Face The State Staff Report
Calling Denver a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, GOP state lawmakers have joined anti-immigration stalwart Congressman Tom Tancredo to request that Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, cut off state funding to the city. The Republicans charge that the Denver is not complying with a state law requiring law enforcement officials to hand over criminal arrestees alleged to be illegal aliens to federal authorities.
Renfroe, TancredoFTS Staff Photo
At a press conference on the west steps of the state Capitol Friday, Tancredo stood with state Sens. Ted Harvey, Dave Schultheis, and Scott Renfroe, as well as state Reps. Kevin Lundberg and Kent Lambert to demand Ritter direct the Department of Local Affairs to cut off its funding to Denver.
The coalition alleges that changes to state law made more than two years ago prohibit DOLA from administering funding to any city or local government that allows illegal aliens to live within their borders without sanctions. As a condition of receiving DOLA funds, municipalities are required to make annual reports to the non-partisan Legislative Council on how many referrals they have made to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Denver, the lawmakers said, is one of the worst offenders. “Denver’s attitude just seems to be ‘we’re Denver, we’re the 800-pound gorilla on this block and we make our own laws,’” said Tancredo. “The governor of the state should tell Denver to wake up and smell the voters’ outrage.”
In the letter to Ritter, they outline how Denver has violated the provisions of Senate Bill 90, legislation passed during a 2006 special session called by then Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican, to address concerns over illegal immigration. Harvey was a prime co-sponsor of the bill, which won the unanimous approval of both chambers of the legislature.
Tancredo, who recently ran for the GOP presidential nomination on the sole issue of immigration reform, had his congressional office look into allegations that Denver that was not complying with the law. He says the investigation found that data provided by Denver to Legislative Council shows that the city's law enforcement officials are not complying with the law.
In the city's 2007 report, officials said they made 2,088 referrals to ICE. Tancredo and his fellow Republicans, however, charge that those numbers are deceiving. They pointed to the fact that the Denver Sheriff’s Department, the entity that runs the city’s jails, made 1,979 of those referrals and only 109 were made by the Denver Police Department. The Republicans allege that since Denver police officers have far more contact than Sheriff's deputies with criminals on the streets, there should have been many more ICE referrals.
The lawmakers also claimed that too many of the contacts reported were simply “foreign born” and not illegally in the country, and that such contacts were reported as a way to bolster numbers, thus helping to ensure continued DOLA funding.
The mayor’s office responded by defending the accuracy of the figures and dismissing Tancredo's conclusions as polemics.
“Denver is in full compliance of Senate Bill 90," said Sue Cobb, communications director for Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. "The fact that Rep. Tancredo continues to repeat his assertions that Denver is a ‘sanctuary city’ does not make them true. Denver has no ordinances, policies or executive orders that establish sanctuary or prevent local law enforcement from communicating and cooperating with federal immigration officials."
Cobb also defended Denver by saying the responsibility to determine the immigration status of foreign born arrestees falls on ICE's shoulders.
"Information on those arrested who are foreign born is passed along daily to ICE to allow them to determine the immigration status of these individuals and decide how to proceed," she added.
Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said the governor’s office would look into any legitimate claim that Denver, or any other city or local government, is not complying with state law.
“If there is a legitimate issue about the compliance with Senate Bill 90 or other measures as they relate to immigration, we absolutely will take a look at them,” said Dreyer. “We would welcome an audit for any of these pieces of legislation if there are questions about whether or not they are being fully complied with.”
An audit of SB 90 has already been requested. Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, called for one earlier this week. He said he was compelled to make the request after learning about a known illegal immigrant who killed two women and a child when he drove his car through an ice cream store in Aurora last month. The audit committee is expected to vote on the request in December.