Colorado police agencies are not enforcing a 2006 law requiring them to report suspected illegal immigrants under arrest to federal authorities, according to the law's sponsor, who is vowing legislation to compel police to act.Republican state Sen. Ted Harvey sponsored a bill, now law, which was a forerunner to what Arizona did this year. Although not as far-reaching, Harvey did attempt to get Colorado law enforcement involved in immigration.
Signed by Republican Gov. Bill Owens, the law requires police agencies to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in cases where officers have reason to believe someone under arrest is in the country illegally. It left it up to ICE to decide whether to act.
Arizona went much further than that, making it a crime for immigrants not to carry their immigration papers and requiring authorities, while enforcing other laws, to check the status of people suspected of being in the country illegally. It also made it a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit work in public.
Harvey, of suburban Douglas County, said he hopes the scrutiny of U.S. immigration policy generated by Arizona will finally pressure Colorado agencies to enforce his law. Harvey is among a group of Colorado Republicans who have expressed interest in copying the Arizona law next year. – More -
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