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david harsanyi

Why turn a blind eye to illegals?

By David Harsanyi
Denver Post Staff Columnist

Congressman Tom Tancredo is abnormally blunt for a politician.

He believes immigration law should be upheld and makes no apologies for his position.

And just as the dreaded "vigilante" Minutemen - a group that had the unmitigated nerve to hassle a few hundred Mexicans intent on breaking U.S. law - Tancredo's very existence is traumatic to the enlightened of our city.

Confused (and enthusiastically unenlightened), I can't understand why it's demagogic to ask a fundamental question: Why do we have borders if we're unwilling to control them?

True, the vile murder of policeman Donnie Young by an "undocumented" worker - or, more specifically, a suspected "undocumented" killer - such as Raul Garcia-Gomez is a genuinely rare occurrence.

We also can agree that the majority of illegal immigrants trek northward to make a buck and support their families.

Who can blame them?

But the regrettable fact is that Young's murder did occur, and the alleged killer was in this country illegally.

Thus, Denverites should demand to know: How could Garcia-Gomez accumulate three traffic tickets, take care of those traffic tickets with a "valid" Mexican license and not, at the very least, be reported to an immigration agency?

Tancredo believes this tragedy did, in part, happen because Denver is a sanctuary city (which more or less translates into an area with a "don't ask, don't tell" policy for illegal immigrants).

"Sanctuary laws create an inviting environment, an enticing place to come if you are an illegal alien," says Tancredo. "You know that you will not be held accountable for things that otherwise would get you into trouble. You will not be reported to immigration and custom officials."

Denver officials vigorously deny that the city is bound by sanctuary laws.

So? Are we a sanctuary city? Legally?

Who knows? And really, who cares? The lack of police involvement in identifying illegals, much less holding a significant number for deportation, makes Denver, de facto, a sanctuary city.

Denver maintains it cooperates with Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials, the ones ultimately responsible for enforcement of immigration laws.

Of course, Tancredo is skeptical.

"When ICE and the Denver police say they are cooperating, what they're doing is cooperating on not doing anything," Tancredo argues. "The law in America is pretty clear: If you come into this country illegally, for one thing, and then break another law, you should be deported."

And why not? What's most baffling in this ongoing debate to me, at least, is that Tancredo's position is this divisive.

I disagree with the congressman on the issue of guest-worker programs, for instance, but the fact is, if you enter the U.S. illegally, by law you should be deported. Regardless of how many euphemisms for "illegal" we can concoct.

Tancredo critics rarely use euphemisms when smearing him as a xenophobe. They also rarely supplement their smear with a substantive argument on immigration policy.

Denver City Attorney Cole Finegan, for example, outrageously accused Tancredo of "getting in the way of us catching" Garcia-Gomez last week.

Interestingly, Tancredo also has been accused of political opportunism in the Young case, despite the fact that he's been warning cities, including Mayor John Hickenlooper, for years about the potential for this exact situation.

Clearly, Mayor Hickenlooper bears no responsibility for the hiring practices of the Cherry Cricket - the restaurant he owns in a blind trust that employed Garcia-Gomez - or this city's lack of a coherent immigration policy.

But now, Hickenlooper does have a responsibility to tackle the issue of illegal immigration in Denver. Sadly, you can't be all things to all people forever.

"Fact is, you have to make Denver more inhospitable for illegal immigrants," says Tancredo. "If you don't, more of these things will happen."

David Harsanyi's column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at dharsanyi@ denverpost.com or 303- 820-1255.

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