Polis Denounces Decision to Bring Draconian Secure Communities Program to Colorado

Press Release

Continuing his push to bring real, meaningful reform to the nation's broken immigration system, Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) issued the following statement today criticizing Governor Bill Ritter's decision to allow Colorado to participate in the federal Secure Communities program, which uses fingerprints to check a person's immigration status during jail bookings.

"I am incredibly disappointed with Governor Ritter's decision to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and to bring the so-called Secure Communities program to Colorado. Immigrant, law enforcement and domestic violence advocacy groups throughout our state have repeatedly expressed their deep reservations about the potential impact of the Program and its ability to meet its stated goals.

Compared to the standard agreement used by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nationwide, Colorado's version will give the incompetent ICE agency even greater latitude than other states, while at the same time requiring a lesser degree of accountability. Under Ritter's agreement, Secure Communities will no longer have the explicit goal of removing serious criminals; instead, ICE will be given the authority to remove anyone with impunity in Colorado, regardless of their level of criminality or finality of conviction. This MOA will result in an increase in crime and tear apart the fabric of our communities. In order to truly fix our broken immigration system we must stop pursuing flawed enforcement-only approaches such as Secure Communities and pass comprehensive reform to meet the security and economic needs of our nation."

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