An opportunity to rebuild trust

Julie Gonzales (*)

Today, seven Democratic candidates are vying for the nomination to face off against Republican U.S. Senator Cory Gardner. One of those Democrats, Andrew Romanoff, casts himself as a progressive champion, but his prior votes on immigration have left many in the Latino community with doubts. In order to understand why so many Latinos continue to question Romanoff when it comes to immigration, it is critical to understand his leadership role back in 2006.

In December 2005, the US House of Representatives passed HR4437, which sought to criminalize the act of being undocumented and force police to act as ICE agents. Immediately afterwards, in January 2006, the emboldened local anti-immigrant group Defend Colorado Now announced their intention to put an initiative on the ballot that November, right in time for the midterm elections.

Both in Washington, DC, and right here in Colorado, Democrats ran scared on immigration policy. In Colorado, Democrats joined with Republicans to pass SB06-090, a bill that forced local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE agents, destroyed trust between immigrant communities and police, and led to the destruction of countless families across our state through deportation. Adding insult to injury, on May 1, 2006, while more than 75,000 immigrants and their allies wore white and marched through Denver and rallied outside the Capitol, inside the Capitol, Republican Governor Bill Owens signed SB90 into law.

In June 2006, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Defend Colorado Now’s ballot initiative language was unconstitutional. Furious, Governor Owens called the legislature back into a special session. Then-Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff was the lead sponsor of HB06s-1023, the bill that achieved Defend Colorado Now’s goal of denying public benefits to people who could not prove their immigration status.

What was the impact of agreeing to the special session and passing HB1023? Well, it was awful. By passing 1023, Colorado spent $2 million dollars on implementing the bill and Democrats bought into the false rhetoric of undocumented immigrants being a “drain on society.” However, the passage of HB1023 also helped build a climate of fear that existed for the immigrant community long before the Trump administration took office. Lawful permanent residents, and even US citizens who didn’t have all their documents in order were often denied services because they couldn’t comply with HB1023. Lastly, after HB1023, higher education institutions fully closed the door on Dreamers being able to access college at affordable rates.

2006 was a difficult time for the immigrant rights movement, but thankfully, we have been able to change things for the better. In 2013, Colorado repealed SB90, passed immigrant drivers licenses, and passed ASSET to allow Dreamers to pay in-state tuition for college. Because things have gotten better, some people have forgotten the history from 2006. Now in his third campaign for higher office, Andrew Romanoff asks community to trust him to be a champion on immigration reform. Should the immigrant community and their allies still hold politicians accountable for votes from over a decade ago that caused harm, fear, and distrust in the community, or should we just hope that they’ll make better decisions this time around? I believe that in order for Romanoff to rebuild trust, he must start by first acknowledging the harm he helped cause, and that starts by listening to the people who lost access to college, and the people whose families were ripped apart by deportation.

(*) Member of the Colorado Senate from the 34th district