November 27, 2004
CAIR Information alert: article on Defend Colorado Now initiative
Folks: this article is well worth reading. It describes Defend Colorado
Now and the likelihood of a 2006 initiative.
Two sides to immigration issue
By KAREN VIGIL
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
11/24/04
http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1101285694/3
It's a philosophical split as deep as that registered by voters across the
nation on the course America should take for the next four years.
But this wide chasm is the subject of undocumented immigrants [illegal aliens].
While a major foundation is focusing on integrating immigrants statewide,
some Coloradans are endorsing a newly passed Arizona effort - Proposition
200 ( www.YesOnProp200.com ) - to prohibit illegal immigrants from
receiving most state and local government services.
The Colorado Trust noted that Colorado's immigrant population increased 160
percent in the past decade and now accounts for 8.6 percent of the state's
local population. It is funding a $6.4 million initiative to help
immigrants in Pueblo and nine other counties.
But that thinking does not resonate well with William Herron of Evergreen,
who is chairman of Defend Colorado Now ( www.DefendColoradoNow ), a group that wants to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving such state benefits
as Medicaid and in-state college tuition. Herron plans to track lawmakers
who support the proposal, and if the Legislature does not act, Herron
promises a proposal on the 2006 Colorado ballot.
Reacting to The Colorado Trust's effort, Herron said such efforts disturb
him when they use the word "community" to mean a "mixture of legal and
illegal" immigrants where lines are blurred and there's talk of providing
them with taxpayer-provided services.
Herron, a retired Hughes Aircraft Co. executive from the Los Angeles area
who moved to Evergreen in 1994, said he believes in assimilation.
"I believe that anyone that we bring into this country legally, we should
embrace. It's not to our benefit to do bad things to people that we bring
in legally. Illegally is an entirely different matter. It gets into the
area of "are we a nation of laws?'" That suddenly becomes very disturbing.
That means open borders in my mind. I've experienced that in California,
and that's not right and it will have to cease."
Herron said he became involved in the immigrant issue more than a year ago
when he was considering moving to Boulder. He was upset by how well
immigrants, some of whom he believed were in the United States illegally,
were accepted.
"I've attended a couple of meetings in which city officials, county
officials attended along with illegal aliens. They allowed the meeting to
end by having the illegal aliens finish off the meeting and use an
interpreter for the Spanish(-speaking) group that were there. I thought it
was a very interesting concept to make them feel they are a part of the
community if they are here illegally," Herron said.
He says Boulder is a "quasi-sanctuary city for illegal aliens."
Defend Colorado Now has a strong, impassioned following, according to
Herron, with an estimated 800 people on its e-mail list. Herron, some of
his close friends and two staffers are preparing to lobby legislators to
support the measure next year. He said legislators who don't will be
targeted to be voted out of office in 2006.
Herron said his group also will explore taking legal action against
foundations or any governmental or quasi-governmental group's participation
in assisting illegal immigrants.
He said his group is gearing up for possible major opposition from Patricia
Stryker, a medical equipment heiress who funded a 2002 campaign to defeat
an amendment that would have virtually el |
