RAP in the News
Immigrant group collecting signatures for immigration reform
By BRANDON JOHANSSON
The Aurora Sentinel
AURORA | A local immigrant rights group is planning to visit area businesses this weekend, seeking the businesses’ support for comprehensive immigration reform.
The group, Rights for All People, said in a statement that its members will visit a range of business in Aurora on Saturday to ask businesses to sign cards urging Congress to pass immigration reform.
“The holiday season is a time to come together as a family, but millions of families in the United States are broken because our immigration system is broken,” the group said in a statement.
The cards, which say: “All I want for Christmas is just and humane immigration reform,” will be sent to politicians later this month.
As part of the campaign, the group also has a holiday party planned for Dec. 19 at Aurora Central High School that will feature a play that about the struggles immigrants face in Colorado.
The group also has a press conference planned for Dec. 22 during which they will present the cards to U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo.
América United Mural sends strong message
By Toni Fresquez
El Semanario
Published Wednesday, October 15, 2009
On Tuesday, as part of a series of similar events throughout the nation, Colorado residents gathered in front of the Aurora Municipal Building to call upon Congress to enact a just and humane immigration reform that keeps families together. The event drew local faith leaders, congressional staff, politicians, labor unions, immigrant rights organizations, and community members, who all support Rep. Luis Gutiérrez's (Ill-D) introduction on October 13th of immigration reform principles that demand a fix to a system that rips apart American families.
State Representative Morgan Carroll offered support and urged immigration reform, “We have a clear and unequivocal need for immigration reform – it is not working for anybody in any measure. We cannot afford to wait another day, another week, another year.” Residing in the United States since the age of seven, Yatzin, now a mother and activist with Rights for All People, explained her personal struggle and urged sensible action. “Our families are suffering because of the inaction of politicians to provide us with workable solutions that move us all forward together. We can't wait any longer. We need to join together and push forward the principles provided by Rep. Gutiérrez for real immigration reform,” stated Yatzin. “The moment is now,” she added. At the event, participants delivered a community mural with more than fifty comments created at the América United for Immigration Community forum held in district with more than 400 participants to Congressional staffers from Rep. Perlmutter's office. One mural comment reads, "My children are American citizens and I have had to tell them of the danger that their father is running and that there may be a time when their dad doesn't come home." Other community murals depicting the need for immigration reform for students, workers, and like values will be sent to Colorado Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet following the Tuesday event. “U.S. Congressman Luis Gutiérrez and his Congressional allies have laid out principles for a real and lasting solution to the broken immigration system. It is a solution that works for our families and for América. These principles uphold our shared ideals of protecting families and communities, and outline a realistic and fair way to restore control and order to our broken immigration system,” said Emily Parkey of Rights for All People. "We need the entire Colorado delegation to back these principles for our families.”
Sen. Bennet, rights group sound off on Immigration Reform
By ADAM GOLDSTEIN
The Aurora Sentinel
AURORA | Local and state representatives joined religious leaders, union representatives, workers and residents to address immigration reform during a community forum on Sept. 19 at the Queen of Peace Church in Aurora.
Saturday’s assembly saw input from a wide range of speakers, including U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who called for legislation “that’s smart, economically sound and family focused” in his address to the crowd, which filled the 800-plus-capacity church.
The forum included addresses from representatives from nonprofit organizations like Rights for All People and El Centro Humanitario. While they did not address the crowd, the event saw attendance by state Sens. Morgan Carroll and Suzanne Williams, state Reps. Karen Middleton and Su Ryden, as well Aurora City Council members Larry Beer, Bob FitzGerald, Molly Markert and Deborah Wallace.
Between emotional accounts from workers and residents that detailed harsh employment and living conditions for immigrants, speakers from local churches and workers’ rights advocacy groups stressed the need for a reform to the current immigration system in both Spanish and English.
Many speakers at the forum characterized the country’s current immigration structure as “broken.”
“In my interaction with the immigrant community in our parishes, I find that our current immigration policies are outdated and our immigration laws do not reflect the reality of peoples’ lives,” said the Rev. Marty Lally, pastor of the Queen of Peach Church. “The Catholic Church at every level, parish, diocese and nationally supports and encourages reform of our national immigration laws.”
In his speech, Bennet cited his support for the DREAM act, federal legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented students, as well as other federal laws designed to open access to workers seeking American citizenship.
“These bills will reward those who play by the rules, while helping farmers, small businesses and ultimately consumers,” Bennet said. “We need to connect people to opportunity in a way that’s fair to everyone. Those who work hard and play by the rules should have the chance to live the American dream. We all must fight for those values.”
In the Aurora Sentinel, June 23, 2009
By Brandon Johansson
AURORA| The Aurora police impound lot on a faraway stretch of East Colfax Avenue is a sea of flat tires, smashed windshields and mangled fenders.
Vehicles there sit in neat rows, having been towed to the lot in previous months or weeks for any number of reasons.
The tidy lines of smashed-up vehicles could swell in the coming months if voters approve a Jefferson County anti-immigration advocate’s proposal to force police to seize thousands of vehicles that would otherwise stay on the roads.
The plan, which is similar to a controversial measure approved by Denver voters last year, requires police to impound any vehicle being driven by an unlicensed driver. To get their cars back, the vehicle owners would have to get a valid license and pay a $2,500 bond, plus fines and impound fees.
Opponents of the measure, including advocates for illegal immigrants and area auto dealers, say it creates a host of unforeseen problems — including tying up officers with lengthy impound paperwork, filling the impound lot with cars worth less than the $2,500 bond and robbing police of any discretion at a traffic stop. And, opponents point out, the ordinance has been such a headache in Denver, police there are reluctant to enforce it.
But Dan Hayes, the Jefferson County real estate broker who pushed the Denver measure, said the initiative will help keep unlicensed drivers, particularly illegal immigrants, from getting behind the wheel. Those drivers can’t have vehicle insurance and are a danger to other motorists, he said.
“If someone is carrying a gun around illegally, they’d put them in jail,” he said. “More people are killed by cars than guns by a long shot.”
Hayes’ measure in Aurora does not specifically mention illegal immigrants, but Hayes and his supporters have said cracking down on illegal immigrants is one of their reasons for pushing the initiative.
Under Aurora’s current law, if a driver is pulled over and does not have a valid license, they are issued a summons and released but not allowed to drive away from the traffic stop. Officers are allowed to release the vehicle to the vehicle’s owner or have another licensed driver get behind the wheel and drive away. Or, if the officer sees fit, the car can be impounded.
Hayes’ proposal would require the officer have the vehicle towed if the driver doesn’t have a valid license. The officer would be barred from letting another driver with a valid license take the vehicle, even the vehicle’s owner.
To get the car back, vehicle owners would have to post the $2,500 bond, which they would lose if police catch another unlicensed driver behind its wheel within one year. If that happens, the $2,500 goes into the city’s coffers.
In Denver, officials have said there are only a handful of insurance companies willing to post the bonds and it usually costs the vehicle owner between $350 and $400 in collateral.
If the vehicle had been reported stolen or the driver can prove within 30 days of the traffic stop that they in fact had a valid license when the car was impounded, the city will release the vehicle without requiring a bond.
If the owner doesn’t post the bond within 30 days, the city can sell the vehicle at auction.
The Denver measure passed by a sizeable margin last year, despite opposition from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and most of the Denver City Council.
Between the first of the year and the end of April, Denver police had impounded 2,632 vehicles in connection with the ordinance, according to a statement from Mayor Hickenlooper’s office. Of those, 1,578 vehicle owners posted the $2,500 bond and other related fees to get their vehicles back.
That means about 40 percent of the vehicles impounded because of the ordinance have been left at the impound lot, compared to 25 percent of vehicles impounded in Denver for other reasons, according to the statement.
Hayes hopes to have the Aurora measure on the city’s ballot this fall. He is pushing the same measure in Lakewood and a measure in Denver that would force police there to enforce the ordinance.
Because he doesn’t live in Aurora, Hayes has enlisted the help of a few like-minded Aurora citizens to get the measure on the Aurora ballot.
Hayes is gathering signatures and city officials said he will need 6,000 to get the measure on this fall’s ballot.
Rights for All People, an Aurora community organizing group, is opposing the measure.
Sabrina Karim, Civic Engagement Organizer for RAP, said the ordinance is a bad idea and would ensnare many drivers, not just illegal immigrants.
“Its micromanaging the police department,” she said. “It’s also going to be a resource drain on the city ... It has major unintended consequences and I think it’s a bad policy for the city”
And, Karim said, immigration is a matter for the federal government and should be handled in Washington D.C., not on the local level.
“Immigration is a federal issue and it will be solved on the federal level,” she said. “There is no need for the states or the cities — especially not the cities — to be wasting their resources on something that’s a federal issue and will be solved at the federal level. Immigration is not the job of police officers.”
City Council’s Public and Intergovernmental Affairs committee was scheduled to discuss the measure at a meeting last week, but the meeting was postponed.
Aurora City Councilwoman Renie Peterson, who chairs that committee, called the measure a bad idea, but said if Hayes and his supporters gather the necessary signatures, there is little city council can do.
She said the proposal would take any discretion away from police.
“It doesn’t give our police any options,” she said. “The way that they’ve typed this up, the police won’t have any choice. They couldn’t just let another driver operate the vehicle. I think it’s poor legislation.”
But Hayes said taking away discretion from officers is precisely the point of the legislation.
The current law is too weak, he said, and allows unlicensed drivers to easily drive again, particularly those in the country illegally who can’t get a license because of their immigration status.
“It’s time since the state won’t do anything about it we do something on a local level,” he said.
Unlicensed drivers may be involved in other crimes and likely use their vehicles to commit those crimes, Hayes said.
“These people aren’t riding the bus to commit their crimes,” he said.
Hayes pointed to the infamous case of Francis Hernandez, who was arrested last fall after police say he caused a crash that killed three people in Aurora, including a toddler in an ice cream shop, and said it might have been avoided had police impounded Hernandez’s car before the crash. Hernandez’s case started a firestorm of debate when records showed he was in the country illegally and had been arrested numerous times before the crash, including for driving without a license, but was never deported.
“Every vehicle that he had, if he had been caught under this rule, would have been seized. I think that would throw a little kink in his style,” Hayes said. “My guess is he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t have a car.”
Hayes said that because of the $2,500 bond drivers must post to get their vehicle back, and because of any fines the drivers could face for driving with a suspended or revoked license, the ordinance will be a net gain financially for the city. But, Hayes said, he didn’t have estimates of how much the plan would cost Aurora in impound costs and the cost of losing patrol officers to impound a vehicle. He also didn’t have an estimate of how many vehicles the city can expect to impound or how much revenue would be generated.
If the measure cuts down on crime, it will eventually save money, he said.
“Anything that cuts down on crime is going to save the police department work,” he said.
Aurora police Chief Dan Oates said officials are studying the ordinance and how it could impact police.
“We’re concerned about how it will impact police operations and we are studying it,” he said.
In Denver, officials have not yet calculated a total “cost” for the measure, according to the statement from Hickenlooper’s office.
“However a significant number of hours have been spent by legal, law enforcement and court personnel deciphering the law and implementing the unusual bonding requirement,” according to the statement.
The exact number is difficult to determine because the bonds are not revenue for the city, instead they are held by a third party, typically an insurance company. In other impound fees, the ordinance has brought in about $205,000.
Auto dealers say they are often the people who get stuck posting the bond because the person who bought the vehicle still owes the dealer money for the car and can’t post the bond.
John Kroneberger, executive director of the Colorado Independent Automobile Dealers Association, said his group agrees that people shouldn’t drive without a license, but the bond required to free a car from impound has dramatically and unfairly impacted auto dealers.
“The dealer had absolutely no control over who drove that car once they left the lot,” he said. But because of the Denver ordinance, dealers are spending thousands to get vehicles out of impound, he said.
The DREAM Act is the path to equal education for all
In the Denver Post, Guest Editorial on April 30, 2009
By Yatzin Marquez
It was a great day for Colorado when SB 170 was introduced into the state legislature. It mobilized thousands of young people with hope that they could attend college here in their own home state, including myself.
When I found out about the bill, I jumped at the opportunity to get involved because I knew I was working for my future and the future of my son.
As an undocumented student, brought into this country at age 6, I grew up in the United States, and graduated from Rangeview High School. My goal was to go to college and get the career that I always wanted - to become a lawyer.
So, I walked door-to-door trying to get anybody to listen to tell them how important this was for me and for Colorado. I was able to collect hundreds of signatures, and every signature that I received gave me hope, and showed me how I was not the only one that cared about the bill.
Yet, the most hopeful and assuring thing was having the opportunity to tell my state representatives my story. This was the first time that I became involved in the political and democratic system.
My son gave me the strength that I never thought I had, to teach him that anything is possible. I wanted to give my son the opportunity to be proud of his mother for trying to better herself in life.
When I heard the bill did not pass, I was devastated, my hope disappeared. If I was not going to be able to get an education this year, then when? I don't want to wait until I'm 30 to attend my first year of college.
The past year has been a year filled with hope with the election of Barack Obama as president, and it was a year of hope for me and other undocumented students because of SB 170.
However, we were let down by some Democratic state senators who killed the bill. One in particular - Senator Morgan Carroll - had given her word to us that she would vote YES, but changed her mind at the last moment. It is not fair to play political games with our lives, or the life of my child.
There was a lot of misinformation surrounding SB 170. Every year, I pay taxes into the Colorado and the United States tax system, but I do not receive a single penny of this money.
SB 170 would have given me the opportunity to put more money into the system. After all, the bill had a positive fiscal note, and would have brought in much needed revenue into the state as more people would be paying tuition to go to school.
Now my hope is set on the DREAM Act, which has given me renewed faith to go to college. The DREAM Act would not only give me legal status in the United States, but also the ability to pay in-state tuition, so that I can actually afford to go to school and then eventually become a lawyer.
I hope that the state senators that voted no on SB 170 will call their national representatives, asking them to pass the DREAM Act. Most importantly, I hope that I will not be disappointed this time around.
In the Denver Post, Letter to the Editor on March 24, 2009
By Maggie Gomez
I am writing in support of tuition equity in Colorado. Allowing students who have graduated from a Colorado high school and have lived in the state for at least three years would provide an incredible opportunity for local families and Colorado’s economy. Making higher education more accessible is a great progressive economic strategy that has already been implemented in 10 other states throughout the country. Having more students with college degrees strengthens the economy and is a powerful way to begin to break the cycle of poverty.
Supporting tuition equity is a step forward for Colorado families and the local economy. Tuition equity is not a matter of generosity, but a viable way to make our universities more inclusive, diverse and well-rounded. States with a large percentage of college-educated residents have higher productivity and are more likely to attract high-growth industries including biomedical, software, and new energy economy companies.
Tuition equity would help generate a well-educated workforce allowing Colorado to be able to compete at the same level with other Western states, and ultimately give back to our state.
Educate the Workforce- the whole workforce
In the Denver Post, Letter to the Editor on March 1, 2009
By Miriam Sims
I am now retired from the business I owned for 20 years. As a longtime resident of Colorado, I have realized the importance of immigrants to our economy and the enhancement of our culture that diversity provides.
I strongly support Senate Bill 170, the tuition equity bill, because I believe that education is the key to the success of our residents and our state. The tuition equity bill would grant in-state tuition to all students in Colorado regardless of status if they have lived in Colorado for three years, graduated from a Colorado high school or earned a GED.
This bill is extremely important to our community. Under a federal law, we invest in K-12 education for all young people of our state, no matter their status. If we cut off the ability of talented students to pursue higher education, we are losing what they would ultimately give back to our community.
Our community receives many benefits from having a high level of education for our residents. Since, at this point, undocumented students have to pay out-of-state tuition, very few can go to college. And, because there is no hope of going to college, many drop out of high school. Giving all students the right to in-state tuition would provide a stronger and healthier youth population and lead to economic benefits from an educated workforce in the future.
Not a Community Response to a Community Problem
In Aurora Sentinel Opinion on January 18, 2009
By Sabrina Karim
In early September, Francis Hernandez crashed his car into an ice cream parlor, killing three people. Hernandez was an undocumented immigrant and this incident received enormous media attention, which ultimately led to Gov. Bill Ritter organizing a Task Force on Law Enforcement and Immigration. The outcome of this Task Force was released on Jan. 6.
We strongly agree that there is need to come together as a community to discuss the ways immigration and public safety inform each other. However, it is vital that all affected parties be a part of an open, transparent, and all-inclusive discussion of the key issue. The task force was useful, but the voice of the community, including immigrants, was largely left out of the discussion and the report.
Most troubling was the fact that the task force and report does not distinguish between people who commit crimes in violation of Colorado laws and law-abiding community members. The distinction is important; a person who is out of visa status is in violation of a civil infraction, not the criminal code. Many of the people who are here out of visa status are in every other way upstanding and contributing members of our community. This distinction is especially important to make given that crime rates among the immigrant community have proven to be lower than the native population. Penalizing those who have committed serious crimes is important, but to preserve trust and respect, law enforcement must not target the general immigrant population. When the police target immigrants, it causes more fear in the community and they are much less likely to report crimes.
Moreover, representation of the minority voice was largely inadequate. The minority opinions and objections were brushed aside and not thoroughly discussed in the meetings and were left to the appendix of the report. The process for public commentary was unclear; during the last meeting only one minute was left for public comments. There should have been an opportunity for public testimony to be included in the report. The purpose of a balanced debate is to ensure that recommendations reflect as fully as possible the complete scope of an issue.
Healthy community relationships are necessary to build trust, find common ground and work together. The task force overlooked options such as community training programs and measures to ensure that immigrants report crimes such as developing written policies stating when law enforcement will inquire about immigration status. We urge that when the Governor makes decisions regarding the lives of community members, he confer with immigrant families to better understand these community solutions so that he can work to make Colorado a safer place.
Sabrina Karim, Rights for All People, Denver
Re: “Immigration panel urges leverage for cops,” Jan. 7 Denver & The West.
In Denver Post Opinionon on January 9, 2009
By Sabrina Karim
While we agree that there is a need to come together as a community to discuss the ways immigration and public safety inform each other, it is vital that all affected parties be part of a discussion. The task force on immigration was useful in understanding a law enforcement point of view, but the voice of the community, including immigrants, was largely left out of the discussion and report. Most troubling was that the report does not distinguish between people who commit crimes and law-abiding community members. This distinction is especially important given that crime rates among the immigrant community are lower than the native population. In order to preserve trust and respect among the community, law enforcement must not target the general immigrant population. When they do, it causes more fear in the community and they are much less likely to report crimes. We urge Gov. Ritter to confer with community members in order to better understand these solutions.
Sabrina Karim, Rights for All People,Denver
This letter appeared in the Jan. 10th edition.
Dear Santa, I want Human Right
In El Semanario on December 25, 2008
By Ana Gutierrez
In the spirit of the holiday season, I have decided to begin my article with a Christmas wish list. Not necessarily just my own wish list, but one the immigrants of Colorado believe includes the only true Christmas necessities: justice, human rights, access to college, power, a voice, an end to police harassment, dignity, living without constant fear, respect, and an end to the raids that separate children from parents.
That was the message the Posada Sin Fronteras celebration, presented by Rights for All People/Derechos Para Todos (RAP), gave to their audience of easily 300 people last Saturday, at Mi Casa Resource Center for Women in West Denver.
“We are a community, we are a family, and we are trying to create a better way of life for everyone, especially for migrants, whether you are legal or not,” stated Lisa Duràn, RAP’s Executive Director.
Alma Mendoza, a RAP leader, said, “RAP’s goal is to bring rights and dignity to all people. We are trying to get police to treat the Latino community with respect, not talk down to us.”
RAP is an organization assisting immigrants with everything from education, to networking, to support, as well as fighting for immigrant rights.
The program helps immigrants feel safe. Not safe in the way that they will not get deported, but safe because they have people who care about them, people who teach them what their rights are, and people who fight for them everyday.
“This program helps immigrants, not just with paperwork but also on a personal level… I’ve learned a lot. I know my rights [and] I fight for my rights,” commented Eugenio Rodarte, a four-year member of RAP.
The organization presented a play revealing the plight of immigrants in the United States -- a girl who was separated from her parents after an immigration raid; a man who was stopped by the police without a valid reason and had his car impounded and ID confiscated by the police because he was undocumented; and a break-in that was not reported for fear the police would ask for immigration status.
The holiday production was meant to reflect the difficulties Joseph and Mary suffered as immigrants in Egypt searching for a birth place for their son, Jesus. The play ended with a revelation from the angel Gabriela to Josè, the man whose car was taken by the police, “be not afraid, hope will come soon.”
After his angel of hope visited, a RAP member knocked on Josè’s door and spoke with him, his wife Marìa, and his family about how RAP intends to address these problems, and especially, for 2009, ending the fear and distrust of police.
The storyline accurately reflected an action RAP recently organized in Aurora. RAP held a community meeting between the Aurora Police Department and more than 25 members of the immigrant community to discuss how to improve police and immigrant relations.
Immigrants told police they want the questioning of immigration status to cease. They also indicated they felt harassed by constant verbal abuses and threats of deportation and demanded this action end as well. Aurora Police Chief, Dan Oates, responded that perhaps this fear of police is due to a fear immigrants bring from their countries of origin and suggested that they become more involved in learning about police practice in the United States, according to RAP. He also stated he believed that asking for immigrant status, even if the person was a victim of a crime, was a necessary action. However, the Aurora police department did agree to learn more about how to deal with the immigrant community -- including to refrain asking about immigration status from a victim of a crime or someone who has committed a minor traffic violation -- as well as improving the system of police complaints so that community members feel safe to report police abuses; such as searching without a warrant and racial profiling. Many workshops were held for immigrants and police officers to continue to solve this problem.
Denver City Councilman Paul D. López, attended the Posada, as a longtime supporter of RAP. He felt the community needs to be “understanding [of] the challenges immigrants face in the United States,” as well as being compassionate, “because unless you are an Indigenous American, their history is ours.”
As the obra de Posada ended, Josè, Marìa, y su familia told everyone in the room that they believed that they could get everything they wanted on their human rights Christmas wish list with a strong “¡Si se puede!”
In Aurora Sentinel on November 25, 2008
By Brandon Johansson
AURORA | The volunteers with Rights for All People don’t seem to have trouble staying busy.
In the past year and a half, volunteers with the immigrants’ rights group have knocked on hundreds of doors, spoken with hundreds of local immigrants and even met with the city’s police chief.
And, the volunteers say, they have more work to do in their effort to inform members of the city’s Latino community about what rights they have and to mend what can be a strained relationship between immigrants and law enforcement.
“The reason why were working through this organization is because we want our children to grow up in a world where they can live without fear, and where things are equal,” Consuelo Vazquez, a volunteer with the organization, said through an interpreter.
Early this month, the group, which has been active in the area for more than a decade, opened an office in north Aurora near East 25th Avenue and Dayton Street.
There isn’t too much happening at the headquarters now as RAP gets settled into their new home in the Colorado Coalition of Faith building.
“We’re just getting started here in Aurora, so primarily we’re using this space right now for meetings and for planning,” said Emily Parkey, the group’s lead organizer in Aurora.
In the coming months, the group plans to have regular office hours so community members who have concerns — including reports of civil rights violations — can knock on the group’s door and get help, Parkey said.
RAP has been active in the metro area since at least 1999, working closely with the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition on efforts aimed at improving the lives of local immigrants.
Lee Ann Gott, an Aurora teacher and volunteer with the group, said that RAP has had members from Aurora for years, but the group always met in Denver, which made it difficult for Aurora members to be as active as they might have liked to be.
Because of connections the group made through the city’s Key Community Response Team and Human Relations Commission, they were able to rent the Aurora office from the Colorado Coalition of Faith, Parkey said.
One of the big projects the group has planned is working with the city to develop a written policy on when police will notify federal immigration authorities when they contact an illegal immigrant.
Alma Mendoza, a RAP volunteer, said having that kind of policy in place is important because it would mean illegal immigrants are more likely to report to police when they are a victim of crime.
“Often times people don’t report crimes,” she said through an interpreter. “This is a problem that affects the entire community, including Anglos because when people don’t report crimes, the whole community is effected when the crime rate rises.”
The group met with Police Chief Dan Oates earlier this year and met with other members of the police department to discuss issues important to the immigrant community.
The meetings were similar to a series of forums held last year that brought police and members of the black community together, Parkey said.
Those forums didn’t include many members of the Spanish-speaking community, and members of RAP say they hope by meeting with police now, they can accomplish some of the things last year’s forums did, including laying out plans to improve communication between police and the community and recruiting a more-diverse police force.
“We’re trying to compliment those efforts,” Parkey said.
