About Immigration

This page contains an archive of the last 100 entries posted to ProgressNow.org Daily News Digest in the Immigration category. They are listed from newest to oldest. You can find older entries using the search box below.

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Immigration Archives

February 29, 2008

Swift raids turn screen saga - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_8399944...
Immigration enforcement raids at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley in 2006 turned out to have a silver lining for a Denver video documentary company. While the raids caused havoc for hundreds of workers and disrupted company operations, they helped establish a platform for nonprofit filmmaker Little Voice to address the controversy over immigration policies. "Our goal is to create a dialogue," said Julie Speer Hunniford, executive director and founder of Little Voice. "We want to shed some light on the economic, social, political and human aspects of immigration." The film, "Swift Justice," is expected to be finished this summer and rolled out in time for the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. It will have footage from the raids and interviews with workers, politicians and analysts. Denver-based Local 7 of the United Food and Commercial Workers is underwriting the $200,000 production to the tune of $20,000. The union represents workers at the Swift plant.
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February 28, 2008

News : Olathe board supports dorm issue (Montrose, CO)

http://montrosepress.com/articles/2008/02/28/news/doc47c63da72d292070884095.txt...
The Olathe Board of Trustees approved at a special meeting Wednesday a resolution supporting federal action to allow foreign workers on visas to stay at the Olathe farm dormitory. The board decided against approving a version of the resolution prepared by town attorney Mindi Conerly Piggot after discovering numerous errors. She was not present Wednesday. “A variety of institutions have approved it without an attorney’s opinion. Personally, no hard feelings guys, when you get your bill, you can say it’s wasted money,” Tuxedo Corn Company owner John Harold said.
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February 26, 2008

Metro: | immigration, illegal, bills : Gazette.com

http://www.gazette.com/articles/immigration_33546___article.html/illegal_bills.h...
Sen. Dave Schultheis tried again this session to require businesses in Colorado to verify the immigration status of new employees, and, for a third straight year, Schultheis watched his bill die in committee. For the first time, however, the Colorado Springs Republican did get a watered-down measure through that requires the Department of Labor and Employment to inform business owners of the existence of a federal employee verification program without requiring that they use it. After debate, this bill got preliminary approval from the Senate on Monday. The success of SB39 demonstrates two factors about immigration legislation this year. First, there appears to be no appetite for major change or new laws. And second, if a legislator is going to propose change, it better be incremental and virtually cost-free.
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News : No more sweet corn? (Montrose, CO)

http://montrosepress.com/articles/2008/02/26/news/doc47c0f06d405de073314197.txt...
The supply of nationally distributed Olathe sweet corn could fall this year as farmers confront bureaucratic blockages of their labor force.
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News : Sweet corn ‘nightmare’ (Montrose, CO)

http://montrosepress.com/articles/2008/02/26/news/doc47c39e199c98c068906908.txt...
Olathe Town Hall was near capacity Monday night as local and county leaders converged with farmers to discuss of the fate of the Olathe farm dormitory and sweet corn. “It has taken more hours than I can tell you to keep up with this bureaucratic nightmare, so anything you can do we appreciate — I know we’ll be fighting over those beds if we do get it to happen because there’s still more workers than the beds can facilitate,” said Olathe Corn Company owner Nancy Fishering. Olathe’s three major sweet corn farmers support a resolution presented to the town’s board Monday to allow seasonal workers on visas from foreign countries to stay at the taxpayer-funded dormitory north of town. Presently, only permanent residents may use the 72-bed facility. The dorm has been mostly vacant the past three years as farmers complain that only foreign laborers are willing to work the sweet corn harvest.
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February 25, 2008

Colorado may hire Mexican farm workers - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_8336640...
Each year, when many people are finishing up their Christmas lists, Colorado rancher Angela Ryden starts wading through red tape so she can get two legal guest workers from Mexico to help her during calving season in March. That's the plan. Last year, even with the help of an employment agency, the two workers from Michoacan arrived a month late because of a paperwork problem. By then, half of Ryden's calves had been born and three had died at her New Castle ranch on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. "It's something every year and it seems like they change the rules all the time," Ryden said of the federal H2-A visa program for farm workers.
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Greeley ICE office could open by end of year | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080225/NEWS/864165552...
The federal government has been scouting locations for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Greeley, and officials expect the field facility to open by the end of the year. Representatives with the General Services Administration, working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, have scouted at least five properties in Greeley, said Carl Rusnok, ICE regional spokesman. "They were determined to be operationally unsuitable due to their age and present condition," Rusnok said in an e-mail to the Tribune. "ICE will continue to work with these agencies to establish an ICE office at the earliest opportunity." Sean Conway, Greeley-based chief of staff for Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said he met with the GSA's deputy regional director in Greeley earlier this month. The department is handling requests for proposals on the office's location. The GSA, he said, is "on track to hopefully having something open by the end of the year. I think that's their goal."
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Cuban-born Greeleyite doubts reform | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080225/NEWS/694752393...
Mailyn Salabarria just spent more than two hours talking with family and friends during dinner about the Cuban elections. And she still doesn't consider it news. "This is a lot of news about no news," said Salabarria, who was born and "brainwashed" in Cuba but left in 2001. "The elections are just another theater. They just put it out there for public opinion." Salabarria said all the talk about a new Cuba was all bunk.
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February 22, 2008

Farm bill would make Colorado help employers find migrant workers | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080222/NEWS/494668827...
A bill in the Colorado Legislature would make it easier for farmers in Colorado to get foreign seasonal workers by expediting a visa program and allowing the state to handle applications for employers needing workers, sponsors say. Lawmakers, including sponsor Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, say the measure -- House Bill 1325 -- would speed up the process of applying for the federal H-2A visas for the workers that farmers across Colorado desperately need help getting. Opponents of the bill say it doesn't adequately protect workers and that the bill would add a level of bureaucracy at the state level for what is essentially a federal problem. The visas allow migrant workers to work in the United States for up to 10 months before having to reapply, but under U.S. law, employers must attempt to recruit U.S. workers before they can apply for the visas. The federal government gives out about 35,000 such visas to foreign workers every year. Colorado's bill would establish a government program to expedite recruitment, the application process and approval of workers by requiring Colorado to handle the process instead of employers.
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The Steamboat Pilot & Today: Seminar focuses on fake documents

http://steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/feb/22/seminar_focuses_fake_documents/...
Advice on how employers can better spot fake documents is the topic of a roundtable discussion at Centennial Hall on Tuesday. David Smith of Immigration and Customs Enforcement will lead the discussion, which is sponsored by the local Colorado Workforce Center and the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association and is scheduled for 9 to 11 a.m. Jackie Mitchell, an employment specialist at the workforce center, said the center likes to hold four employer workshops a year. This is the second one in a row dealing with foreign labor, underscoring concerns resulting from an increase of undocumented workers in Colorado.
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February 20, 2008

Glenwood Springs Post Independent - ICE workshop aims to educate employers

http://www.postindependent.com/article/20080220/VALLEYNEWS/411731378...
Employers can do more to combat illegal immigration than federal and local governments combined, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Tuesday. A free workshop Tuesday for employers on how to spot fraudulent documents highlighted that message. The four-hour presentation, hosted by the Colorado Workforce Center, reviewed details of different documents and their security feature. Steve Turza, an ICE official, said ICE and the workforce center have held the workshops for about six years “because it works. It stops illegal immigration. It even fights terrorism.” He estimated at least 300 to 400 fraudulent documents seized from the area make it to ICE officials each year. “We have a large illegal immigrant population here and they use fake documents,” he said.
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Springs lawmaker calls for 'pledge' withdrawal | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080220/NEWS/297604781...
A Colorado Springs lawmaker has called on church leaders to withdraw their "pledge of respect" request on immigration issues, dubbing it "phony," but a director with the Colorado Catholic Conference said she has no such plans. Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, issued a statement Monday saying "the purpose of this so-called pledge is to create a stigma on legislators who attempt to convey the truth about the major problems being created as a result of the invasion of those entering this country illegally." The pledge, asking for a respectful tone of discussion on immigration issues, in effect sanctions "the presence of those who break federal law by crossing our borders illegally and taking jobs away from Americans." In a phone interview with the Tribune, Schultheis added that the pledge request amounts to an attempt to curb debate. "Anything they can do to tell those of us that are opposing (the pledge) to tone it down is basically trying to stifle free speech." Doing it under the banner of religious motivation, he said, is "very disingenuous." Further, he said, Democratic lawmakers are deliberately shunting illegal immigration issues in favor of health care, transportation and education this year, "at a considerable cost to the taxpayers."
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Alleged smuggler in Eagle deported 14 times - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_8304924...
A man arrested Monday on Interstate 70 while allegedly transporting illegal immigrants has been deported 14 times, Eagle County authorities said today. The man was identified as Israel Robles-Gaytan, 22, who gave the name of Omar Alaverez-Mecedo when an Eagle County sheriff's deputy stopped a van at 8:21 a.m. Monday in Eagle County. Shannon Cordingly, spokesperson for the sheriff's department, said that Robles-Gaytan and another van occupant, Silvestre Bermudez, were in the United States illegally. Under questioning, Robles-Gaytan admitted only to being previously deported three times, Cordingly said. Each time he's been arrested, he has given a different name, she added.
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The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Cuban-Americans uncertain over island's direction

http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1203526028/1...
They came to Pueblo in the early 1960s, Cuban children who were refugees from Fidel Castro's new communist regime. Today, they are Americans who have watched their island home for more than 40 years, hoping for signs of change. "I'm hopeful that this could be the start of something good," Jose Grille, of Pueblo West, said Tuesday in reaction to the news that Castro was stepping down as president of Cuba. "I hope our country, the United States, now does something to show the Cuban people that we care about them, like dropping the embargo on trade." Grille came to Pueblo in 1962, when he was 10. He did not see his parents for another six years. His father had been a very successful businessman in Havana and the Castro regime took everything away from the family.
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Some hope U.S. will normalize relations : Local News : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/20/some-hope-us-will-normalize-re...
Coloradans with Cuba connections hope relations with the island country will thaw and hard-line stances will totter now that Fidel Castro has announced his resignation. He was charismatic, strong- armed and brutal, with an iron hold on his people, their freedoms and their tottering economy, they say. Denver Deputy Mayor Bill Vidal, who was born in Cuba and came to America with his siblings when he was 10, said Castro's resignation "was long overdue." He sees the transition in power as an opportunity for the United States to reach out to Cuba and help its suffering people.
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Feelings run strong among families who fled Castro's rule - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_8308702...
Maria Garcia Berry woke very early Tuesday morning to find she already had a predawn e-mail from her daughter: Fidel Castro was out. Berry, 54, had fled Castro's Cuba as a child and relocated with her family in Westminster. She heads CRL Associates, a political consulting firm. "All my life this man has been omnipresent to me," said Berry, who was about to call her own mother. "I don't think he's out. He's still making the decisions. The day he dies, I will feel the way I did when the Berlin Wall came down." All Tuesday the lines between Cuban-Americans, their families and their friends were humming.
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One local resident skeptical of change after announcement of Castro's resignation | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080220/NEWS/816324566...
A former resident of Cuba, Capt. Juan Cruz of the Greeley Police Department is well aware of the influence former president Fidel Castro has commanded in his home country. Yet, Cruz admits that in his eyes, news of Castro's plans to resign from his post are not as striking as one may think. "As long as Fidel is alive or the perception is that he is still alive, the ideological philosophy on the island is not really going to change a lot," Cruz said. "So, you know, there may be some minor changes, but it's going to be a while." Though perhaps signaling the end of a decades-long dictatorship, Cruz is hesitant to read too much into a possible change in the political landscape of Cuba after Castro's announcement on Tuesday that he will step down as Cuba's leader. Cruz left Cuba in 1961 and arrived in Florida in 1962, one day before the Cuban Missile Crisis, considered the closest the world ever came to nuclear war.
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February 19, 2008

Alleged human smuggler arrested in Eagle County - The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_8300523...
A Monday morning traffic stopped yield a van carrying 12 illegal immigrants and a human smuggler who has been deported 14 times, the Vail Daily reported Monday night. And Eagle County Sheriff's Office deputy stopped the van on Interstate 70 in Wolcott. The Sheriff's office said Israel Robles-Gaytan, 22, was taking illegal immigrants to Denver, Iowa and Georgia, according to the newspaper.
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Glenwood Springs Post Independent - 13 illegal immigrants detained near Wolcott

http://www.postindependent.com/article/20080219/VALLEYNEWS/630972603...
A van with 13 illegal immigrants was pulled over Monday morning, leading to the arrest of a smuggler who had been deported from the United States 14 times, the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office said. A sheriff’s deputy stopped a silver Chevrolet van headed east on Interstate 70 about 8:20 a.m. because the name of the state on the license plate was covered by a plastic border, the Sheriff’s Office said. Israel Robles-Gaytan, 22, was taking 12 illegal immigrants — several of whom may have been from Mexico — to Denver, Iowa and Georgia, the Sheriff’s Office said.
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February 18, 2008

Religious groups ask lawmakers for 'respect' on immigration | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080216/NEWS/876650958...
While Colorado religious groups have asked legislators to sign a "pledge of respect" on immigration issues, lawmakers say the debate is taking a backseat to health care, transportation and education this session. Nonetheless, several lawmakers contacted about the letter said they generally support the pledge. The letter, signed by more than 30 religious leaders statewide, was sent to lawmakers early this month by the Colorado Council of Churches. It asks legislators to "pledge that as I take positions and enter into dialogue on the issue of immigration that the tone of my discourse and the choice of my words will reflect the respect I have for the sacred humanity of those about whom I am speaking and with whom I may disagree." Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, read the request and said he "didn't find anything in that letter that was off to me. ... I respect what those groups generally are trying to do." Still, the Legislature is emphasizing bills on health care, transportation and education. He said immigration "is kind of around the fringes of a lot of those areas." Riesberg said he wants to learn the position of his own church group, the Rocky Mountain Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, on the pledge before signing.
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February 13, 2008

Seeking a better life in America, finding the opposite - Telluride, CO - The Daily Planet

http://www.telluridenews.com/news/x1107269304...
They met and married years ago in Mexico, and like so many husbands and wives and mothers and fathers, they decided to go north, to pursue a better life and a way to heal the cracks in their marriage. But they found something else. What followed was a story of abuse and accusations and fear and flight. It’s not a Hispanic story or an immigrant story, but one common to countless women, across the transom of race, age and wealth. It is simply one woman’s story that forms part of the tattered quilt of domestic abuse in America.
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February 11, 2008

Aspen Times News - Ski areas, other businesses cope with limits on seasonal workers

http://aspentimes.com/article/20080211/NEWS/563340436...
The bitter standoff in Congress over immigration reform is hitting home in ski country this winter. Vermont's Stowe Mountain Resort, for example, usually relies on about two dozen seasonal foreign workers as ski instructors. Not this year. Stowe had to do "heavy duty recruiting" for its ski school, including a first-ever hiring clinic in January, said human resources director Julie Frailey. "We need to find some folks," Frailey said. "We do whatever we can without dropping our standards at all." Ski resorts are among the first of several seasonal businesses nationwide to feel the pinch from a change in federal law that cut back the number of visas for foreign workers brought in for temporary or seasonal jobs. Hotels, restaurants, seafood processors and landscaping companies are worried about filling jobs they say they can't find Americans to do. "The timing couldn't be worse," said Parker Riehle of the Vermont Ski Areas Association, noting December was a busy month with plenty of snow.
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The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Visa changes no help for labor shortage

http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1202536800/4...
Proposed rule changes that the federal government is considering in its farmworker visa program won't help Colorado, state lawmakers said Friday. In fact, the proposed new rules have the potential to make things even harder to get help, according to Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, and Senate President Pro Tem Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo. "We saw a copy of the proposed new rules and they're 3 inches thick," Tapia said. "So this is the streamlining process of the federal government, which really doesn't change anything." In addition to all the other requirements farmers and ranchers must do to qualify under the federal H-2A program - transporting workers, feeding and housing them - the new rules would: Require employers to submit written testimonies on the scope of the workers they need and the recruiters they might hire to recruit them.
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The Denver Post - Suspect found not guilty in Juarez killing

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_8226964...
The man at the center of the latest investigation of women's slayings in Juarez, Mexico, was found not guilty in one case by a judge last week. Edgar Alvarez Cruz, 32, was arrested Aug. 15, 2006, in Denver, where he worked in construction as an undocumented immigrant. After his extradition to Juarez a month later, he was charged with the killings of 17-year- old Juarez resident Mayra Juliana Reyes Solis in 2001 and of Silvia Gabriella Laguna Cruz in 1998. Alvarez was cleared in Reyes' death Wednesday, but he remains behind bars awaiting a decision in the second murder case against him. Officials with the Chihuahua state attorney general said at the time of his arrest that Alvarez was a suspect in the slayings of 15 other women, including the eight whose bodies were found in an abandoned cotton field in Ju�rez in 2001.
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February 8, 2008

Restaurateur to pay fine for hiring illegals : Local News : The Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/08/restaurateur-to-pay-fine-for-h...
The owner of a chain of popular Chinese restaurants plans to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from employing illegal immigrants. Louie Li, a naturalized citizen from China, will pay a $150,000 fine to settle the charges, said Dave Gaouette, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver. He will appear in U.S. District Court on March 6. Li, who remains free on bond, was arrested Dec. 21 on a complaint charging him with unlawfully harboring and transporting aliens. Li, his wife and sister-in-law own the South Garden restaurant chain, with locations in Denver, Parker and Castle Rock. The restaurants remain open. Undocumented workers told investigators they worked for lower than minimum wage at the restaurants. They've since been deported to Mexico. Gaouette said the U.S. attorney agreed to a deal partly because Li had no prior criminal record and because "there were no aggravating circumstances."
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The Denver Post - Deported gang member arrested in Greeley

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_8196977...
A member of the violent Sureno 13 street gang was arrested in Greeley by a gang task force as he smoked marijuana while babysitting his 3-year-old child, law-enforcement officials say. The man was identified as Renato Rodarte-Bueno, 33, of Mexico. The arrest occurred at about 9 p.m. Saturday in a Greeley apartment. Carl Rusnok, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that ICE agents originally targeted Rodarte-Bueno for arrest after they discovered he had returned to the Greeley area after his deportation in 1997.
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The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Expired visa keeps priest in Mexico

http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1202484182/20...
The head priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel is stuck in his native Mexico due to complications with his visa, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo said Wednesday. Almost a month ago, Rev. Marco Salinas traveled to the Mexican state of Nayarit to bury his mother, who died in Los Angeles, where she had been living. Salinas was accompanied by church assistant John Grande; Grande returned from Mexico, Salinas did not. Deacon Jake Arellano said Wednesday that Salinas was unable to return because his visa had expired. Arellano said Salinas is awaiting a meeting with the American consulate.
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Women seek to turn mural into 'living reference' | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080208/NEWS/829806613...
A 10-year-old wall-sized mural depicting Greeley and immigrant history would step into the digital age -- and educate countless children -- through an interactive project envisioned by two local educators. Ronda Underwood and Therese Gilbert worked at Adelante School a decade ago when students collaborated with Susan Dailey, a Fort Collins artist, on the mural. Back then, the school served at-risk middle schoolers. Underwood, who was a teachers' assistant at the time, is now working toward her elementary education degree at the University of Northern Colorado. The multimedia site is an extension of her leadership project in the Cumbres program. Cumbres is for UNC education students who will earn a bilingual or English as a second language endorsement at graduation.
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February 7, 2008

Gang member arrested in joint effort between Greeley Task Force and ICE | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080207/NEWS/857541309...
A gang member was arrested on Saturday morning in a Greeley apartment in a joint effort between members of the Greeley Gang Task Force and special agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Renato Rodarte-Bueno, 33, of Mexico was arrested on an investigation of child abuse/neglect and possessing marijuana. He has been placed on a detainer by ICE on both a federal and state investigation of re-entering the U.S. after being deported in 1997 -- a felony offense that can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
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The Denver Post - Soccer for the soul in Aurora

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_8191814...
Angolan immigrant Zacarias Paulo perched at the edge of the booth at Le Baobab restaurant, eyes fixed on a big-screen Hitachi as he watched Angola's Black Antelopes pound Egypt's Pharaohs in African Cup of Nations soccer. The white-clad Angolan players fired shot after shot at Egypt's goal yet failed to score. Paulo pounded the vinyl seat. "Opportunities," he said, remembering his own days as a midfielder when he dreamed of being recruited to play pro. "You can't miss opportunities." Paulo, 26, now a luggage loader at Denver International Airport, and other African immigrants gathered around the TV are part of a growing community. For these newcomers, satellite broadcasts of the 20-day African Cup of Nations competition (semifinals kick off this morning) have given rise to a running party that eclipsed both the Super Bowl and Super Tuesday.
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February 5, 2008

Durango Herald Online - Lawmakers want state to manage farm visas

http://durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&articl...
If they're successful, the state would send a couple of employees to Mexico to do background and health screenings of potential workers and quickly send them to labor-starved farms and ranches in Colorado. "I can assure you the agriculture sector needs labor to survive," said Kent Peppler, president of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. He is supporting House Bill 1325 by Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, and Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, which was introduced Monday afternoon. Looper and Tapia's bill would put the state in charge of H-2A visas, which are temporary work permits issued by the federal government and often used by farmers to hire migrant labor. Interest in the H-2A program has jumped in recent years after high-profile immigration raids and state laws against illegal immigrants. But the program is "broken," and the workers often show up two months late, if at all, said Troy Bredenkamp, executive vice president of the Colorado Farm Bureau. "If harvest is in October, you need them in October. You can't have them showing up Nov. 1," Bredenkamp said.
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The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Farm labor measure needs careful study, lawmakers say

http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1202223952/3...
A measure designed to help farmers hire the workers they need is gaining some traction among some Colorado legislators, though others are questioning how it would work. Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, and Senate President Pro Tem Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, officially unveiled their idea Monday to use the Colorado Department of Labor to help process applications for workers needed by farmers. HB1325 is designed to use state workers to help farmers with applications through the federal H-2A visa program. The measure seeks a waiver that would allow the state to do some of the work on those applications that the U.S. Department of Labor is too busy to do. "We're not changing the H-2A program, we're just finding a way to make it more efficient for Colorado farmers," Tapia said.
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Top Stories: Bill would allow more farm guest workers | looper, workers, colorado - Gazette.com

http://www.gazette.com/articles/looper_32765___article.html/workers_colorado.htm...
Colorado would open an immigration office in Mexico to bring more seasonal foreign workers to the state under a groundbreaking bill unveiled Monday by an El Paso County legislator. Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, said farms throughout the state and country are suffering because they can’t get the guest workers needed to harvest labor-intensive crops. The federal H-2A visa program allows farm owners to request foreign workers for up to 10 months a year, but the process is unbearably slow and produces only about 35,000 employees a year rather than the roughly 700,000 that are needed nationally, she said. Looper’s bill, which is expected to be introduced soon, would allow the state to take over the background checks, fingerprinting and health screening of potential workers. If approved, Colorado would open an office in Mexico and staff it with several state employees. To do so, however, it would have to get a waiver from the federal government to take over those preliminary duties before the feds have the final say in approving the guestworker passes. All applications from around the country now go through a central federal office in Chicago, but many disappear into what Looper called a “big black hole,” only to be approved halfway through the growing season when farmers are far behind in work.
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The Denver Post - Bill targets farm-labor ills

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_8169308...
Two Colorado lawmakers are proposing legislation aimed at making it easier for farmers to import immigrant laborers — legally. The bill, from Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, and Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, is meant to speed up the process for immigrant workers to obtain federal H-2A visas that allow them to perform seasonal agricultural work. The bill comes in response to widespread complaints from farmers that because of tougher immigration laws the past few years, they can't find enough migrant workers to bring in their crops. "Our farmers need workers," Looper said at a news conference Monday. "We need to get them here — legally, safely." The federal H-2A program allows farmers to hire immigrant workers if they can show that there is a need for the laborers and that hiring foreign workers would not hurt U.S. wages or working conditions. That process, in addition to the background checks that must be performed, means applications often take months to process, supporters of the bill said. The result is that crops spoil in the fields while farmers try to recruit enough workers to tend to them, proponents said.
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News : Australian overcomes obstacles, becomes U.S. citizen (Montrose, CO)

http://montrosepress.com/articles/2008/02/05/news/doc47a6a746c3870603036903.txt...
Christine Peak, 55, moved to Montrose from Australia in 1972; she became a U.S. citizen last Wednesday. “I speak English, I’m college educated, I have access to a vehicle, I have access to Internet and a telephone,” she said. “And I found doing my naturalization almost impossible and absolutely daunting.” She met her husband, Jim, 81, when visiting Montrose as an exchange student in 1970. They were married once she returned and have since had two children together.
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February 4, 2008

The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Senators to unveil farmworker bill

http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1202018400/2...
Two Southern Colorado lawmakers are gearing up for a firestorm on the immigration front. Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, and Senate President Pro Tem Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, are about to unveil a measure that is expected to turn some heads on Monday that is designed to help troubled farmers in the state get the workers they need to stay in business. Under their bill, which has yet to be introduced, the two lawmakers told The Pueblo Chieftain in exclusive interviews that they want to create a new state system designed to help the federal government better run its visa program for immigrant workers. The two plan to hold a press conference Monday afternoon officially announcing the bill.
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February 1, 2008

The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Patrol intercepts 3 lbs. of meth during I-25 stop

http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1201878789/16...
Two citizens of Mexico were arrested Wednesday, when more than 3 pounds of methamphetamine were found hidden in their car battery. Fernando Garcia-Pantoja, 26, of Omaha, and Ascendcion Figueroa-Guillen, 23, of Phoenix, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute. Garcia, the suspected driver, also faces a charge of driving without a license. Both are being held in jail without bail for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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January 31, 2008

Forum to address immigration and education | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080131/NEWS/928012429...
Residents are invited to attend a Friday forum addressing immigration and education. The forum, titled "Immigrant and Citizen Children: Education at a Crossroads," will aim to address challenges immigrant children face in today's schools and will be presented by Eugene Garcia, author of the book "Teaching and Learning in Two Languages." Preceded by refreshments at 8:30 a.m., the forum is scheduled to feature a presentation from 9-10:15 a.m. with an opportunity to answer questions from 10:15-10:45 a.m. It will be held on Friday in the Panorama Room of the University Center, 10th Avenue and 20th Street.
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The Denver Post - Not for the undocumented

http://www.denverpost.com/politics/ci_8123714...
Illegal immigrants should not get tax rebates under a revised economic-stimulus package, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar said Wednesday. "We added language that requires the recipient of tax rebates to have a valid Social Security number," said Salazar, D-Colo. "The experts in front of us in the Finance Committee felt that would work" in preventing undocumented workers from receiving federal money. The issue has been brewing since conservatives expressed fears that undocumented workers could apply for rebates under the $146 billion package.
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UNC students collecting guest worker stories | News | The Tribune

http://greeleytribune.com/article/20080131/NEWS/802768246...
University of Northern Colorado students will record the stories of the area's former braceros, their families and those with ties to the 20th century's largest guest worker program as part of a national project led by the Smithsonian Institute, the University of Texas-El Paso and Brown University. Students in Professor Priscilla Falcon's Mexican American Studies class received training and recording equipment from the Smithsonian last fall to conduct the interviews for the Bracero Project. Falcon and the students are in the process of finding interview subjects. They especially want to find former guest workers who relocated to northern Colorado during a World War II program aimed at addressing a national labor shortage by enabling Mexican citizens to work temporarily in the United States from 1942-1964.
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January 30, 2008

Top Stories: Survey says locals back proof of citizenship to vote; critics doubt results | locals, clerk, proof - Gazette.com

http://www.gazette.com/articles/locals_32514___article.html/clerk_proof.html...
Almost 2,000 locals agree with El Paso County Clerk & Recorder Bob Balink’s controversial view that proof of citizenship should be required when registering to vote. But the method through which Balink found his allies is nothing more than a “push poll” to “bolster his own personal and political agenda,” critics say. Customers who have gone to the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder’s Elections or Motor Vehicle Department since Jan. 7 have been asked to fill out a four-question survey written by Balink in his attempt to gather opinion statistics on the issue. “I am asking them what their view is,” Balink said. “How can I influence their answer when I am giving them two direct answers to choose from?” But critics, who say requiring proof of citizenship such as a passport for voter registration would disenfranchise the poor, elderly and minorities, say the survey is worded to solicit specific answers.
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January 29, 2008

Grand Junction Sentinel - $177,000 sought for legal Mexican workers

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/01/28/012908_3a_mexican...
A complaint filed in Garfield County District Court seeks more than $177,000 in unpaid wages for 65 legal Mexican workers who spent the holidays in Glenwood Springs. Attorney Don Kaufman of Glenwood Springs filed the complaint last week against JNS Construction Services of Texas and the company’s principal owner, John Herzor; Midwest Drywall Co. of Colorado and Kelly E. Stillings of Midwest Drywall; and Leno and Co. and Leno Aseudo. The men came to Glenwood Springs from Mexico, with valid passports, proper identification and valid class H2B visas, to work for JNS Construction, which contracted with Midwest Drywall to provide laborers, Kaufman said. The workers were told they would have work from Nov. 28, 2007, to Jan. 11, 2008, but were not paid as required by Colorado wage laws, Kaufman said. Each worker also paid $650 to JNS to be employed and for their travel expenses, he said. They were also not provided housing, food or other living assistance, according to the complaint. All but a handful returned home on buses sent by JNS. Officials with JNS Construction and Midwest Drywall could not be reached for comment Monday.
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The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Man gets 15 months in illegal alien scheme

http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1201618352/12...
A judge gave little leniency Monday to the final defendant from the 2007 immigration raid on a Monte Vista potato farm and processing plant. Despite the lack of leniency, the case illustrates "a gap between what the public thinks the law is and what the law actually is," U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said. U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger sentenced Javier Fuentes-Sotelo, a former employee, to 15 months in prison for his role in selling phony job-related documents. He procured the documents for a job seeker who said he was an illegal alien. The "job seeker" in reality was an undercover U.S. immigration agent in an 11-month covert investigation of the Worley and McCullough potato facility.
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January 28, 2008

Grand Junction Sentinel - Rep. King wants to retool immigration deal

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/01/27/012808_1aKing_imm...
Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, wants the Legislature to direct Gov. Bill Ritter to start talks with federal immigration officials and rewrite the state’s agreement on combating illegal immigration. King said he’ll introduce a measure this week that will direct Ritter to “change policies that obstruct the proper and thorough enforcement of immigration laws” in Colorado. The Legislature in 2006 set aside $2.3 million to fund a Colorado State Patrol unit geared to catch illegal immigrants. As part of that deal, though, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prohibits the collection and release of data about the final fates of people detained as illegal immigrants. Colorado taxpayers have a “right to transparency” when it comes to the activities of the State Patrol unit, King said. State and federal officials should make information public beyond the number of contacts made by the illegal-immigration unit, he said. The agencies also should report on the final result of those cases, such as whether they end in deportation or whether the detainees are finally released, King said.
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The Denver Post - Border wars personal out West

http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_8088009...
When Joy Breuer looks around her hometown, she sees two kinds of immigrants: "the good Mexicans" and "the Latinos." By her definition, good Mexicans "come to America to become U.S. citizens, become a part of the community. They work very hard to learn the language. They show a lot of respect to everyone as well. They just want to be an American." The Latinos? "The Latinos are here to esta