent residency or work authorization, but he emphasized that the measure allows a five-year grace period and additional extensions for officers who are seeking to become citizens. If not completed, the officer would lose certification.
, law enforcement agencies, including the Colorado State Patrol, have touted the ability to hire immigrants to fill less desirable jobs and reach out to certain communities.
In Denver, deputies fall under the Career Service Authority, the same agency hat hires parks and recreation employees, accountants and other city workers. That agency allows noncitizens to hold jobs, and the sheriff’s department must follow those rules.
However, the city’s police officers and firefighters already are required to be U.S. citizens, a provision included in the city’s charter and imposed as a rule by the Civil Service Commission, which oversees the hiring and firing of police and firefighters.
Earl Peterson, the Civil Service Commission executive director, said he opposed the bill because he believes that its language actually might allow Denver police to hire noncitizens until 2020 – the deadline for all officers to become U.S. citizens.
Police are so busy with their jobs and its training requirements that Peterson said it’s likely they wouldn’t find time to become U.S. citizens. Then the city might have to fire them, he said.
In addition, the police department’s background checks are so thorough that citizenship is the least of an applicant’s worries.
“Why are we even doing this?” Peterson said. “First, I don’t know how many people this is going to impact. Is it just political posturing or what?”
Other law enforcement organizations, such as the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, opposed the measure.
The Senate will take a final vote on the measure later this week, but it faces unlikely odds in the Democratic-controlled state House.