History of Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform - and Defend Colorado Now - part 1

History of CAIR

Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform was founded in the 1990's by Bill Herron, a refugee from Mexifornia. Bill and Jan Herron both put in a huge amount of effort pushing for immigration reform, especially within the GOP. Several years later, Bill turned directorship over to Fred Elbel and Mike McGarry. During that time, one of our projects involved placing billboards in the metro Denver area. At the time, it was a good way to increase awareness of the issue.

Fred then became the sole director and Mike was involved with several independent projects, such as the Stop Amnesty project in 2004 and Billboard Colorado in 2006. For the past two years, Stan Weekes has been the director. Stan has done an incredible amount of work behind the scenes working on issues related to immigration law enforcement in Colorado.

The Colorado Secure and Verifiable Identity Document Act - 2003

As a result of the proliferation of the bogus Mexican Matricula Consular ID card, Colorado passed the Colorado Secure and Verifiable Identity Document Act (HB03-1224) in 2003. You can read the entire bill on the Colorado Legislature website.

The bill was worded with legal help from Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement and was sponsored by Senator Andrews and Representative Lee and then signed into law by Governor Owens on May 22, 2003.

HB03-1224 states that "A public entity that is issuing an identification card, license, permit, or official document shall not authorize acceptance of an identification document, nor shall a public official acting in an official capacity accept an identification document before issuing such documents, unless such identification document is a secure and verifiable document."

A "secure and verifiable document" means a document issued by a state or federal jurisdiction or recognized by the united states government and that is verifiable by federal or state law enforcement, intelligence, or homeland security agencies.

As typically happens during the legislative process, the original wording of the bill was amended. Although CAIR preferred the stronger unamended version of the bill, the amended version was a very significant step forward in reducing the number of unsecured IDs that are issued and accepted in Colorado. Colorado was the first state making illegal the accepting of sham, unsecured ID cards.

Under HB-1224, a non-secure and unverifiable identification card is not acceptable to use to receive a library card, have a city business license issued, demonstrate eligibility for state or local government services (such as a marriage license or automobile registration), or to obtain public housing or other services.

A non-secure and unverifiable identification card is not acceptable for the granting of public services. The only exception to this is that the children born in the United States may show a hospital identification tag, or similar hospital identification, prior to receiving their U.S. birth certificate. This is according to current interpretation of the U.S. Constitution that confers U.S. citizenship upon children born in the United States.

When person presents a non-secure and unverifiable identification card to state or local law enforcement, as part of a routine traffic stop, or as part of an arrest, the arresting officer may use the information on the card as part of his or her investigation into the identity of the person. However, all information from the identification card must be recorded by the officer and retained for public inspection. If feasible, the person presenting the identification card shall also be fingerprinted.

HB-1224 changes Colorado statutes, clarifying that when a person knowingly presents false documentation to a police officer (including a false Matricula Consular card, false Social Security Card, or false Immigration card), the presenter may be prosecuted for presenting false identification to law enforcement.

Government employees who accept the Matricula Consular, or another from of non-secure and unverifiable identification, are risking the loss of their governmental immunity if they accept the card for any government service, and they will incur direct personal liability to civil litigation.

More information

You can read more about the Colorado Secure and Verifiable Identity Document Act here.

Here is in-depth background information.

Testimony by CAIR co-director Fred Elbel on HB-1224, State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, March 3, 2003.

As a result of our success in Colorado, CAIR put together a Toolkit for Activists in other states to use to pass similar legislation.