By Laura C. Morel
Via Latino Reporter
For the thousands of immigrants residing in Colorado, Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 hits close to home.
Colorado and Arizona are neighboring states, about one-third of the state’s population has roots in Latin America, and there are similar immigration laws already in effect in Colorado.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 34 percent of Colorado residents in 2008 were of Hispanic origin.
Alan Kaplan, a spokesman for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC), a Denver-based immigration group, called the law a “travesty.”
The Arizona bill, signed April 23 by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, grants authorities the ability to stop motorists based on “reasonable suspicion” of being undocumented, triggering waves of concern over potential racial profiling by local authorities. The law was later amended to apply only to people stopped, detained or arrested by police and bars race from being used as a factor.
“It’s absurd, and obviously laws like that are not going to help anybody,” said Kaplan, who added that Colorado already has some laws that could potentially lead to racial profiling.
“Colorado is not the most welcoming,” he said. “[It] does not have the best track record.”
On April 29, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg banned employees from traveling to Arizona for school-related meetings, but student-related events are not affected by the boycott.
“We fear that this new law will encourage racial profiling and subject individuals to arbitrary stops and harassment based on their ethnic or racial status,” Boasberg said in a written statement posted on the school district’s website.
Kaplan couldn’t agree more.
“It’s a safety issue because they have Latino employees, and anyone can be profiled and arrested,” he said.
The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) and other Denver-based organizations such as Padres y Jóvenes Unidos have already responded to Arizona’s legislation. After the law passed, CIRC sent a delegation of about 12 members to protest in Arizona.
On June 15, CIRC members were among the nearly 300 protesters who marched to the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building to rally for comprehensive immigration reform.
CIRC members held signs that read “We are America: Comprehensive Immigration Reform NOW!” Other placards quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.” They also hoisted a 7-foot puppet with a cardboard face depicting Lady Liberty.
When they reached the federal building, some rally-goers sat on the street. When police ordered them to move, they refused. Fourteen protesters were arrested, including about five CIRC members. They have all been released.
Padres y Jóvenes Unidos, a group in Denver that focuses on students’ immigration rights, also sent about 25 members to the June 15 protest.
“After the Arizona law passed, the movement in general has gotten a little bit stronger,” said Monica Acosta, the group’s communications coordinator.
One week after Brewer signed SB1070, Padres y Jóvenes Unidos also organized a march of nearly 2,000 high school and college students to Colorado’s state Capitol building in downtown Denver.
Despite the protests, Colorado could soon see a similar law, Acosta said.
“I do think that could happen, but I think that we can organize to not let it happen,” she said.
However, there have already been precedents for such laws in Colorado.
In 2006, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 90, which requires local authorities to alert immigration officials anytime an inmate is suspected of being in the country illegally.
Additionally, two police agencies in Colorado participate in the federal 287(g) program, which calls for cooperation between local authorities and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
There are currently 71 law enforcement agencies involved in the program, including the Colorado State Patrol and El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, according to ICE’s website.
A person falls under suspicion if he or she doesn’t speak English, provides inconsistent information about his or her whereabouts or doesn’t have a driver’s license or vehicle insurance, said Lance Clem, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety.
But the Colorado State Patrol has policies against racial profiling, Clem said, adding that it makes sure officers are only stopping drivers for reasons related to the vehicle and driving behavior, not the person behind the steering wheel.
Leidy Robledo, a 19-year-old sophomore at Metropolitan State College of Denver, knows firsthand what changes the law has triggered in her hometown of Phoenix.
When she visited in May, Robledo noticed that fewer people were having barbecues outside.
“This is worse, and I’m afraid that a lot of people are moving, [but] a lot of people have reasons why they can’t move,” she said.
Some of Robledo’s family in Arizona have considered moving from the state, but they are tied down to house mortgages and stable jobs.
With the new immigration law set to take effect on July 28, Robledo decided that might be her final trip to Arizona.
“No matter what we do, it’s going to happen,” Robledo said. “That’s the feeling.”
