Read the entire article at the Colorado Independent:  Federal court delivers another blow to Arizona immigration law.

Our Colorado state legislature is currently considering SB 126, the Colorado ASSET bill, legislation that would permit undocumented students to pay unsubsidized in-state tuition in Colorado (i.e., students would not qualify for Colorado Opportunity Funds).  According to Colorado State Legislative Council Staff, there will be no cost to the state for SB 126 as undocumented students would not be eligible for Colorado Opportunity Funds.  In fact, the fiscal note assumes that SB 126 will generate between $215,625 and $431,250 in revenue for our universities and colleges.  SB 126 will play a critical role in the economic recovery of this state by creating a more educated workforce.  We have invested in these kids’ K-12 education and now we must realize that investment. Colorado has the second highest percentage of college graduates in the nation, but ranks 32nd in sending our own high school graduates to college. Failing to educate our students has implications not just for education, but for our economy.  Eleven states have policies in place that provide access to higher education for undocumented youth by permitting them to pay in-state tuition.

This legislative session, Colorado is one of two states in the nation considering in-state tuition legislation in a climate that is very much anti-immigrant. There is a lot of momentum in Colorado right now to get SB 126 passed– young people are organizing in amazing ways all around the state including at our own local university. During the last few months a University of Colorado at Boulder student group, Eye Resist, has organized to educate our campus and local community about Colorado ASSET and if you did not see the press on their event last week here is one link.

Eye Resist is now working to persuade the entire board of regents to support SB 126.  This is a bold move–one that needs support from across our community. This is a call to action asking members of our community to write letters to four of the regents –either as an individual or from your business, school/college, department, student group, or research center—in support of SB 126.

Please take the time to send four letters out to our CU regents by next Monday the 21st of February.  If you have any questions about SB 126 or need help crafting your letter, please do not hesitate to contact the Higher Education Access Alliance.

Mr. Tilman “Tillie” Bishop
2255 Piazza Way
Grand Junction, CO 81506
Blackberry: 970-210-3820 (fax: 970-243-9676)
E-mail:  Tillie.Bishop@cu.edu

Mr. Steve Bosley
4370 Nelson Dr
Broomfield, CO 80023
Cell: 303-817-1583 (fax 303-997-6664)
E-mail: Steve.Bosley@cu.edu

Mr. Kyle Hybl, Chair
P.O. Box 60754
Colorado Springs, CO 80960
Blackberry: 719-322-6226 (fax: 719- 471-6273)
E-mail:  Kyle.Hybl@cu.edu

Ms. Sue Sharkey
c/o Office of the Board of Regents
1800 Grant St., Suite 800
Denver, CO 80203
Cell: 970-673-2517
E-mail:  Sue.Sharkey@cu.edu

Over 100 CU students braved the fierce cold on Wednesday to show support for SB 126, which would grant undocumented Colorado students access to higher education through in-state tuition.

Last week, Rep. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo, and Sen. Michael Johnston, D-Denver, introduced a bill that would allow undocumented students who graduated from high school in Colorado access to in-state tuition.

Proponents of the bill argue that in addition to the human rights benefits, the bill would offer the state many economic benefits as well. The bill sponsors estimate it will allow 900 students to attend state schools and bring in an additional $1.75 million to $4.2 million a year to Colorado higher-education institutions.

Read the entire article at the Colorado Independent: CU Students rally to support ASSET bill to provide in-state tuition for undocumented students

Colorado State Senator-elect Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, told The Colorado Independent Monday that he will introduce legislation early in the next session that would be nearly a carbon copy of Arizona’s SB 1070.

“We will introduce a series of bills that have to do with illegal immigration. We plan to run a 1070-type bill,” he said, adding that the legislation will be ready to go right away when the session opens.

Lambert said he is not concerned about litigation. “We are very confident that the Supreme Court will uphold the Arizona law as it was written.

“The issue is not to try and write a bill in such a way that you can avoid litigation. It will be litigated one way or the other,” Lambert said. “Groups that oppose measures like this will litigate no matter how you write it.”

He said that polls show that a majority of Americans support legislation like Arizona’s. “I don’t care if it is litigated,” he said. “It is clearly something the people want. The will of the people has been ignored by Democrats for too long.”

Read the entire article in the Colorado Independent:  Lambert to introduce Arizona-style immigration legislation for Colorado

BOULDER – We’ve heard it a million times before, students these days just don’t care. But that’s a misconception according to 80 University of Colorado students who packed into a meeting on Wednesday, determined to start a full-blown immigrants’ rights movement on campus in the coming months and put pressure on the CU administration.

“The energy is here now and we are moving forward,” said student Kyle Huelsman. “We need to come together and start a dialogue and make the changes we want to see on our campus.”

Read the entire article at the Colorado Independent: CU students demand in-state tuition for undocumented Colorado residents

Eighty-one percent of Latino voters in Colorado voted for Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet. Split the Latino vote down the middle between Bennet and Republican Ken Buck and Buck wins easily. Even if Buck had only received 30 percent of the Latino vote, he would have won the election.

As it was, Buck barely out-polled gubernatorial candidate and anti-immigration hardliner Tom Tancredo among Hispanics.

Read the entire article at the Colorado Independent:  Numbers show Hispanic voters carried the day for Colorado Democrats

The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them. According to Corrections Corporation of America reports reviewed by NPR, executives believe immigrant detention is their next big market.

Read the entire article at NPR: Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law.

At least five Boulder City Council members agreed to ask Boulder city staff and police to report on the impact of a proposed program of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) on local law enforcement and safety in the community. The ICE program, dubbed “Secure Communities,” was initiated by the Bush Administration in 2008.

The ICE program is controversial, and police departments in cities as diverse as Alexandria, VA, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Washington, DC have expressed serious reservations about the program’s impact in their communities. A New York Times editorial of August 17 called on the Obama administration to jettison the program, or substantially reform it.

Colorado’s immigration law is already one of the toughest in the nation, requiring local police to send ICE the fingerprints of anyone about whom there is a reasonable suspicion that they are in the country illegally.

The Council discussion about the ICE program at Tuesday’s meeting consumed a small portion of the Council’s attention, and came after extensive discussion of the main issues for consideration: mainly, the City’s revised snow and ice enforcement program and the Clean Energy Future program.

The Council was reluctant to get into a debate about immigration. The timing of the report requested of the staff coincides with the Council’s normally scheduled consideration of the annual legislative agenda that will be subject of a study session on November 9. The legislative agenda contains the City’s priorities for state and federal laws that have an important impact on the City, including a wide range of topics from funding for transportation, education, human services and the federal labs to land use and tax policy.

The opening sentence of Camera reporter Heath Urie’s article on the issue proclaims that the City “will take a stand on a controversial federal program that uses fingerprints to identify illegal immigrants.” In fact, the Council expressed reluctance about wading into this area, but felt that more information from local law enforcement was needed about the ICE program.

Maria, 22, left Zacatecas, Mexico, at the age of twelve to join her mother who had been working in the United States for four years.

“It wasn’t the country that I was looking forward to. I mean I just wanted to go to my mom, even if it meant leaving all my friends behind,” said Maria.

Upon arrival in Boulder, Maria enrolled at Baseline Middle School and almost immediately began working along side her mother and sister at a small catering business, mostly to spend time outside her overcrowded apartment, which housed 14 people.

Read the entire article in the Colorado Independent:  Undocumented Colorado youth feel trapped, call for change