Editor’s Note: The following is a letter TMJ received in response to recent action on the state immigration bill SB25-047, pushed by Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell and El Paso County Sheriff Joseph Roybal. The bill was intended to repeal previous state legislation in order to better enable local law enforcement agencies to work with ICE (U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) to detain illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
Dear Editor:
It’s hard to put into words how I feel about the Colorado Senate’s vote to kill Senate Bill 25-047. So, I’ll try to put my thoughts here in order to organize them.
For background, I am a 22-year veteran of the United States Army. I’ve been working in the security field ever since. I also once ran a campaign to become County Commissioner but lost to a candidate who I’m glad to say has proven valuable to the county in which I reside. I am of ethnically mixed background and am the proud son of an immigrant Mother.
I am writing this editorial completely of my own volition and motivation, and it has nothing to do with any employment I’ve had, past or present.
I guess the biggest feeling I’m experiencing is to have my trust in humanity slip just that much more. The vote against SB25-047 had nothing to do with common sense in increasing anyone’s safety but had everything to do with partisan politics. The vote proved that, as it split exactly down party lines. The truth is that they put their politics above a clear, concise, and fair plan to enhance the safety of everyone served by county sheriffs.
Now, to be clear, the vote was to “postpone the bill indefinitely,” which sounds like a way to stop the bill without actually taking the responsibility for throwing it out. This looks to me like they won’t put themselves out there by clearly voting for or against what they know is right. It’s the coward’s way out. But being common practice among politicians, I’m unfortunately not surprised.
Despite the fact that four Sheriffs and a candidate running for Sheriff in his county spoke clearly about their current and anticipated practices in fairly treating illegal immigrants and identified horrible crimes including crimes against the elderly and the rape of infant children that may have been prevented had the abilities covered in SB25-047 been available to them, one Senator clearly spoke about his suspicion that the Sheriffs would abuse the legal standing returned to them by SB25-047. I’m disappointed to my soul that, after all of our hard work to end discrimination, one class of people are still openly discriminated against. The accepted color of that class of people is Blue.
Law Enforcement Officers are guilty until proven innocent.
Colorado is now rated as the third most dangerous state in the country. Four in every thousand people experience a violent crime, and three in every hundred have experienced a property crime. That means that, if you’re standing in a crowded room in Colorado, it’s likely that at least three of the people standing among you have had something terrible happen to them.
This is because people like Colorado Senators Ball, Sullivan, and Weissman, enjoying the rarified air of the Denver elite, are more concerned politically aligning with the side that still maligns those who have sworn to make it their life’s duty to protect those around them. Unfortunately, their political gamesmanship comes at the expense of the safety provided to those who really need it.
Notice that when I speak about criminals, I use the term “illegal aliens,” and when I speak about those who have not committed state and local crimes, I use the term “illegal immigrants.” This is because those criminals are aliens. They’re alien to me and you and even the people of their own ethnic group. They set themselves apart with the evil acts they perform – especially against other immigrants. I therefore consider them “aliens.”
The reason that coordination with Immigration and Customs Enforcement is so vital in dealing with criminal illegal aliens is that those criminals are not anchored to a community like a domestic criminal. They have no home. They have no family that provides a fixed point. They are free to cross out of a jurisdiction and into another. Without our ability to work with ICE and through them share data with the law enforcement of other jurisdictions, criminals are allowed to run amok without the enabling and employment of all tools in their pursuit. This creates a new class of people. The criminal illegal alien is now the prince of the country at the expense of those of us who are law abiding.
The truth is, in testifying against this bill and in “postponing the bill indefinitely,” these politicians and lobbyists achieve exactly the opposite effect they claim they want. Since the illegally immigrating criminal now has free reign over the people of Colorado, every immigrant will now be considered with that lens. Fair or not, that’s the truth.
And it breaks my heart.
As the son of an immigrant, and having faced my own discrimination, my heart is broken that people can be so self-serving that they refuse to see the bigger picture and act without care for the people whose lives their decisions directly influence.
My heart’s also broken over the loss to the People of the State of Colorado. I feel we were betrayed by our politicians in their pursuit of partisan standing. And I fear for what that means for the future of our once-great state.
For any other criminal, law enforcement can use any and all means at their disposal to include federal assets. But for criminal illegal aliens, that is not the case. In effect, the politicians who voted to sideline this bill put more trust in criminals than they do in law enforcement.
Tommy Allen
Teller County resident
