The Facts are In: Colorado’s “Show Me Your Papers Law” Drains Economy, Threatens Civil Rights
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2012
ESPAÑOL: ~este anuncio estará disponible en español hoy en la tarde~
CONTACT:
Julien Ross, CIRC: 720-290-1125
Kathy White, Colorado Fiscal Institute, 720-252-9607
THE FACTS ARE IN: COLORADO’S “SHOW ME YOUR PAPERS LAW”
DRAINS ECONOMY, THREATENS CIVIL RIGHTS
Newly Launched Hotline Reveals Repeated Civil Rights Abuses; Study by Colorado Fiscal Institute Estimates Law Costs Local Law Enforcement $13 million to Implement
DENVER – SB 90, Colorado’s anti-immigrant “show me your papers” law has drained local budgets and strained relations between immigrant communities and local law enforcement, according to reports from fiscal analysts and advocates. The advocates, who are members of the Campaign to Unite Colorado, point to the cost findings as additional evidence that the policy, which many consider the ideological precursor to Arizona’s notorious anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, is fundamentally flawed.
“Today, we have the qualitative and quantitative data that shows SB 90 is bad for Colorado,” said Theresa Trujillo, Colorado Progressive Coalition/Board member of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “SB 90 has eroded overall trust between communities and law enforcement. The immigrant community sees local law enforcement as immigration enforcement, so there’s a chilling effect that impacts public safety; it leaves all communities less safe and less strong.”
The report, which used data collected by the state and a variety of other sources, found that the state spent $13 million per year to implement SB 90. These costs are primarily spent detaining immigrants who come to the attention of law enforcement after committing traffic or other minor offenses. Denver County alone spends $1.5 million per year to implement SB 90 – roughly the same amount allotted to the department’s domestic violence unit.
“The $13 million per year it costs the state of Colorado to enforce federal immigration law is more than it would cost to put an additional 200 police officers and sheriff’s deputies on the streets,” said report author Kathy White, deputy director, Colorado Fiscal Institute. “Our study found that detainees on an ICE hold stayed on average 22 days longer than all other detainees. At Denver’s daily jail cost of $54 per day, we found that it cost Denver taxpayers an additional $1.8 million over 2010-2011 to hold immigration detainees, most with low-level charges, like not having a driver’s license.”
Advocates began collecting data about SB 90, which has been on Colorado’s lawbooks since 2006, in September 2012, after realizing that this law’s effects were not documented. The Campaign launched a hotline to allow community members to report and document civil rights abuses under the law. Campaign organizers have also collected stories from individuals like Luis Antonio Medrano, a 19 year old who currently is applying for relief under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Luis was apprehended last month after being pulled over for speeding. His harrowing experience with SB 90 began after it came to the attention of the apprehending officer that Luis’s immigration status made him ineligible for a driver’s license.
“This situation changed me in a lot of ways. It changed my views on law enforcement because it made me feel the cops are biased when it comes to arresting people. This situation made me feel like I was a criminal for being who I am. And it changed my view of the government because I thought that we as man are equal and that we all had rights in America, but if you’re an outsider you don’t have any rights. The sheriff didn’t read me the Miranda rights. Justice was not blind in my situation as justice should be. I was guilty before I was innocent and it shouldn’t be that way; just because I’m an outsider doesn’t mean am guilty,” said Luis, a 19-year old DREAMer who was detained overnight due to a speeding ticket.
Luis spent 19 hours in a local detention facility before ultimately being charged with nothing more than a speeding ticket – an amount of time that would be considered unfathomable for U.S. citizens. These types of civil rights violations have been reported across the state, according to hotline coordinator and Colorado Immigrants’ Rights Coalition membership and campaigns director Brendan Greene.
“Since we launched the Hotline we have received hundreds of calls and teams throughout the state have documented more than 60 complaints from all corners of Colorado. In a short time, the patterns are apparent. A full 75% of the complaints have been cases of people being pulled over for minor traffic infractions, arrested and taken to jail for not having a valid driver’s license, and placed into deportation proceedings. Many have committed no other crime than driving without a license. 28% of callers have had problems posting bond or being denied the right to post bond. Additionally, a full 56% of callers have had holds placed on them despite being largely low-level offenders,” said Greene. “Our preliminary research is revealing what we anticipated, that laws such as SB-90 allow certain bad-actors to act as immigration agents by arresting people for low-level charges that could be released on summons, unfortunately at a heavy cost to our local communities.”
The Campaign to Unite Colorado seeks to raise awareness about laws and policies that threaten public safety by severing the tie between local law enforcement and immigrant communities. Only then, the group contends, will Colorado’s communities be able to restore mutual trust and dignity.
“What we are beginning to see in Colorado is similar to what we have seen in Alabama, Arizona, and other states we are litigating in: When law enforcement becomes the long arm of immigration law, everyone suffers. Community policing is undermined as immigrants are afraid of calling the police to report crimes. These laws are not good for public safety, are fiscally irresponsible, and have a severe human impact. Colorado’s communities deserve better from their legislature,” said Marielena Hincapié, executive director, National Immigration Law Center.
To read the report, please visit http://bit.ly/CFIsb90pdf
To listen to today’s press conference please visit: http://bit.ly/CUCSB90mp3
To learn more about the Campaign to Unite Colorado, visit www.coloradoimmigrant.org/unite
