Local News

by Alan Gionet
  On Sunday, July 16, CBS4 launched a new franchise called Tough Question. It's an opportunity for reporter Alan Gionet to drill past the basic facts of a story and give it some depth and perspective. Gionet started the series with seven parts on immigration.

DENVER (CBS) - Immigration has become a hot button issue for the nation throughout the last year. The debate has spurred mass rallies in the streets, sparked tough talk at the national level, and a special session in Colorado.

As the debate heats up, CBS4 is asking the tough question "Why Now? Illegal immigration has been a problem in this country for decades, why has it become such a hot button issue right now?"

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Juan is the proud father of 8-day-old Arturo. He and 4-year-old Erica make up the family that Juan and his wife Maria have always dreamed of. In Spanish Juan says, "Our dream is to own a house for our children and to be able to afford paying for their college. And to own our own business."

Like any father, Juan wants the best for his family. It's one of the reasons he came to this country from Mexico 5 years ago.

Juan works in construction, making three times what he would in Mexico, and he had no problem finding work.

"No, it's not hard," he told CBS4 in Spanish. "There is a lot of work here."

Maria works too, managing apartments. They both told CBS4 they pay taxes but they get services too. Arturo's birth was paid for by Medicaid. Erica is in a Head Start program for school.

In the last 6 months, Juan and his family have found themselves at the heart of a heated national debate that has driven people into the streets. Juan says that it worries him. He doesn't want to lose the dream he's found.

"There is a fear in the community because if immigration takes the people and sends them back," Juan said in Spanish. "They fear that all their hopes and dreams will be crushed."

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While it's hard to argue that America is a land of immigrants, those pushing the debate say things have changed.

"Certainly there was a cost to immigration as well when the Irish came, and the Italians came and the Poles came" Alan Gionet asked former Colorado Gov. Dick Lamm, who has become an activist in Colorado's immigration debate. "That cost our government and our society too, didn't it? What's different?"

Lamm, who has supported tough restrictions on illegal immigrants, responded: "(That's) a very important point. It's because we have a welfare state. Immigration into a welfare state is vastly different. There was no safety net. That was a sink or swim society back in those days."

In Colorado and in Washington, politicians are trying to show just where they stand. They are laying clear lines between the political parties as the fall's elections close in.

Each side is setting up its arguments.

"Why is this debate so big now?" Gionet asked Gov. Bill Owens, who called for a special session of the Colorado General Assembly in order to craft new legislation on immigration.

"The reason why it's larger today than it used to be is because we have more people in Colorado than we used to have who are here illegally," Owens responded. "I'm certain that when I was elected governor 8 years ago that if the problem was X then, it's two or three Xs now."

But immigrants have been here. They're hired for many jobs that employers say a lot of Americans are reluctant to do.

"I'm still trying to figure out ... why now?" Gionet asked Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. "This system has been happening for decades, why?"

"It seems to me that nobody is satisfied with the status quo," Romanoff responded. "Nobody likes what we're doing now. Washington isn't doing anything to fix it and very few people are content to wait for Washington to act."

There is definitely election year politics afoot in our current immigration debate, but most lawmakers feel like it's an issue that needs to be addressed with enforcement and reform. They hope that the current debate will lead to action.

In Colorado, the legislature just passed new laws that will cut state services to illegal immigrants and requires employers to verify their workers' documentation. On the national level, lawmakers have yet to settle on major differences in legislation between the House of Representatives and the Senate.

New Laws From The Special Session

• The Colorado General Assembly Web site provides the full description of House bill 1023 (Restrictions On Defined Public - public services) that takes affect Aug. 1.
  
• The Colorado General Assembly Web site provides the full description of House bill 1017 (Employer Fines Fraudulent Documents - Employers must verify legal status) that takes affect Jan. 1, 2007.
  

Additional Resources

• The Rocky Mountain News featured an article that outlined Colorado's newly approved legislation.
  
• The Washington Post features a special section of their Web site about the immigration debate.
  

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